In the U.S., there’s one major drawback to discovering gold in your backyard.
As it turns out, a U.S. District Court in Ohio decided that finding a treasure trove was a taxable event in a 1969 ruling, reports sfgate.com. Since then, the IRS has stated that any American who finds and keeps valuable property must pay tax on its market value within the year.
So, the couple that recently found about $10 million-worth of old gold coins on their property may have to cough up almost half of their findings to the taxman. If they sell any of the gold, however, they can take advantage of lower capital gains taxes.
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In Canada, there are no specific treasure trove tax rules. But the CRA does focus on sales of personal-use property, which is defined as items that people own for personal use or enjoyment. Check out the rules.
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