Grand Exchange Tax Explained
How the OSRS GE tax works and what it means for your flipping profits.
How the GE Tax Works
Jagex introduced a 2% tax on all Grand Exchange sales in December 2021 as part of the item sink mechanic. When you sell an item on the GE, 2% of the sale price is deducted from the gold you receive. Buyers are not affected — they pay the full listed price.
The 5M GP Tax Cap
The tax is capped at 5,000,000 GP per item. This means items worth more than 250M GP are effectively taxed at less than 2%. For example, selling a Twisted Bow for 1.2B GP still only costs 5M in tax — well under 1%.
Tax-Exempt Items
Some items are completely exempt from GE tax. These include:
- Old School Bonds
- Items under 100 GP sale price
- Various low-level supplies (basic arrows, low-tier food)
Impact on Flipping
The 2% tax has a significant impact on flipping margins. Before the tax, a 3% margin meant 3% pure profit. Now, that same 3% margin only yields roughly 1% profit after tax. This makes it essential to use accurate, tax-adjusted profit figures.
07Flip automatically calculates profit after tax for every item, so the margins you see are what you actually take home. No manual maths required.
Tax Calculation Formula
Tax = min(Sell Price × 0.02, 5,000,000)
Profit = Sell Price − Tax − Buy Price
Where Does the Tax Go?
The gold collected from the GE tax is removed from the game entirely — it acts as a gold sink to help combat inflation. The items purchased by the tax fund are also removed, functioning as an item sink. This was introduced to address the ever-growing supply of high-value items in the game.