Where to Sell (or Buy) Gold, Silver & Platinum in Indiana

Indiana regulates most walk-in buyers of used jewelry and other used gold, silver and platinum as precious metal dealers under IC 24-4-19. A dealer may buy only at a permanent place of business it owns or leases for at least 12 months, and must register every year with the Secretary of State and with the city police or county sheriff for each location. Mint-issued coins and ingots are excluded from the definition of precious metal, so coin and bullion sales fall outside these rules.

For each purchase the dealer checks and copies your government photo ID, photographs the item and writes a bill of sale in duplicate that you sign, listing your name, address, date of birth and driver's license or Social Security number, the price and a description of each piece. You get the second copy. The dealer keeps the records at least two years and reports each day's purchases to the local police or sheriff. No dealer may buy from anyone under 18.

Each piece then stays at the shop where it was bought for at least 10 calendar days, kept separate and unaltered, and open to police inspection. Pawnshops follow the same 10-day hold under the pawnbroking law and also take your signature and right thumbprint on the bill of sale. The precious metal dealer law sets no cash limit or check-only rule, and a knowing or intentional violation by a dealer is a Class A misdemeanor.

Established retail jewelers are handled differently. IC 24-4-13 covers a jeweler located in a commercially zoned area, open to the public, primarily selling jewelry and remitting at least ten thousand dollars a year in Indiana sales tax on jewelry sales. When one of these jewelers buys used jewelry, you sign a bill of sale in duplicate listing the date, price, a description of each piece, your address and date of birth, and the type, issuing agency and number of your government ID; you keep the second copy. The jeweler keeps its records at least two years, shows them to police on request and may not buy from anyone under 18. That law has no registration, daily report or holding period, and a violation is a Class A misdemeanor. Trade-ins toward new jewelry are exempt.

Since 2016, IC 6-2.5-5-47 has exempted sales of coins that are permitted investments for an individual retirement account under 26 U.S.C. 408(m), bullion that would qualify for an IRA if held by a trustee, and legal tender. Jewelry and coins outside those categories are taxed at Indiana's 7% state rate, and Indiana has no local sales tax on top of it.

When you sell: sales tax is a buyer's cost, not yours. You pay no Indiana sales tax when you sell your gold, silver or platinum, to a local shop.

Indiana taxes adjusted gross income at a flat 2.95% for 2026, falling to 2.9% for 2027 (IC 6-3-2-1), and counties add their own local income tax. We found no Indiana deduction or exclusion for gains on gold, silver or platinum, so a gain included in your federal income is taxed by Indiana at the same rate as other income.

Federal rules still apply: the IRS taxes physical precious metals as collectibles, with gains on metal held more than a year capped at 28% and gains on metal held a year or less taxed as ordinary income. Inherited metal generally uses its value on the date of death as its cost basis. We are not tax advisers, so check with yours before you file.

Indiana has no statute making gold or silver coin legal tender for paying debts. The only related provision we found is the sales-tax exemption for IRA-eligible coins, bullion and legal tender described above. Either way, it changes nothing about selling: buyers price your metal off the live spot market, not face value.