As it stands now, that couple will pay 55% of their profit to the feds, another big chunk to the state of CA, so who ever said they would realize about 5 million is probably close to right on. But if they end up in legal battles, then that will all change, and it's conceivable that could happen, (Mel Fisher comes to mind) and they might end up with little or nothing. By keeping your mouth shut, and managing the sales to maximize tax savings seems the most logical way to go. Anything you can legally do to minimize taxes is just good business sense. Does anyone know that if they just kept the coins, would they owe any tax at all, or taxes on the face value, or taxes on the guessed value of possible sales? I know back when Jimmy Carter was president I had to fight being forced to pay inheritance tax on the highest potential value of our property, which even though it was illegal to sub divide the land, the highest value was 5 acre parcels, and we were taxed on that amount that 5 acre parcels would bring in, even though it was then and still is an illegal subdivision. In the end we fought them, and ended up with a more reasonable tax, but both the feds and Oregon both tried to force us to pay on a thin air guess. In order for them to save on some taxes it might have been wise to move to Texas before putting them up for sale, no state income tax in Texas, and the feds would get theirs, but Calif. would possibly be saved. Don't know that for sure though, just sort of thinking out loud so to speak.
