Value a gold holding by weight and purity, tax-free.
Current value
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Pure gold content
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Gain since purchase
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VAT on investment gold
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Pure content is what you actually own
Gold has been a household store of value in the UAE for generations, and Dubai’s gold souk prices the metal by the gram. This calculator values your holding the way a dealer does: it works out how much pure gold sits inside your piece, multiplies that by the current price per gram, and shows the gain since you bought. It is built for residents holding bars, coins, or jewellery who want a clear, honest number rather than the optimistic figure a seller might quote.
The key idea is purity. A 100 gram piece of 22-karat gold does not contain 100 grams of gold. It contains 22 parts in 24, so about 91.7 grams of pure metal mixed with alloy for durability. The tool applies that factor before it touches the price, which is why the value of a 22-karat piece is always lower than a 24-karat piece of the same weight. Get this step wrong and every figure after it is inflated.
Why karat matters before price does
Karat is the order of operations that trips people up. The calculator computes pure content first, weight multiplied by the purity factor, then values and tracks the gain on that pure content alone. So if the price rises, your gain is measured on the gold you genuinely hold, not the gross weight of the alloy. This matters most for jewellery, which is usually 22-karat or lower, where a chunk of the weight is never going to track the gold price at all.
Valuing 100 grams of 24-karat gold
Take the default case: 100 grams of 24-karat gold, bought at AED 230 per gram, now worth AED 265 per gram. Because 24-karat is pure, the purity factor is 1, so all 100 grams count as pure content. The current value is 100 multiplied by AED 265, which is AED 26,500. The gain is the price move of AED 35 per gram across 100 grams, or AED 3,500.
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That AED 3,500 gain is yours in full. As the calculator models it, individuals pay no capital gains tax on the rise in the gold price, so unlike property or shares in many countries, there is no slice taken when you sell.
The VAT line that trips up jewellery buyers
Investment-grade gold, generally 99 percent purity or higher, is zero-rated for VAT in the UAE, which is why the tool shows AED 0 of VAT on the metal. That treatment is the calculator’s assumption and worth confirming with the FTA, but the structure is clear: the pure metal carries no VAT. The catch is jewellery. When you buy a necklace, the making charge, the craftsmanship premium on top of the metal value, can carry the 5 percent standard rate. So two people buying the same weight of gold can pay different amounts of VAT depending on whether they bought a plain bar or a worked piece. A practical tip: if you are buying gold purely as an investment, bars and coins keep you cleanly inside the zero-rated treatment and avoid paying VAT on craftsmanship you do not need.
Should I enter the weight or the pure gold content?
Enter the total weight stamped on the piece and pick the karat from the dropdown. The tool then derives the pure content for you. If you enter pure content but select a karat below 24, you will double-count the purity discount and undervalue your holding.
Does the gain figure account for making charges I paid?
No. The gain compares the metal price you entered at purchase against the current metal price, on your pure gold content. Any making charge or premium you paid on jewellery is not part of the metal price, so your true break-even is slightly higher than the gain shown. For bars and coins bought near the spot price, the gap is small.