Chile Forum

This time I have done an extensive search before starting a new thread. I learned that silver is pretty much treated as merchandise and taxed at 25% when brought in. One poster talked about bringing in small amounts of both (under $5K worth) and essentially nothing happened at customs. Now here is a different situation.

Suppose someone had their entire life savings in gold coins (lets say 500 one oz. coins) and wanted to relocate to Chile as an expat. Nothing illegal here, the owner bought these coins over many years and has decided to keep his savings in gold coins because of the unsafe markets and inflation prone dollar. From other posts, I have learned that there is very little gold and silver available for sale in Chile. So the prospect of converting to dollars and then rebuying gold would be very difficult. What would happen if a person tried to take these many coins through customs? Does anyone have any recommendations or ideas about this?

You file the paperwork and declare them if you break through the $10,000 limit. Coins are treated like currency. Bars and jewellery are treated as a luxury item and taxed.

The only concern would be the idea you are pulling out large quantities of gold coins at the Santiago airport for all to see. You might not make it to the parking lot.

admin wrote:You file the paperwork and declare them if you break through the $10,000 limit.
Coins are treated like currency.
Bars and jewellery are treated as a luxury item and taxed.

The only concern would be the idea you are pulling out large quantities of gold coins at the Santiago airport for all to see. You might not make it to the parking lot.

hmmmm - breaking through the $10k limit - sez admin...
that's the understatement of the year (so far)
in rough terms - when OP might conceivably do this (in 2012)...
we're talking in the neighborhood of $800,000...!

now g~j might (and does) easily carry in 10k+/- of preciousssss into SCL
never, never anything to worry about...
but 800k... wtf... this will attract "Serious Attention"!

OP should (and does) pause to consider...?
methods - processes - scrutiny - implementation - declaration - transportation - storage - etc?
such volumes of preciousssss like that WILL attract "Attention" (note capital "A")
"Attention" is something one WILL NOT want? (duh?)
i.e. "the walls have eyes" aka "loose lips sink ships"?

given the monetary equivalent here of 16 +/-kg of preciousssss...
now look, (heaven forbid) not to suggest any laws ever be ever broken...
there seem to be 3 possibilities (re an "all at once" move)...
1 - in a 30+ lb. carry-on bag (duh?) = total, absolute public knowledge!
2- in a suitcase (under allowable weight limit) but certainly identified by x-ray
= public knowledge = hmmm, any chance of that bag going missing to/fro (duh?)
3 - assuming OP is moving lock-stock-barrel to start a new life in chile...
place said preciousssss in a (secure) shipping container...
(very) well hidden/camouflaged in amongst other household goods/tools?
with the eventual choice to declare it (or not?) on arrival and custom's clearance in chile
potential risk there - the ship sinks and the container is not insured (duh?)

OP presents a very unique and difficult scenario...?
mucho freak'n suerte aka bon freak'n chance aka chok freak'n dee
but just think...
he (she) could have all their preciousssss in Ag, not Au
btw - (500 oz. at present ratio) = 1700lb. (mas o menos)
now THAT would definitely be overweight!

Why would you want to take the gold to Chile in the first place? A couple of coins yes, but certainly for larger amounts it doesn't make sense to me most because of:
- storage
- potential money laundering and tax evasion investigation once you want to sell it

just leave the goodies in a bank storage (unless you are in the US) in your home country. You can also consider goldmoney or the like services where you can have your savings in gold/silver and draw cash when you need it at the ex.rate at the day of withdrawal.

there are also numerous allocated storage programs such as Canadian Royal Bank (Canada) Perth Mint (Australia) or even kitco pool. All of them are out of US and have good rep.

I wouldnt travel with 500 oz of gold for sure. Besides, correct me if I am wrong, but it may be quite difficult to liquidate gold in Chile, especially near spot value.

Dude, you might want to read this document:

http://www.ptshamrock.com/gold_report.pdf

Though I can't vouch 100% for it, it may address some of your logistical issues starting from page 7.

[quote]"he (she) could have all their preciousssss in Ag, not Au
btw - (500 oz. at present ratio) = 1700lb. (mas o menos)
now THAT would definitely be overweight!"[/quote]

My calculator says 500 Troy Oz is 34.5+- pounds

There are ways to have it shipped to you.

hard rock

hard rock wrote:

"he (she) could have all their preciousssss in Ag, not Au
btw - (500 oz. at present ratio) = 1700lb. (mas o menos)
now THAT would definitely be overweight!"

My calculator says 500 Troy Oz is 34.5+- pounds

There are ways to have it shipped to you.

hard rock

he meant if u were to conver to silver it would be 1700 lbs at the current rate (1:40 G/S ratio).
g~j talks funky that is why it is hard to understand whatever he is conveying (product of a US public school perhaps?!).

on a side note ; does anyone know what is heavier 500 oz of gold or 500 oz of silver ???

zaebis wrote:he meant if u were to conver to silver it would be 1700 lbs at the current rate (1:40 G/S ratio).

g~j talks funky that is why it is hard to understand whatever he is conveying...

on a side note ; does anyone know what is heavier 500 oz of gold or 500 oz of silver ???

well, ok - actually we erred a bit in our 1st conversion...
so, in round numbers (today's prices)... (1oz = troy = 31gm.)
$1660 Au ÷ $30 Ag = 55:1
500oz. x $1660 = $830,000...!

hmmm... man, we really do travel in "economy~peasant class"...
we don't know anybody with $800k+ they can casually stuff in their knapsack

anyway - re switching over to Ag...
$830,000 ÷ $30 = 27,666oz = 858kg = just under 1900lb.(avdp)
yep - just under one ton of Ag...
hope ya gotta forklift handy?

re being "funky"...?

Adjective
1- offbeat, unconventional or eccentric.
----- ok, ok, guilty as charged - maybe more than once in a while - wtf?
2- Not quite right; of questionable quality; not appropriate to the context.
-----well, we may not be "quite right" sometimes - but we strive to be "appropriate" and of "good quality"!
3- Of or pertaining to the smell of funk.
-----please - we do shower regularly!
4- Music relating to or reminiscent of various genres of African American music.
-----sure, we can "get down" from time to time - no worries!

but in relation to the (intended) 1st interpretation...
isn't it just a matter of reading?
line
by
line...
it's actually pretty easy?
once you get used to it!


btw - we'll take a pass on that side note question
and just for the record z~...
we once called van-koo-koo-ver home!

Dawg wrote:This time I have done an extensive search before starting a new thread. I learned that silver is pretty much treated as merchandise and taxed at 25% when brought in. One poster talked about bringing in small amounts of both (under $5K worth) and essentially nothing happened at customs. Now here is a different situation.

Suppose someone had their entire life savings in gold coins (lets say 500 one oz. coins) and wanted to relocate to Chile as an expat. Nothing illegal here, the owner bought these coins over many years and has decided to keep his savings in gold coins because of the unsafe markets and inflation prone dollar. From other posts, I have learned that there is very little gold and silver available for sale in Chile. So the prospect of converting to dollars and then rebuying gold would be very difficult. What would happen if a person tried to take these many coins through customs? Does anyone have any recommendations or ideas about this?

I don't like offering investment advice, but feel this is a special case, since its gold. This is an investment. Stick it in a safety deposit box in Panama or wherever you can, or vend it to kitco if you need portability. Fedex it to them in various amts.You can always take it out as gold later, maybe at $2500 next Feb.

Moving large quantities of precious metals overseas is not recommended at all, specially to Chile that is under medieval laws and regulations. You should be clear what are you going to do with your gold, obviously you had turned your hard earned money into gold to preserve your wealth, which I agree 100%, and then when you are ready to invest, convert it into cash due to its high liquidity, (thing that won't happen in Chile). So, let's assume you are ready to invest; First turn all your gold into cash if you live in USA, this would be easy and painless, deposit your cash into your checking account. Take US$10,000 with you and open an account in Chile, make sure when you open an account in that country they can wire transfer money internationally. From your account in US let them know your intention of wire transfer large amounts of money or the will file with the FBI a "Suspicious Activity Reporting" (money laundering activity). Don't worry if they file one, it is your money and you are doing nothing illegal, btw banks file thousand of reports every year.
This is the most secure way to move your gold. Now if you want to invest in Chile I would highly recommend to invest in water. Aguas Andinas is a good option with nice returns, because I live in USA the easiest way for me to invest in water in that country is throughout iShares MSCI Chile Investable Market Index ETF (ECH) and I will expand my investments once I have more access to it but this time with ENDESA.
Hope this help, good luck to you.

xanadu wrote:Moving large quantities of precious metals overseas is not recommended at all, specially to Chile that is under medieval laws and regulations. You should be clear what are you going to do with your gold, obviously you had turned your hard earned money into gold to preserve your wealth, which I agree 100%, and then when you are ready to invest, convert it into cash due to its high liquidity, (thing that won't happen in Chile). So, let's assume you are ready to invest; First turn all your gold into cash if you live in USA, this would be easy and painless, deposit your cash into your checking account. Take US$10,000 with you and open an account in Chile, make sure when you open an account in that country they can wire transfer money internationally. From your account in US let them know your intention of wire transfer large amounts of money or the will file with the FBI a "Suspicious Activity Reporting" (money laundering activity). Don't worry if they file one, it is your money and you are doing nothing illegal, btw banks file thousand of reports every year.
This is the most secure way to move your gold. Now if you want to invest in Chile I would highly recommend to invest in water. Aguas Andinas is a good option with nice returns, because I live in USA the easiest way for me to invest in water in that country is throughout iShares MSCI Chile Investable Market Index ETF (ECH) and I will expand my investments once I have more access to it but this time with ENDESA.
Hope this help, good luck to you.

Say what " medieval laws and regulations" where did you hear that? In 'merika!!!