To invest IRA funds in gold, you must set up a self-directed IRA, a type of IRA that the investor manages directly and which may own a wider range of investment products than other IRAs. Gold IRA rules require you to store eligible precious metal with a national custodian, bank, or IRS-approved external trustee. Your custodian bank can refer you to an approved institution and handle the gold transfer as part of setting up your Gold IRA. Gold IRAs are a special type of self-directed IRA that allows you to invest in physical gold and other precious metals, such as silver, platinum, and palladium.
Investing in a Gold IRA requires the services of a custodian bank, a broker to buy gold, and an approved custodian to store gold. Like other self-directed IRAs, gold IRAs can be traditional or Roth. The IRS doesn’t allow popular gold coins, such as South Africa’s Krugerrand or the UK’s sovereign coins, to be held in a gold IRA. Two of the most commonly used types of gold approved by the IRA are American Eagle coins and bars and Canadian Maple Leaf coins.
A Gold IRA can give you the tax benefits of a traditional retirement account, but you must comply with IRS rules or risk fines and penalties. Be sure to review the list of allowed gold objects with your custodian bank before adding gold to your IRA. Gold coins, bars, and cartridges eligible for the IRA must meet a number of requirements set out in the Internal Revenue Code so that they can be stored in a self-directed IRA. One important rule for knowing how physical gold can be stored in an IRA is that your precious metals MUST be stored at an approved depository agency such as the Delaware Depository Service Company or Brink’s Global Services, not at your home or in a safe deposit box.
Popular Gold IRA companies include Orion Metal Exchange, Birch Gold Group, Red Rock Secured, Gold Alliance, Oxford Gold Group, and Goldco, among others. If the IRS determines that the day your IRA gold got into your home was the date of “distribution,” you could end up paying additional penalties and additional taxes owed from the time it was distributed. Gold IRAs follow the same general rules as traditional IRAs when it comes to tax benefits (traditional or Roth), contribution limits, and payout rules. Take advantage of everything a gold-backed IRA has to offer with these easy-to-understand Gold IRA guidelines.
While most IRA companies buy back gold, you should be aware that the price at which they buy gold is lower than the price they sell gold at. If you’re not sure whether a Gold IRA or a Silver IRA is right for you, contact a paid financial planner who isn’t affiliated with a Gold IRA company to see if it would be a good addition to your portfolio. A gold IRA is an alternative investment option for retirement savers who own gold as a hedge against inflation or want to diversify their assets beyond the stock market. To avoid missing the rollover cutoff, many people choose to have their IRA Gold company coordinate the rollover through a direct transfer from institution to institution.
It’s important that you understand all costs and expenses before you buy physical gold to keep in an IRA. Many Gold IRA companies have preferred custodian banks that they either recommend or require customers to use, or you can search for a custodian via the RITA website.
