The most profitable way to buy silver is to purchase at the lowest possible price. This means avoiding buying silver where any VAT or sales tax is added. In the UK all silver coins and small retail bars incur an additional 20% VAT over and above the value of the silver when sold.
Wholesale silver bullion in large 1,000 oz (32kg) bars stored within LBMA-member warehouses are traded VAT free. Silver buyers can also benefit from VAT free silver by using BullionVault.