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

Kentucky's metals-theft law, KRS 433.920, applies to recyclers, dealers in junk or metals and dealers in secondhand articles when they buy nonferrous metal or objects containing it, a category the law defines as any metal without significant quantities of iron. The buyer must photocopy your government photo ID, photograph the items, record their kind and weight and the price paid, enter the purchase into the LeadsOnline database within two days and keep the records for two years. It cannot buy from anyone under 18 or outside 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and metal that has been melted needs a signed certificate that you own it. The buyer keeps each item in its original form, or a photograph of it, for three business days, longer if police suspect it is stolen.

Pawnshops follow their own law instead (KRS Chapter 226). A pawnbroker records your name and driver's license or other photo ID number with a full description of each item, reports it to an online transaction service law enforcement can access, and must hold secondhand merchandise it buys for at least 12 days before reselling it. A pawnbroker cannot take a pawn from a minor.

Giving a buyer a false name, ID or ownership document is a Class A misdemeanor (KRS 433.896).

KRS 139.480(36) takes currency and bullion out of Kentucky's 6% sales and use tax. Bullion means bars, ingots or coins of gold, silver, platinum or palladium valued on their metal content rather than their form; currency covers legal-tender coins and paper money sold for their collectible value. Medallions or coins mounted in a pendant or other jewelry do not qualify. A 2025 law, KRS 139.4802, voids any state notice telling dealers the exemption does not apply and lets buyers who were charged the tax sue for a refund.

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

Kentucky taxes residents on their entire net income, capital gains included, at a flat 3.5% for tax years starting in 2026 (KRS 141.020). There is no subtraction or credit for gains on gold or silver. Two 2026 bills that would have excluded those gains, Senate Bill 99 and House Bill 82, never made it out of committee.

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 pieces generally use their value on the date of death as their cost basis. We are not tax advisers, so check with yours before you file.

No Kentucky statute makes gold or silver coins or bullion legal tender. Senate Bill 99 of 2026, the proposed Kentucky Transactional Gold and Silver Act, would have done so, but it was referred to committee in January 2026 and saw no further action. Buyers in Kentucky price your coins off the live metal market either way.