Precious Metals IRA Rules: Every Requirement in One Place, With the Statute
Short answer. Eight rules govern this, and they come from three different places in the law. Get seven right and the eighth wrong and the consequence is not a warning letter, it is a taxable distribution.
The two that catch the most people: the metal can never be in your possession, and the account must buy it, not you.
The eight rules
The metal must be exempt from the collectibles rule
By default § 408(m)(2) treats any metal or coin as a collectible, which is prohibited. Two exceptions let specific things back in: named coins, and bullion above a purity floor from an accredited producer. The detail differs by metal, so see which gold qualifies and which silver qualifies.
Source: 26 U.S.C. § 408(m)(2) and (m)(3).
A qualified trustee must have physical possession
The bullion exemption says so in terms. If a bank is not acting as trustee, the company must appear on the IRS list of approved nonbank trustees. That check takes two minutes and is on our custodians page.
Source: 26 U.S.C. § 408(m)(3)(B) and Treas. Reg. § 1.408-2(e).
You may never take possession
Not in a home safe, not in a personal safe deposit box, not "temporarily". Arrangements marketed as home storage IRAs, usually through a self-directed LLC, are the exact structure the Tax Court ruled on. We deal with that claim in full on the home storage page.
Source: McNulty v. Commissioner, 157 T.C. No. 10 (2021).
The account buys, not you
You instruct the custodian and the custodian pays the dealer from account funds. Metal you already own cannot be contributed, and you cannot sell your own holdings to your IRA. That is self-dealing.
Source: 26 U.S.C. § 4975, disqualified persons.
Storage at an approved depository, in the account's name
The metal ships from the dealer to the vault and is held for the IRA rather than for you. Segregated and commingled are both permitted; which you get is a contract question, covered on the depositories page.
Source: follows from rules 2 and 3.
Ordinary contribution limits apply
A precious metals IRA is not a special account type with its own allowance. It is a normal traditional or Roth IRA, so the annual contribution limit and the catch-up amount for those 50 and over are the ordinary ones. Those figures are indexed and change, so we deliberately do not print a number here that would be wrong within a year. Take the current figure from the IRS contribution limits page.
Transfers and rollovers from existing retirement accounts are not contributions and are not subject to those limits. That is how most metals IRAs are actually funded.
Source: 26 U.S.C. § 219 and § 408(a).
Required distributions from 73, on an indivisible asset
A traditional IRA must begin paying out annually once you reach 73, rising to 75 from 2033. Shares can be sold in any amount; a one-ounce coin cannot be halved. So each year you either sell part of the holding for cash or take specific coins in kind and pay tax on their value. Roth accounts have no lifetime required distributions, which is a genuine argument for holding metal there instead.
Source: 26 U.S.C. § 401(a)(9), as amended by the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022.
The custodian reports, and you keep the paperwork
Your custodian files the annual valuation and any distributions. Keep your own copies of the purchase confirmations, assay documents and the storage agreement. If eligibility is ever questioned, the specification of what you bought is the evidence.
Source: 26 U.S.C. § 408(i) and the custodian's own agreement.
What each mistake actually costs
| Mistake | Consequence | Severity |
|---|---|---|
| Buying a non-qualifying product | Treated as a distribution of that amount, taxable as ordinary income, plus 10% additional tax under 59½ | Serious |
| Taking possession of the metal | Same treatment, applied to the amount involved. In McNulty accuracy-related penalties were sustained on top | Serious |
| Self-dealing under § 4975 | The entire account can cease to be an IRA as of the first day of that tax year, making the whole balance distributed | Severe |
| Missing a required distribution | An excise tax on the shortfall, reducible if corrected promptly | Fixable |
| Missing the 60-day rollover deadline | The amount becomes a taxable distribution, with limited waiver relief | Serious |
The third row is the one to read twice. Most mistakes in this area cost you tax on the amount involved. A prohibited transaction can cost you the tax-sheltered status of the whole account, which is a different order of problem.
What is not a rule, despite being said often
Not a rule "The IRS requires .999 fineness"
The tax code names no fineness at all. It defers to the minimum a futures exchange requires for delivery, which is .999 for silver and .995 for gold. The numbers are right, the source is not, and the difference decides edge cases such as the American Gold Eagle at .9167.
Not a rule "The depository must be IRS-approved"
No such list exists. The requirement attaches to the trustee, not to the building. What you verify is who has custody, as set out on the depositories page.
Not a rule "You can hold it yourself if the LLC owns it"
This is the home storage pitch and it has been litigated. Interposing an LLC you control does not change who has possession in substance.
Not a rule "Certified coins are safer for an IRA"
The opposite. Grading creates a collectible premium, which is what the rule excludes. A raw eligible coin qualifies; the same coin slabbed generally does not.
Questions people ask
Is a precious metals IRA a different type of account?
No. It is an ordinary traditional or Roth IRA held with a custodian that permits physical metal. Contribution limits, tax treatment and distribution rules are the standard ones.
Can I move metal I already own into my IRA?
No. The account cannot acquire assets from you personally. Only purchases made by the account count.
Can I visit the depository and see it?
Some facilities allow scheduled viewings. Viewing is not possession, so it does not breach rule 3, but confirm the policy rather than assuming.
Do these rules differ for platinum and palladium?
The structure is identical. The purity floor is higher, .9995 for both, and the named-coin route covers platinum through a separate paragraph of Title 31. Practically, custodian accepted-product lists are narrower for these two.
Which rule do people break most often?
Rule 4, buying first and asking later. Metal bought personally can never be moved in, and unlike most errors here that one cannot be corrected afterwards.
Next
- Which gold qualifies, and why the Krugerrand does not
- Which silver qualifies, with the products that quietly fail
- The home storage claim, and the case that settled it
- How the account works, including the drawbacks
Primary sources
- 26 U.S.C. § 408, individual retirement accounts, including (m) on collectibles
- 26 U.S.C. § 4975, prohibited transactions and disqualified persons
- IRS, IRA contribution limits, for the current indexed figures
- IRS, required minimum distributions
- McNulty v. Commissioner, 157 T.C. No. 10 (2021)
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 deliberately do not print indexed figures such as contribution limits, because a stale number is worse than a link to the current one. Verify your own position with your custodian and a tax professional. We may be compensated by providers we compare, at no cost to you. Last reviewed 27 July 2026.