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

Michigan's Precious Metal and Gem Dealer Act (MCL 445.481 to 445.492) covers any business that regularly buys "precious items": jewelry, precious gems and anything containing gold, silver or platinum. Coins, medals and tokens struck by a government or private mint, and bullion bars and discs of the kind banks and commodity exchanges trade, are excluded, which is why a coin sale at a Michigan shop involves none of this. Each dealer registers with the local police and supplies thumbprints of the applicant and every employee, and running a shop without that registration is a felony.

At the counter you must show a valid driver's license or Michigan ID card; no dealer may buy from anyone under 18. The dealer fills out a numbered record of transaction with your name, date of birth, ID number, street address, signature and a thumbprint, plus every letter and mark inscribed on the jewelry and how you were paid. Cash, check, money order and bank draft are all allowed. A copy goes to the local police within 48 hours, and to the police where you live if that is somewhere else. The dealer keeps its copy at least 1 year and must destroy it after a year if no police investigation has come up.

The dealer then holds each item for 9 calendar days, unaltered except as needed to appraise it, before it can be melted or resold. Shops whose principal business is general second hand goods need a license under a separate 1917 act, which sets a 15-day hold in the building where the article was bought (MCL 445.405).

Since 1999, MCL 205.54s has exempted sales of investment coins and bullion from Michigan sales tax, and MCL 205.94u does the same for use tax. Bullion means gold, silver or platinum in bulk form, valued for its metal rather than its form, at least 900 parts per 1,000 pure. Investment coins are coins of gold, silver, platinum, palladium or other metal issued by the U.S. or a foreign government and worth more than face value. Michigan has no local sales tax, so jewelry and anything else outside the exemption is taxed at 6% everywhere in the state.

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

Michigan income tax starts from your federal adjusted gross income (MCL 206.30), so a gain on gold, silver or platinum that counts federally is taxed by Michigan too, at the flat rate in MCL 206.51 (4.25% unless the state's annual revenue trigger lowers it for a year). Michigan has no subtraction or credit for precious metals.

Federally, the IRS taxes gains on physical precious metals as collectibles: up to a 28% cap when held more than a year, and as ordinary income when held a year or less. Inherited pieces generally use the value on the date of death as their cost basis, so they often carry little taxable gain. We are not tax advisers, so check with yours before you file.

No Michigan statute makes gold or silver coin legal tender. House Bill 5128 of 2025, a proposed specie legal tender act, was introduced on October 23, 2025 and referred to the House Finance Committee, where it has seen no further action. Either way, buyers price metal off the live spot market, not face value.