The most important decision in a gold investment is not which coin you buy. It is where the gold lies. Physical gold has exactly one structural advantage over any security: it exists outside the financial system, with no counterparty risk, no issuer, no account. With the digital euro it is the other way round: the Commission's draft regulation of 2023 already ties it to an account with a holding limit whose parameters the ECB sets. Anyone who then puts their gold in a safe deposit box at their home bank voluntarily brings it back into exactly the system they wanted to escape, and at the same time places it within reach of their own legal system: from creditors to opponents in litigation to future state access.
Gold that is meant to protect wealth therefore belongs abroad, professionally stored, insured and in your own name.
Why not at home, why not at your bank?
Home safe: anonymous and always to hand, but a concentration risk: burglary, fire, and home contents insurance that covers precious metals only up to low limits. Acceptable for an emergency reserve of a few coins, unsuitable for wealth. Anyone wanting to store gold completely anonymously can hardly avoid the home safe, but buys that anonymity with exactly the concentration risk that speaks against it for larger holdings.
Safe deposit box at home: there is little discreet about it. Access is tied to bank opening hours and, in crisis scenarios (bank holidays, capital controls), blocked exactly when it is needed. Safe deposit boxes can be opened by the authorities, and the contractual relationship with the bank is documented. What the real risk is and what it is not, we have taken apart in bank safe deposit box or high-security vault.
The alternative is the specialist high-security vault abroad, outside the banking system, run by private storage companies, combined with the special customs status of the free port vault. Which location suits which situation is weighed up in the overview where to store precious metals, including the jurisdictions we do not offer ourselves.
Forms of storage at a glance
Segregated individual custody. Your specific bars and coins, inventoried by serial number, stored physically apart. You own particular pieces, rather than holding a claim as a creditor. If the vault operator goes insolvent, the gold still belongs to you and is separated from the insolvency estate. This is the gold standard of asset protection and the only form we recommend for protected wealth.
Pooled custody. A claim to a quantity of fine gold from a pooled holding: cheaper, but one step more abstract. Acceptable with first-class providers, but still a claim rather than a piece.
"Gold accounts" and ETCs. Claims against a bank or an issuer, with exactly the counterparty risk that physical gold is meant to avoid. Unsuitable for asset protection, whatever the storage location.
What matters in a provider: independent stock audits with published reports, all-risks insurance through a well-known insurer, the right to visit and take delivery at any time, and an operator that is not a bank.
The free port vault: the tax accelerator
In customs law, a free port vault is foreign territory at home: goods inside it count as not imported. For gold this is convenient (no formalities when you reallocate), for silver and platinum it is decisive: inside the free port vault, no VAT arises, neither on purchase nor on sale, as long as the metal does not leave the vault. The 20 per cent VAT that weighs on buying silver in the UK falls away entirely; the details are on buying silver abroad.
Trading takes place directly from the vault: buying and selling without physical movement, settled within hours, as described in selling gold abroad. Only when metal is physically withdrawn and imported into the UK or the EU do import VAT (on silver) and the declaration duties set out on our page bringing gold home and customs arise.
The jurisdictions compared
Switzerland: the classic. Nowhere else do refiners, dealers and storage infrastructure sit so close together. Politically neutral, a refuge for protected wealth for generations, outside the EU and its regulation, with free port vaults in Zurich and Geneva. Anyone wanting to store gold outside the EU without giving up short journeys and the option of a visit therefore finds the most obvious location here. For most European investors, the natural first address. Anyone who wants to buy and store gold in Switzerland benefits from the fact that investment gold of 995 thousandths or more is exempt from VAT there, both on purchase and on import.
Liechtenstein: the discreet neighbour. The same geographical proximity, its own legal system with strong protection of property, specialised private storage providers with a very personal approach. As a principality with its own legal tradition, a genuine diversification from Switzerland.
Singapore: geopolitical diversification. Anyone holding larger amounts should not have everything in Europe. Singapore offers political stability, legal certainty on a par with Switzerland, no taxes at all on investment metals and world-class high-security vaults. A European crisis scenario that hit Zurich and Vaduz at the same time would not reach Singapore.
The pragmatic split for substantial wealth is often: core holding in Switzerland or Liechtenstein (reachable, visitable), second holding in Singapore (geopolitical spread), a small reserve at home (liquidity).
We cover both locations in full on their own pages: free port vaults in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and storing precious metals in Singapore, where the tax is not deferred but never arises in the first place.
Legal position and reporting
Physical gold in direct, segregated custody is not a financial account: it does not fall under the automatic exchange of information (CRS), unlike gold accounts or holdings kept by a bank. For a UK resident, holding the metal is not what matters for tax; what matters is the disposal. UK residents pay tax on their UK and foreign gains, so a gain on gold bars or foreign coins sold from a vault abroad falls under capital gains tax above the annual exempt amount of £3,000, while sovereigns and Britannias are exempt as sterling currency. In Switzerland, the gold belongs in the wealth tax return.
For inheritance and emergencies: document who has access. Powers of attorney, deposit of the storage documents and a clear arrangement for your estate are part of the storage decision.
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal to store gold abroad?
Entirely legal, and no permit is needed. As always, what is taxed are any gains, under the rules of your country of residence; for UK residents that means capital gains tax on a sale, wherever the gold is stored.
What does storage abroad cost?
Depending on the provider, form of storage and volume, typically between 0.5 and 1 per cent of the value of the holding per year including insurance; segregated custody sits at the upper end, pooled custody at the lower end.
Switzerland or Singapore: which is better?
To begin with, Switzerland or Liechtenstein: close, visitable, proven. Singapore is the complement for larger holdings whose owners deliberately want a second, non-European jurisdiction. The question is rarely 'or' but, from a certain size, 'and'.
Is my gold abroad covered by the automatic exchange of information (CRS)?
Physical gold held directly and in segregated custody is not a financial account and is not reported automatically. Gold accounts, ETCs and holdings kept by a bank, on the other hand, can be reportable financial assets.