Importing Gold from Italy to the UK

[naguere]

Unusual one Gents.

My father in law in Italy has a kilo of gold inherited from his now deceased father. It's provenance and purity is unknown and unknowable at present. The price being what it is he is keen to cash it in but is wary of doing so in Italy due to Italian money laundering rules.

There seem to be no rules stopping the importation of gold into the UK but how best might he go about it? It seems easy enough to carry gold on any international airline but there might well be difficult questions to answer when it pops up on the hand luggage scanner in Pisa airport so another form of transport will be needed.

The vague plan is to drive down and spend a few days in Tuscany, (no hardship there), and come back with the gold in the luggage, avoiding Switzerland who can be funny about these things I gather. Get it to a respected metal refiners in the UK, have it's value deposited in a UK bank account in his name after which he can do as he sees fit with it.

I have no interest in this apart from trying to help him out a bit.

Any holes in the plan? Might there be any tax implications?

Just had an email from the youngest son who works for HMRC a department head, "DECLARE!:

 

[Deleted 172264]

It would be easy to ascertain the purity of the metal. Trim or file a few grams (around 20g) off and send it by post to a scrap buyers, for example Cookson Gold, think they are in Brum. I used a similar service some years ago, I even got sent a secure envelope to post the metal. You will get the value of the gold put in your bank account and a report on what it actually IS, ie 9 carat, 18 carat. You may need to open an account.
I am not sure what things are like now but ten years ago I sent 1.3kg of silver cutlery for scrap to a place in London and got paid by return, no questions about where it came from. Jewellers and metal smiths often send scrap or unrepairable jewellery to get money back, you would be amazed at how much there is out there. It is not unusual for dealers/jewellers to sit on scrap gold for a while and wait for the price to go up, that is what bullion dealers do, they accumulate large amounts and sell it on when the price is right.
Declaring the stuff on arrival in the UK is up to the OP, as it's a gift or family heirloom I would not bother, it's not a prohibited item as far as I know. I would cut it into smaller chunks and if asked say it's scrap metal, which it is.
I've been out of the game for some time now so things have possibly changed, but the dealers are still there buying and selling.

 

[CptDanjou]

Cut it into small cubes with a hacksaw and swallow it , walk through customs , job done , dont forget to file the sharp edges off.

 

[Accidental_discharge]

Cut it into small cubes with a hacksaw and swallow it , walk through customs , job done , dont forget to file the sharp edges off.

Holocaust walt.