Questions about whisky casks and UK gold

The bonded warehouse issues a delivery order in your name, carrying the cask’s stencilled number. The warehouse is independent of us and holds the cask on that basis; it will confirm your ownership in writing on request. The cask does not appear on our balance sheet.

Yes, by appointment. We arrange the time, walk you to the cask with your name on its paperwork and let you draw a sample.

The cask remains yours. The warehouse is independent of the distillery, so the cask stays where it is, in your name, whatever happens at the distillery that filled it.

About two per cent of the spirit evaporates each year, the angels’ share, and its strength eases by roughly half a per cent a year. Your statement shows the volume and strength from the last regauge.

Yes. An independent bottler bottles it at a licensed plant, under your label and at your chosen strength: roughly 250 to 700 bottles, in your name. Duty becomes payable at bottling.

Spirit cannot leave a bonded warehouse in cask until duty is paid, which happens at bottling. Once bottled and duty-paid, the bottles can be delivered to you.

Your coins are allocated: specific coins, recorded against your name on the vault’s register and kept apart from other customers’ holdings. You can ask for them to be sent to you at any time.

Britannias, and Sovereigns struck since 1837, are UK legal tender, so a gain on them is generally outside Capital Gains Tax. Bars are not legal tender and do not share this. Coins also let you sell part of a holding, a coin at a time.

Either. New coins carry a premium over the price of the gold they contain; second-hand coins with the same gold content usually carry a smaller one. We tell you which you are getting before you commit.

Yes. We send them by insured, signed-for courier, tracked the whole way. You can take all of them, or keep some in the vault and take the rest. Check that your home insurance covers gold before they arrive.

No. A self-invested personal pension can hold investment-grade gold bars, but not coins, so Sovereigns and Britannias cannot be held inside one. If you want gold in a pension, ask your pension provider whether it accepts bars. We do not give pension or investment advice.

The value of your coins falls with it. Gold pays no interest or dividend, and its price can fall as well as rise, sometimes for long periods. What you receive when you sell depends on the price on that day.

HMRC generally treats a maturing cask as a wasting asset, the same rule that applies to a vintage car, so a gain when you sell usually falls outside Capital Gains Tax.

While the cask sits in bond, no duty is due. It becomes payable only if the whisky leaves the warehouse, at bottling, and by whoever bottles it. Bottling a cask and selling the bottles as stock is generally trading, and income tax may apply.

Investment gold coins are exempt from VAT in the UK, and Sovereigns and Britannias both qualify, so there is no VAT on the price you pay.

Britannias, and Sovereigns struck since 1837, are UK legal tender, so a gain when you sell them is generally outside Capital Gains Tax. Gold bars, and coins that are not UK legal tender, do not share this.

No. Casks and coins form part of your estate like other assets, and Inheritance Tax applies in the usual way.

Yes. Tax rules can change and how they apply depends on your personal circumstances. We are happy to walk through this with you.

If your situation is unusual, for example a large estate, residence outside the UK or business assets, yes. We are not tax advisers; speak to an accountant or a tax adviser.

Casks rest in HMRC-bonded warehouses in Scotland, independent of us, recorded in your name on the warehouse’s delivery order. Coins are allocated to you in a London vault and insured there, or delivered to your door by insured courier.

Storage and insurance are included for the first twelve months. After that, a flat annual fee, quoted in writing before you commit: typically £40 to £80 a year for a cask, and £30 to £60 a year for a vault holding of gold.

There are three routes. We set out each one with you and handle the paperwork for whichever you choose.

A buyback offer: an offer from us, based on the current market for casks of that distillery and age, with funds usually within fourteen days. A private buyer or bottler: an introduction to vetted buyers and independent bottlers, typically over four to eight weeks. Your own bottling: an independent bottler bottles the cask under your label, roughly 250 to 700 bottles, in your name.

A single coin or the whole holding, whenever you choose. Back to us, at the live gold price on the day less a dealing spread we quote before you agree, with funds usually within three to five working days. Or through another dealer: Sovereigns and Britannias are widely traded, and we send your coins to the buyer you choose or release them to you.

That depends on the market at the time, and it can be less than you paid. Values can fall as well as rise, and some casks take longer to sell than expected. Insurance covers loss, theft and damage, not a fall in value.

Whisky casks and physical gold coins sit outside the Financial Conduct Authority’s remit, because what you buy is a physical asset rather than a financial product. Oak & Mason is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and does not give investment advice; for that, speak to an independent financial adviser.

Your cask is held at the bonded warehouse in your name, on the warehouse’s own paperwork, and your coins are allocated to you at the vault. Neither is an asset of ours. The warehouse or the vault would deal directly with you, or with an appointed administrator, to release what is yours.

Yes. The bonded warehouse confirms ownership of your cask in writing on request, and the vault’s allocation receipt lists your coins against your name. You can visit your cask by appointment, or ask for your coins to be sent to you.

No. The Financial Ombudsman Service does not handle complaints about these sales, and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme does not cover them. Your statutory consumer rights still apply.

Email admin@oakandmason.co.uk or write to our registered office. We acknowledge a complaint within two working days and aim to resolve it within fifteen.