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Message:: [QUOTE="Publius2, post: 26670046, member: 105571"]As a buyer, I insist on a receipt.  On the extremely rare occasions where a dealer has not agreed to provide a receipt I have either walked away from the deal or written my own receipt on the spot recording dealer's name and contact information, date, coin particulars and price and the fact that dealer refused to provide a receipt. But that said, almost every dealer I work with voluntarily offers a receipt. If I ever get audited, I have all that information in my Excel records plus a banker's box with all those paper receipts just thrown in. It is important to remember that if you ever get audited by the IRS, you are in far better position to argue the cost basis of the coin if you have a record.  Any record is better than none but the best is a dealer receipt. The downside of not having any evidence to support a claimed cost basis is that the IRS can, and has, said the cost basis is zero, thus the capital gains on which taxes are owed is calculated to be 100% of what you sell the coin for.  Ouch! Now, I don't insist on a receipt for anything that costs less than about $50 and I don't even bother recording these purchases.  But there are almost none of those nowadays so it doesn't really matter. The situation for dealers is much more complex as dealers can range from corporate outfits to vest pocket guys on the bourse floor.  Plus, bona fide dealers don't have to deal with capital gains as their cost and sale figures are business expenses and sales revenues and profits taxed at business rates. But as a general piece of advice for dealers, I would offer that the more records you have to support your accounting, records and taxation position the better your argument may be.  Generally, the IRS doesn't like to "take your word for it".[/QUOTE]

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