Selling Gold in Dallas, TX: What Local Sellers Should Know

Dallas sits inside two tax rules that change the math on precious metals: Texas exempts most bullion from sales tax, and the state levies no income tax at all. Neither directly raises your payout when you sell scrap or coins, but both are worth understanding before you walk in.

The Texas sales-tax exemption cuts the other way for sellers

Under Texas Tax Code § 151.336, the sale of gold, silver, or numismatic coins, and of platinum, gold, or silver bullion, is exempt from state sales and use tax. That exemption took effect October 1, 2013. Before then it only applied to transactions of $1,000 or more; House Bill 78 removed that floor, so today even small bullion buys are exempt.

Read that carefully: the exemption applies to purchases. If you are selling metal to a Dallas dealer, sales tax was never the issue anyway. Where it matters to you is the next time you buy, and it matters to the buyer sitting across the counter, who does not have to add tax when reselling what you bring in. Not everything is covered. Palladium is not named in the statute and is treated as taxable, along with certain copper products, accessories, and processed items. Dallas's combined sales-tax rate is 8.25% (6.25% state plus up to 2% local), which applies to those non-exempt goods.

The bigger structural fact: Texas has no state income tax, so there is no state-level capital gains tax on a profitable sale. Federal rules still apply, so keep records of what you paid. See our guide to selling coins and bullion for how dealers price those items.

The Texas Bullion Depository is real, and it is not in Dallas

Texas operates the first state-administered bullion depository in the United States, created by the 84th Legislature through HB 483 in 2015 and opened for business on June 6, 2018. It is a storage and custody operation, not a place that buys your gold at a walk-up window.

It also is not local. The facility is a roughly 40,000-square-foot building on about 10 acres in Leander, just north of Austin — a drive of roughly three hours south of Dallas. Day to day it is managed by a private firm, Lone Star Tangible Assets, under the oversight of the Texas Comptroller's Office. If you want state-affiliated storage after a sale or purchase, it exists; if you want to hand someone metal in Dallas today, it is irrelevant.

Dallas dealer geography

The named, long-running dealers sit in the North Dallas and Central Expressway corridors, not downtown. Dallas Gold & Silver Exchange (DGSE) has operated since 1978, buying gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in coins, rounds, and bars, and also handling diamonds and brand-name jewelry. Its address on file is 13022 Preston Rd, Dallas, TX 75240.

Dallas is also headquarters for Elemetal, a precious-metals conglomerate that once produced "good delivery" gold and silver and was DGSE's largest shareholder, holding about 72% of its common stock. That history comes with a caveat you should know. After a 2017 money-laundering and gold-smuggling case involving its subsidiary NTR Metals Miami, two major exchanges removed Elemetal from their good-delivery lists and the company ceased its high-grade refining business. Elemetal still operates Dallas-area refining locations. None of that changes what a reputable local buyer will pay you for jewelry or coins, but it is a reminder that a familiar name and a clean history are not the same thing. Weigh your metal, know its purity, and compare offers.

A note on Deep Ellum

Deep Ellum dates to 1873, when the Texas and Pacific Railroad crossed the Houston and Texas Central line on the east edge of downtown; the name is a local pronunciation of "Deep Elm." Texas designated it a Cultural District in 2020, and the Deep Ellum Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2023, its 150th anniversary. It is a genuine part of Dallas, but do not go there expecting a strip of gold buyers. The established coin and bullion shops are north of the center, along Preston Road and Central Expressway, not in Deep Ellum.

Before you sell

Two things do the most for your payout, and neither is location. Know the weight and karat of what you are selling, and get more than one number the same day. Spot moves, so an offer is only meaningful against a current quote — check today's gold price before you go. For scrap jewelry specifically, our cash-for-gold page explains how melt value is calculated so you can check a buyer's arithmetic on the spot. If you are comparing cities, the Atlanta guide covers a state with a very different tax setup.

This page is informational. Figures and rules cited are accurate as of the review date above and can change.

Last reviewed August 2, 2026.