How We Research
In one line. We are not a dealer, custodian or adviser. We read the primary sources, we quote them, we say plainly when something is contested rather than guessing, and we tell you where our money comes from.
Why this page exists
Search for anything about precious metals in retirement accounts and nearly every result is published by a company that sells the product. That is not automatically dishonest, but it does mean the pages are written to close a sale, and the difficult parts get softened or skipped.
We publish the difficult parts. This page exists so you can check our method rather than take our word for it.
Where our facts come from
In this order, and we do not move down the list until the one above is exhausted.
The statute itself
The actual text of the United States Code, not a summary of it. When we say the fineness standard is not written into the tax code, that is because we read ยง 408(m)(3)(B) and it defers to what a contract market requires for futures delivery. We link the section so you can read it too.
Agency guidance
Published IRS guidance for the operational rules such as deadlines, withholding and distribution requirements.
Court decisions
Where a rule has been tested, we cite the case. Home storage is the clearest example, and McNulty v. Commissioner is why we state it flatly instead of hedging.
Issuer specifications
Mint and refiner documentation for purity, weight and year-by-year changes. This is how we caught that the Silver Britannia changed fineness in 2013, which changes the answer for the same coin depending on its date.
Provider documents
Published fee schedules, accepted-product lists and storage agreements. If a provider will not put something in writing, we record that we asked and did not receive it.
What we do when the answer is not clean
Some questions genuinely do not have a single settled answer. Proof coins are the clearest case: the statutory position and common custodian practice do not line up neatly, and different providers reach different conclusions.
When that happens we say so and mark it as depending on your custodian, rather than picking whichever answer reads better. A confident wrong answer is worse than an honest "this one turns on who is holding it", because you are the one who finds out later.
How we are paid, stated plainly
We earn money when a reader chooses a provider we compare and that provider pays us a referral fee. This costs you nothing extra.
What that money does not buy:
- It does not change what we say the rules are. Statute and IRS guidance are not negotiable and no provider gets to soften them.
- It does not buy a ranking. Where we rank providers, the reasons are stated and the underlying figures are ones you can verify in their own documents.
- It does not remove drawbacks. Our own pages list the structural downsides of holding metal in a retirement account, including the ones that cost providers sales.
Where a page contains a paid link, that is disclosed on the page itself, not only here.
What we are not
We are not a broker, dealer, custodian, depository, law firm, accountancy practice or registered investment adviser. Nothing we publish is investment, legal or tax advice, and we have no way of knowing your circumstances.
Two decisions in particular are not ours to make for you and we will not pretend otherwise: whether a concentrated holding in one asset class suits your situation, and what the tax consequences are in your specific case. Both need someone who can see your whole position.
Review and dating
Every page carries a last-reviewed date, and that date means a person checked the cited sources on that date rather than that a word was changed. Pages covering rules with annual figures, such as contribution and distribution thresholds, are reviewed at least yearly and after any legislative change that touches them.
When we correct something material we change the page and say what changed, rather than editing quietly.
Tell us we are wrong
If you find an error, we want it. Rules in this area are technical and change, and a page that is right today can be wrong after one act of Congress.
Write to our correction address with the page and the source that contradicts us. Corrections backed by a primary source get made and dated. We would rather be corrected by a reader than keep publishing something that costs someone money.
Start here
- Which silver qualifies for an IRA, with the statutory test
- Moving an existing account in, and the 20% withholding trap
- How the account actually works, including the drawbacks
Metals Retirement is an independent research site. We are not a broker, dealer, custodian, law firm or investment adviser, and nothing here is investment, legal or tax advice. We may be compensated by providers we compare, at no cost to you. Last updated 26 July 2026.