Quick answer
Hawaii’s General Excise Tax (GET) under HRS Chapter 237 is a 4 percent levy on businesses, passed through to buyers at a maximum visible rate of 4.712 percent in all four counties thanks to the 0.5 percent county surcharge. No carve-out exists today for refined bullion, legal tender coins, numismatic pieces or jewelry. Out-of-state orders shipped to a Hawaii address trigger Hawaii use tax under HRS Chapter 238 at the same effective rate, collected by any national dealer with Hawaii nexus or self-reported by the resident. Exemption bills have been introduced across multiple legislative sessions and remain unenacted. Buyers planning a Hawaii purchase should budget the tax up front rather than compare across state lines, because the cross-border savings disappear once use tax is accounted for.
Why Hawaii is different: GET is not a sales tax
Most states tax precious metals (or exempt them) through a traditional retail sales tax imposed on the buyer. Hawaii’s main consumption tax is the General Excise Tax (GET), codified in HRS Chapter 237. The legal distinction matters more than it looks on the receipt.
- GET is on the seller, not the buyer. It is a 4 percent tax on the privilege of doing business in Hawaii, measured against gross receipts. A dealer owes the tax whether or not it passes the cost on.
- Pass-through is optional, but universal. The Hawaii Department of Taxation allows a maximum visible pass-through up to 4.712 percent in surcharged counties. Nearly every Hawaii bullion dealer runs at that cap.
- The surcharge stacks on top of the state 4 percent. All four counties (Honolulu, Maui, Kauai, Hawaii County) currently add 0.5 percent, raising the base rate to 4.5 percent before the gross-receipts math produces the 4.712 percent visible rate.
Readers coming from a mainland state are often surprised that Hawaii has no “bullion exemption” fight to track at the state level the way Pennsylvania, Mississippi or Alabama did. Instead, the fight is over whether to carve bullion out of the GET at all, and that fight has not been won. The GET’s broad base is a political and fiscal pillar of Hawaii’s tax code, and narrow exemptions are rare.
The current rate stack by county
County surcharges were authorized to fund mass transit and infrastructure projects on the islands. Each county’s surcharge has a specific effective window published by the Hawaii Department of Taxation:
| County | State GET | County surcharge | Max pass-through | Surcharge window |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City and County of Honolulu (Oahu) | 4% | 0.5% | 4.712% | Jan 1, 2007 to Dec 31, 2030 |
| Hawaii County (Big Island) | 4% | 0.5% | 4.712% | Jan 1, 2020 to Dec 31, 2030 |
| Kauai County | 4% | 0.5% | 4.712% | Jan 1, 2019 to Dec 31, 2030 |
| Maui County | 4% | 0.5% | 4.712% | Jan 1, 2024 to Dec 31, 2030 |
The 4.712 percent cap is not an arbitrary number. Because the business owes 4.5 percent on gross receipts (and the pass-through is itself part of gross receipts), the state’s formula allows a mark-up slightly above 4.5 percent so the dealer breaks even after remitting GET on the collected pass-through. The practical takeaway: a 10,000 dollar bullion invoice in any Hawaii county today carries 471.20 dollars at the maximum visible rate.
Rate windows matter for historical comparisons. Maui County only joined the surcharge group on January 1, 2024, so pre-2024 Maui invoices show a 4 percent base with no surcharge. Hawaii County stepped up from 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent on January 1, 2020. Buyers reconciling older receipts against newer ones should check the invoice date against the window.
What qualifies and what does not: everything is in scope
Hawaii has no bullion-content exemption, no legal-tender exemption, no numismatic exemption and no minimum-dollar threshold. In practice, every physical precious-metals SKU a dealer rings up falls under GET at the full rate:
| Product | Hawaii treatment | Max pass-through |
|---|---|---|
| American Gold Eagle 1 oz | Taxable under GET | 4.712% |
| 10 oz silver bar (any refiner) | Taxable under GET | 4.712% |
| Platinum American Eagle | Taxable under GET | 4.712% |
| 1 oz palladium bar | Taxable under GET | 4.712% |
| Pre-1933 Saint-Gaudens double eagle | Taxable under GET | 4.712% |
| 22-karat gold chain or ring | Taxable under GET | 4.712% |
| Coin tube, display case, loupe, gloves | Taxable under GET | 4.712% |
| Monthly storage or vault service | Taxable under GET as a service | 4.712% |
| Wholesale from one dealer to another | Taxable under GET at the 0.5% wholesale rate | 0.5% |
The uniform treatment is unusual among U.S. states. In most mainland jurisdictions, legal-tender coins and refined bullion priced near spot sit under a specific exemption while jewelry, palladium or numismatic premium pieces fall into the taxable retail bucket. Hawaii collapses the distinction. A one-ounce American Gold Eagle, a 10-karat chain and a palladium Maple Leaf all land in the same tax column. Services get an extra wrinkle: a dealer that charges a monthly fee for in-store safe storage is providing a service, and the GET applies to service revenue just as it applies to goods.
Online orders shipped to Hawaii: use tax under HRS Chapter 238
Since South Dakota v. Wayfair (2018), out-of-state online retailers that cross Hawaii’s economic nexus threshold must register with the Department of Taxation and collect GET or Hawaii use tax on orders shipped to Hawaii addresses. The companion statute to GET is HRS Chapter 238, the Use Tax Law.
- Dealer collects at checkout. National dealers with Hawaii nexus zero in on the delivery address zip code, apply the matching county rate and remit on the buyer’s behalf. The buyer owes nothing further.
- Dealer does not collect. Smaller mail-order dealers or private party sales may ship without charging Hawaii tax. The Hawaii resident then owes Hawaii use tax at the same effective rate (4 percent state plus 0.5 percent surcharge where applicable). Individuals report and remit on their Hawaii income tax return; businesses report on their periodic GET return.
- No cross-border loophole. Driving to a mainland dealer and bringing bullion home does not escape the obligation. Hawaii use tax is explicitly designed to equalize treatment with in-state purchases, and a conscientious filer reports the import. Individual enforcement on personal-scale imports is uncommon, but repeat-volume buyers correctly treat it as a filing obligation.
The practical result is that there is no meaningful “shop out-of-state” strategy for Hawaii residents on sales-tax grounds alone. Dealer pricing, shipping cost and buyback relationships end up mattering more than tax arbitrage, because the tax leveling is baked in.
How Hawaii compares to the mainland
Hawaii is one of a small group of U.S. states that fully taxes precious metals at the point of sale. The Goldiew 50-state bullion sales tax map keeps a current comparison. A few reference points:
| State | Bullion treatment | Typical combined rate |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | No bullion exemption (GET applies) | 4.712% in all four counties |
| Oregon | No state sales tax at all | 0% |
| California | Exempt on orders over 2,000 dollars (single sale) | Up to about 10% below threshold |
| Washington | Exemption repealed January 1, 2026; bullion is now taxable | Standard combined rate |
| Nevada | Exempt for bullion sold at near-spot pricing | 0% on exempt SKUs |
Pacific-adjacent neighbors show how uneven the national map is. Oregon has no sales tax at all. Washington exempts coins and bullion as a specific carve-out. California splits on a 2,000 dollar threshold per single transaction, which pushes high-ticket buyers above the line. Hawaii is the outlier in the group, with no exemption and a county-surcharge stack. Readers planning a mainland purchase trip should factor in Hawaii’s use-tax obligation on return, not just the destination state’s rate.
Federal treatment is separate from state GET. Physical gold and silver held more than one year are taxed as collectibles at up to 28 percent on long-term capital gains under IRS Topic 409. Our capital gains guide walks through the mechanics.
Hawaii dealers and how they compete
Hawaii has a small but active in-state dealer community concentrated in Honolulu, with a handful of operators on Maui and the Big Island. Because the tax disadvantage versus mainland dealers is roughly 4.7 percent on every ticket, local dealers compete on service, immediacy and buyback liquidity rather than headline price. A customer walking into a Honolulu shop is paying for same-day settlement, no shipping risk and a known counterparty for later resale.
- Pricing transparency. Well-run Hawaii dealers quote the spot-plus-premium price first, then show the GET pass-through line as a separate 4.712 percent line on the receipt. If a dealer bakes GET into a single blended “price” without an itemized tax line, buyers lose visibility and later resale math becomes harder.
- Buyback standing offers. A standing buyback offer for the SKUs the shop sells is the single most useful service in a GET state. The ability to monetize metal locally without a mainland shipment often more than compensates for the tax drag over a full holding cycle.
- Mixed stacks. Multi-metal stackers are not penalized relative to pure gold or silver buyers in Hawaii because the tax falls uniformly. The decision of what to stack is a portfolio question, not a tax question.
Buyers evaluating Hawaii dealers can shortlist shops by city and services on the Goldiew Hawaii coin dealer directory. For live spot comparisons during a visit, our gold value calculator uses the same live price as our listing pages, so the number on your phone matches what dealers quote on paper.
Running a coin shop, jewelry buyer or pawn store in Hawaii?
Hawaii buyers evaluating dealers compare shops on service, buyback terms and local reputation more than on headline price, because the GET pass-through is uniform across the state. A verified Goldiew profile puts your storefront on the Hawaii and city hub pages our readers use to shortlist dealers, with structured hours, services and community reviews. Claiming or registering is free. Start at Claim your business if your shop is already listed, or create a new listing. Owners can also read what a Goldiew profile does for a precious-metals shop before deciding.
Record-keeping and audit exposure
Hawaii buyers should keep the invoice for every precious-metals purchase, whether tax was collected at checkout or self-reported later. The invoice should show the item description, the quantity, the price before tax, and the GET pass-through as a separate line. For out-of-state imports where the dealer did not collect Hawaii tax, the invoice is the base document for a use-tax entry on the resident’s Hawaii return.
Dealers face a higher documentation bar. The GET is self-assessed on gross receipts, with periodic returns filed monthly, quarterly or semi-annually depending on volume. The Department of Taxation can audit on a multi-year lookback and expects reconciled records tying every invoice to a GET return line. Shops that handle both retail and wholesale transactions must separate the 4 percent retail rate from the 0.5 percent wholesale rate on each ticket, and present clean trial balances if audited.
Buyers planning a large purchase (five figures or more) should think of the tax line the same way they think of the premium over spot: a cost of ownership that affects the resale math. A clean invoice with an itemized GET line, a confirmed dealer buyback policy and clear chain-of-custody documentation keep the paperwork simple at exit as much as at entry.
Worked scenarios: what a Hawaii buyer actually pays
Three worked examples using the 4.712 percent maximum visible rate that applies in all four Hawaii counties:
- Honolulu coin shop, 10,000 dollar order of American Gold Eagles. GET pass-through: 471.20 dollars. Total out the door: 10,471.20 dollars. The same purchase at an Oregon shop would carry zero sales tax on the in-store ticket, but a Hawaii resident bringing the coins home would owe equivalent use tax under HRS Chapter 238, so the net tax position is identical.
- Maui coin shop, 2,500 dollar mixed order of silver rounds and a palladium Maple Leaf. GET pass-through: 117.80 dollars. Total: 2,617.80 dollars. There is no bullion-content exemption in Hawaii that would zero out the silver portion, so palladium does not trigger a worse rate than silver. Both lines carry 4.712 percent.
- Big Island online order, 5,000 dollar silver bars from an out-of-state dealer with Hawaii nexus. The dealer collects Hawaii use tax at checkout at 4.712 percent: 235.60 dollars. Total delivered: 5,235.60 dollars. If the same dealer did not collect, the buyer owes the same amount via use tax on their Hawaii return.
The pattern is consistent. Hawaii’s tax position is a flat 4.712 percent surcharge on every ticket, every SKU, every delivery channel. The savings on paper from shopping across a state line evaporate once the use-tax obligation is honored. Readers choosing between in-state and mainland dealers should treat tax as a wash and compare on price-above-spot, buyback liquidity and shipping risk instead.
Where to buy and verify in Hawaii
Before a large purchase, confirm the current GET rate structure directly with the state. The three authoritative stops are the Hawaii Department of Taxation General Excise Tax page, the County Surcharge page for the current rate and window in each county, and HRS Chapters 237 (GET) and 238 (Use Tax) on the Hawaii Revised Statutes site for the operative statutory text.
Finding a Hawaii dealer worth visiting is a separate step. The Goldiew Hawaii coin dealer directory lists shops by city with hours, services and community reviews. Buyers comparing dealers on tax handling should treat clean itemization of the GET pass-through and a written buyback policy as table stakes.
This guide is educational and reflects our reading of public Hawaii Department of Taxation guidance and the HRS statutory text. It is not legal or tax advice. For a substantial purchase, an audit question or a dealer opening a Hawaii storefront, a licensed Hawaii CPA or sales-tax attorney is the right call.
Frequently asked questions
Does Hawaii charge sales tax on gold and silver bullion?
Effectively yes, though technically Hawaii does not have a sales tax. The General Excise Tax (GET) under HRS Chapter 237 is a 4 percent tax imposed on the business for the privilege of doing business in Hawaii, and bullion and coin sales are not exempt. On Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island a 0.5 percent county surcharge is added on top. Businesses may pass the tax to customers up to a maximum visible rate of 4.712 percent in surcharged counties, which is what buyers typically see on a bullion receipt.
What is the current GET rate on bullion in Honolulu?
The base state GET rate is 4 percent. The City and County of Honolulu adds a 0.5 percent surcharge that has been in effect since January 1, 2007 and runs through December 31, 2030. Hawaii dealers typically price the pass-through at the maximum 4.712 percent, which accounts for the fact that GET is itself part of gross receipts. The same 4.712 percent cap applies in Maui County, Kauai County and Hawaii County where the 0.5 percent surcharge is also active.
Do I owe Hawaii tax if I order bullion from an out-of-state online dealer?
Yes, in the form of Hawaii use tax under HRS Chapter 238. When a Hawaii resident imports bullion for personal use from an out-of-state dealer that does not collect Hawaii tax, the resident owes the equivalent use tax to the Hawaii Department of Taxation. Larger national dealers that meet Hawaii’s economic nexus thresholds post-Wayfair register with the state and collect the tax at checkout, which satisfies the obligation. If the dealer does not collect, the buyer self-reports and remits the balance.
Is there any legislative push to exempt bullion from Hawaii GET?
Industry groups and individual legislators have introduced bullion exemption measures in multiple sessions of the Hawaii State Legislature. None have become law as of this writing. Because the GET is a cornerstone of Hawaii’s broad-based tax structure (unlike narrower sales taxes elsewhere), state fiscal notes on exemption proposals have historically weighed against them. Readers tracking current bill status should check the Hawaii State Legislature site directly for the active session.
How is GET different from a regular sales tax?
A sales tax is legally imposed on the buyer and collected by the seller as a trustee. The General Excise Tax is legally imposed on the business for the privilege of doing business in Hawaii, and the business is free to absorb the tax or pass it to customers. In practice, nearly every Hawaii bullion dealer passes it through, which is why the receipt looks a lot like a sales tax line. The legal difference matters mostly for resale, wholesale, and nexus questions, where GET often applies in situations that a sales tax would not.
Do IRA-eligible bullion purchases avoid Hawaii GET?
Usually, by structure. IRA-eligible bullion routed through a self-directed IRA custodian to an IRS-approved depository is not a retail delivery to a Hawaii consumer. The metal typically ships to the depository on behalf of the custodian, and the transaction sits outside Hawaii GET nexus for the account holder. Out-of-plan purchases shipped to a Hawaii address follow the normal GET or use tax rules on the pass-through portion. Keep the custodian confirmation, the dealer invoice and the depository receipt in the account records in case the Department of Taxation ever questions a transaction chain.
What rate does a dealer in Honolulu charge on a 10,000 dollar order of American Gold Eagles?
At the maximum visible pass-through rate of 4.712 percent, a 10,000 dollar in-store Oahu invoice carries 471.20 dollars of GET pass-through, for a 10,471.20 dollar total. The same order through an out-of-state online dealer that collects Hawaii tax would carry the same amount. If the dealer does not collect, the buyer owes equivalent use tax on the import under HRS Chapter 238. Buyers on neighbor islands (Maui, Kauai, Hawaii County) see the identical cap at 4.712 percent because each county currently runs the same 0.5 percent surcharge.
Sources
- Hawaii Department of Taxation: General Excise Tax (GET). Confirms 4 percent base state rate, GET imposed on the business, and optional pass-through up to 4.712 percent in surcharged counties.
- Hawaii Department of Taxation: County Surcharge. Current 0.5 percent surcharge rates and effective windows for Honolulu, Hawaii County, Kauai and Maui.
- Hawaii Revised Statutes. Chapter 237 (General Excise Tax Law) and Chapter 238 (Use Tax Law) for the operative statutory text.
- Hawaii State Legislature. Current session bill-status pages for any active bullion exemption proposals.
- IRS Topic 409: Capital Gains and Losses. Federal collectibles rate on long-term gains from physical precious metals, applied separately from state-level GET or sales tax.