Buying Silver in Canada: Coins, Bars, Junk Silver or ETFs

Last reviewed: 11 November 2026. Sources are linked in the text.

Silver is one of the four precious metals Canadians can buy as a physical asset, alongside gold, platinum and palladium. It carries its own tax rule, its own bulk and storage math, and its own mix of products, from Mint issued coins to decades old circulation coins sold by weight. This guide does not repeat detail covered elsewhere on this site. It lays out the main paths to buying silver in Canada, explains what makes silver different from gold as a purchase, and points to the dedicated guide for whichever path fits.

This is educational material only. It does not tell a reader to buy silver, and it does not recommend one dealer, product or path over another.

Four ways to buy silver in Canada

Most retail silver purchases fall into one of four categories, each with its own cost, tax position, and effort needed to verify what is being bought.

New Mint issued bullion coins. Coins such as the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf are struck by the Royal Canadian Mint at a published purity and carry legal tender status. A separate guide on this site, the guide to the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coin, covers specifications, security features and available sizes.
Generic silver bars and rounds from a dealer. Bars and rounds from recognized refiners can carry a lower premium per ounce than coins, with no coin design or legal tender status to produce. The tradeoff is more responsibility on the buyer to confirm purity and provenance, covered below.
Pre-1968 Canadian junk silver coins, bought by weight. Circulation dimes, quarters, 50 cent pieces and dollars minted before 1968 contain real silver, priced mainly on melt value. A separate guide on this site, the guide to which Canadian coins are silver, lists which years and denominations qualify and how much silver each holds.
Silver exchange-traded funds (ETFs). A silver ETF offers price exposure without physical delivery, storage or insurance. This guide does not cover ETF mechanics or fees; a separate guide on this site is dedicated to that topic.

Across the three physical paths, the same questions decide the choice: how important is verifying the product at a glance, how much premium over spot is acceptable, and how much storage space or weight a given dollar amount involves.

Why silver’s tax-free purity bar is higher than gold’s

Under the Excise Tax Act, “precious metal” is a defined term, and only products meeting that definition are exempt from GST/HST. Subsection 123(1) defines it as a bar, ingot, coin or wafer of gold, silver or platinum refined to a purity of at least 99.5% for gold and platinum, and at least 99.9% for silver (Excise Tax Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. E-15, subsection 123(1), checked 11 November 2026). The CRA’s GST/HST Memorandum 17-1 restates that two tier threshold and adds form rules: a bar, ingot or wafer must generally be recognized for trading on Canadian financial markets and bear a purity marking plus the issuer’s or refinery’s mark; a coin qualifies only if issued by a government authority and usable as currency (Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST Memorandum 17-1, “Definition of Financial Instrument,” July 2026 version, paragraphs 29 and 30, checked 11 November 2026).

That split is not a rounding difference. Gold and platinum clear the exemption at a purity level common across ordinary refining; silver has to clear a bar that is noticeably harder to hit and document. Memorandum 17-1 is direct about what happens below the line: a sale that fails the purity or form test “is a taxable supply and subject to the GST/HST,” which also covers metal of the right purity sold in the wrong form, such as silver in granular form (Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST Memorandum 17-1, paragraph 32, checked 11 November 2026).

Why this catches more silver products than gold products

Two silver categories sit on the taxable side of that line more often than their gold equivalents.

The first is jewellery grade silver. Sterling silver, the standard for jewellery and flatware, is 92.5% pure, which Memorandum 17-1 explicitly places outside the definition: carat gold, sterling silver and platinum in “jewellery or chattel form” do not meet the purity and form requirements, and sales are generally taxable (Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST Memorandum 17-1, paragraph 36, checked 11 November 2026). This is as much a form problem as a purity one; even 99.9% silver sold as jewellery falls outside the definition.

The second is generic rounds and small bars from mints with no established standing on Canadian bullion markets. The form test requires recognition for trading on those markets plus a purity mark and the issuing refinery’s mark. A round stamped “.999 fine” by a mint with no recognized standing can leave a buyer unable to confirm the exemption applies, whatever the metal’s actual fineness. Gold has fewer such products in ordinary retail circulation, partly because its higher dollar value per ounce supports fewer, larger, more carefully documented refiners. A buyer considering generic silver bars or rounds should look for a named refiner and a clearly stamped purity, and ask the dealer directly whether GST/HST applies before paying.

The physical reality: silver is bulkier and heavier per dollar than gold

This is a structural fact of relative prices, not a comment on either metal’s merit. As of 10 to 11 November 2026, gold traded at roughly C$5,769 per troy ounce and silver at roughly C$73, a ratio of about 79 to 1 (Kitco Metals Inc., live gold price in Canadian dollars; live silver price in Canadian dollars; both checked 11 November 2026). Both prices move daily, but the gap has stayed large for years: to hold the same dollar value in silver as in gold, a buyer needs roughly 75 to 80 times the weight and volume, in similar density bar or coin forms.

That difference shows up after the purchase. A given dollar amount of silver takes up more room in a safe deposit box or home safe than the same amount of gold. Shipping a given value of silver typically costs more per dollar of value, since carriers and insurers price mainly on weight and declared value. The same applies to insured dealer or depository storage, where fees are often set partly by weight or vault space. None of this makes silver a weaker purchase; it means carrying costs, as a share of value, tend to run higher for silver than for gold, worth budgeting for before deciding how much to hold or where to store it.

A short checklist for choosing a silver dealer

Whichever path a buyer chooses, the dealer matters as much as the product. Worth checking before placing an order:

FINTRAC status. Most bullion-only dealers register with FINTRAC as a “dealer in precious metals and stones” (DPMS), a separate category from a money services business (MSB). DPMS status carries no public registration number, so a bullion-only dealer generally will not appear in FINTRAC’s public MSB registry; that lookup applies only where a dealer also offers currency exchange or money transfer services, which should show as a registered MSB (FINTRAC, guidance for dealers in precious metals and precious stones; FINTRAC, Money Services Business Registry; both checked 11 November 2026).
A published buy-back policy. A dealer stating in writing how and at what spread it buys product back gives a buyer something concrete to compare, rather than finding out only at resale.
A physical address. A listed, checkable business address, rather than a website with no mailing address or storefront, is easier to locate and pursue if something goes wrong.
Time in business. How long a dealer has operated under its current name is a simple, checkable point, through its own site, incorporation records, or business directories.
An independent complaint record. The Better Business Bureau or a similar body can show a pattern of unresolved disputes a dealer’s own marketing will not.

This site maintains paid partnerships with two bullion dealers, Silver Gold Bull and BullionStar. Any mention or link to either on this site carries a disclosed affiliate commission on completed purchases. That relationship does not change the checklist above, which applies to any dealer a reader is considering.

Matching the path to the goal

A Mint issued coin such as the Silver Maple Leaf is the easiest of the four paths to verify at a glance, since its purity and security features are fixed and published, and it reliably clears the GST/HST exemption above; that ease is part of what the premium over spot pays for. Generic bars and rounds can carry a lower premium but shift more verification work onto the buyer. Junk silver is priced on melt value and collector interest, and is generally subject to GST/HST since its silver content sits below 99.9% regardless of its history as legal tender; a separate guide on this site has the exact years, weights and silver content involved. For the bank, big box retailer and bullion dealer comparison rather than product type, a separate guide on this site, the comparison of banks, Costco and bullion dealers, works through it.

Frequently asked questions

Is silver a good way to start precious metals investing?

Whether silver, gold, or any precious metal fits a particular plan depends on an individual’s own goals, timeline and risk tolerance; this guide does not answer that. Factually, silver has a much lower price per ounce than gold, so a given budget buys more individual pieces, but it also carries proportionally higher storage and shipping costs per dollar of value, and a stricter GST/HST purity rule. Those are structural facts to weigh, not a recommendation. A financial professional can help place silver, or any precious metal, in an individual’s broader plan.

Do I pay GST on all silver?

No, but the exemption is narrower than many buyers expect. Only silver in the form of a bar, ingot, coin or wafer, refined to at least 99.9% purity and meeting the CRA’s form requirements (recognized for trading on Canadian financial markets with proper markings, or government issued and usable as currency for coins) is exempt from GST/HST. Sterling silver jewellery, most generic rounds without a confirmed purity mark, and pre-1968 Canadian coins, which are 80% or 92.5% silver, fall below that line and are generally subject to GST/HST (Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST Memorandum 17-1, paragraphs 29, 32 and 36, checked 11 November 2026).

What is junk silver?

“Junk silver” is a market term, not a legal one, for pre-1968 Canadian circulation coins, dimes, quarters, 50 cent pieces and dollars, that contain real silver but trade mainly on melt value rather than face value or collector grade. A separate guide on this site lists which denominations and years qualify and how much silver each holds.

Should I buy coins or bars?

This guide does not make that choice for a reader. The usual factors are how important it is to verify the product at a glance, how much premium over spot is acceptable, and how much storage volume is involved for a given budget, since bars generally offer more silver per dollar of packaging and premium. A separate guide on this site, the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coin guide, covers that coin specifically, and another, the banks and Costco versus dealer comparison, covers banks, big box retailers and bullion dealers as purchase channels.

Sources

All checked 11 November 2026.

Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST Memorandum 17-1, “Definition of Financial Instrument”, July 2026 version, paragraphs 29 to 32 and 36
Government of Canada, Excise Tax Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. E-15), subsection 123(1), definition of “precious metal”
Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), Obligations and guidance, dealers in precious metals and precious stones
Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), Money Services Businesses (MSBs)
Kitco Metals Inc., Gold Price Canada Today, live gold price in Canadian dollars
Kitco Metals Inc., Silver Price Canada Today, live silver price in Canadian dollars