IRA Approved Gold and Silver
An IRA may hold gold that is at least .995 fine and silver that is at least .999 fine, provided the metal is produced by an approved refiner or sovereign mint and held by a qualified trustee. Everything else — rare coins, graded collectibles, jewellery, and most foreign legal-tender pieces below those thresholds — is a prohibited collectible under Internal Revenue Code §408(m), and buying it inside an IRA is treated as a taxable distribution in the year of purchase.
The statutory rule in plain terms
Section 408(m)(2) defines collectibles — artwork, rugs, antiques, gems, stamps, and coins — and bars IRAs from holding them. Section 408(m)(3) then carves out an exception for specific bullion. The exception has two independent branches, and a product only needs to satisfy one of them.
- Named coins: certain United States coins are eligible by statute regardless of fineness. The American Gold Eagle is the important case — it is .9167 fine (22 karat), well below the general .995 bar, and remains eligible because Congress named it.
- Fineness test: any gold, silver, platinum or palladium bullion meeting the minimum fineness that a contract market would accept for delivery. In practice custodians apply gold .995, silver .999, platinum .9995 and palladium .9995.
The second sentence of §408(m)(3) adds the condition investors most often overlook: the bullion must be in the physical possession of the trustee of the IRA. That is what makes so-called home-storage arrangements fail, no matter how the promoter structures the LLC around them.
Gold products that qualify
The list below covers what mainstream custodians accept without argument. Anything outside it should be confirmed in writing with your custodian before you fund the purchase.
- American Gold Eagle (1 oz, 1/2, 1/4, 1/10) — .9167 fine, eligible by statute
- American Gold Buffalo — .9999 fine
- Canadian Gold Maple Leaf — .9999 fine
- Austrian Gold Philharmonic — .9999 fine
- Australian Gold Kangaroo / Nugget — .9999 fine
- British Gold Britannia (2013 and later) — .9999 fine; earlier issues are .9167 and are not named in the statute, so they fail
- Gold bars and rounds from a COMEX/NYMEX-approved refiner, LBMA Good Delivery refiner, or a national mint — .995 or finer, in 1 oz, 10 oz, 100 g and 1 kg sizes
Silver products that qualify
- American Silver Eagle — .999 fine, and the only silver coin named in the statute
- Canadian Silver Maple Leaf — .9999 fine
- Austrian Silver Philharmonic — .999 fine
- Australian Silver Kookaburra and Koala — .999 fine
- Mexican Libertad — .999 fine
- Silver bars and rounds from an approved refiner — .999 or finer, typically 1 oz, 10 oz, 100 oz and 1,000 oz
Pre-1965 United States 90% silver coinage — the familiar bag of junk silver — is .900 fine and therefore not IRA eligible, despite being one of the most heavily marketed silver products in the retail market.
What gets rejected
Custodians routinely refuse the following, and a dealer who tells you otherwise is either mistaken or is steering you toward a high-margin product:
- Graded and slabbed coins: certification by PCGS or NGC does not change the tax analysis. A graded coin is still a coin, and unless it is a named coin or meets the fineness test in its raw form, it is a collectible.
- Proof coins sold at a numismatic premium: proof American Eagles are technically eligible because the Eagle is named, but paying a 20%–30% collector premium inside a retirement account converts an eligibility question into a valuation problem.
- South African Krugerrand: .9167 fine and not named in the statute, so it fails on both branches.
- Pre-1933 US gold: sold as "confiscation-proof", these are collectibles by any reading of §408(m)(2).
- Fractional silver rounds from unaccredited private mints: fineness may be adequate, but the refiner is not on an approved list, so the custodian cannot verify assay.
Why the ineligible products get pushed anyway
Margin. A one-ounce American Gold Eagle bought as bullion carries a dealer premium in the 5%–8% range over spot. The same coin sold as a graded MS-70 "exclusive release" can carry 20%–30%. On a $50,000 account that difference is $10,000–$15,000 of value transferred from your retirement balance to the dealer on day one, and it does not come back when you sell — buyback desks price graded bullion coins as bullion.
The tell is language. Phrases such as limited mintage, exclusive to our clients, government cannot track it, or confiscation protection have no bearing on IRA eligibility and exist to justify the premium. Compare any quoted price against the live spot price plus a stated percentage, in writing, before agreeing to anything.
What happens if an ineligible asset lands in the account
Under §408(m)(1), the amount used to acquire a collectible is treated as distributed to you at the time of acquisition. For a traditional IRA that means ordinary income tax on the purchase amount for that tax year, plus a 10% additional tax if you are under 59½. The metal is not seized and the account is not automatically disqualified, but the tax event is immediate and is reported for the year of the purchase, not the year you discover the problem.
The 2021 Tax Court decision in McNulty v. Commissioner (157 T.C. No. 10) applied the possession requirement directly: an IRA owner who took delivery of American Eagles at home through a single-member LLC received taxable distributions equal to the coin purchases, even though the coins themselves were eligible products.
How to verify a product before you buy
- Ask the custodian, not the dealer. The custodian is the party that must accept the asset into the account, and most publish an approved-products list on request.
- Check the fineness on the product page. Gold .995+, silver .999+ — printed, not implied.
- Check the refiner. LBMA Good Delivery or COMEX-approved for bars; a sovereign mint for coins.
- Price it against spot. Ask for the premium as a percentage. Above roughly 10% for common bullion, ask what you are paying for.
- Get the buyback terms in writing, including whether the firm prices your coins as bullion or by grade.
Frequently asked questions
Is the American Gold Eagle really IRA eligible at 22 karat?
Yes. It is one of the coins named in §408(m)(3)(A), which operates independently of the fineness test. Its 22-karat composition is irrelevant for eligibility purposes.
Can I hold gold and silver in the same IRA?
Yes. A single self-directed IRA can hold any mix of eligible metals. Most custodians report holdings by product and store them together under one account number.
Does the depository need to be in the United States?
The statute requires possession by the trustee. Several custodians offer offshore vaulting through subsidiaries, but the simplest compliant structure is a domestic IRS-approved depository, and it avoids reporting questions entirely.
What about platinum and palladium?
Both are eligible at .9995 fineness — the American Platinum Eagle and Canadian Palladium Maple Leaf are the common choices. Liquidity is thinner and spreads are wider than gold or silver, so most metals IRAs stay with the two main metals.
Next step: once you know which products qualify, the choice that actually moves your returns is the company you buy them through. Our 2026 ranking scores the five largest gold and silver IRA firms on fees, minimums, storage and buyback terms.