Gold IRA Required Minimum Distributions: RMD Rules for Precious Metals and 5 Ways to Take Them (2026)

A gold IRA required minimum distribution (RMD) is the least you must take out of a traditional precious metals IRA each year from 73 (75 if born 1960 or later). You can pay it in cash or in coins. A traditional IRA is the pre-tax kind, taxed when money comes out.

The hard part is the metal: how do you take $10,487.80 out of coins worth about $4,150 each (an illustrative price)?

RMDs are one of the gold IRA rules that apply to gold exactly as to stock funds; only the way you pay changes. SafeOunce takes no money from any company named on this page.

What Is a Gold IRA RMD?#

A gold IRA required minimum distribution is the yearly amount the tax code forces you to withdraw from a pre-tax IRA that holds IRA-eligible gold, silver, platinum or palladium. It collects the tax you deferred on the money going in and on its growth.

The custodian is the trust company that holds the account; the depository is the vault that stores the metal. A gold IRA is taxed like any other IRA of its type, so its RMD rules are the IRA rules.

Which gold IRAs have RMDs?#

Traditional, SEP and SIMPLE gold IRAs have RMDs from age 73 or 75; a Roth gold IRA has none while you are alive. The account type decides, not the metal.

The 5 account types are listed below with their RMD status.

• Traditional gold IRA: yes, from 73 or 75.
• SEP gold IRA: yes. An employer or a self-employed person funds it.
• SIMPLE gold IRA: yes. A small-employer IRA funded partly from your pay.
• Roth gold IRA: none while the owner is alive (Treas. Reg. 1.408-8(b)(1)(ii); 26 U.S.C. 408A(c)(4)). A Roth holds money you already paid tax on.
• Inherited gold IRA: its own rules, covered near the end of this page.

Every traditional gold IRA follows the Publication 590-B tables below.

Do you have to sell your gold to take an RMD?#

No: you can take a gold IRA RMD as cash from a sale, as coins or bars shipped to you, or from a different traditional IRA you own. The IRS counts dollars, not ounces.

The 3 routes are listed below.

• Cash: the custodian sells metal inside the IRA and pays you the RMD.
• In kind: coins or bars are shipped to you at fair market value (the going market price) on the processing day. Publication 590-B says a distribution can be "money or other property".
• Another traditional IRA: it pays the whole RMD and the metal stays put (Treas. Reg. 1.408-8(e)(1)).

The step-by-step process for taking cash or physical gold out of the account is the same for an RMD as for any withdrawal.

When Do Gold IRA RMDs Start? Age 73 or 75#

Gold IRA RMDs start at age 73 if you were born from 1951 through 1958 and at age 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. The tax code calls this your "applicable age".

The table below shows the first RMD year and deadline by birth year.

Later RMDs are due by December 31 each year.

Older ages (70 1/2, then 72) applied only to people born before 1951. The RMD age is one of several gold IRA age rules.

Your first RMD and the April 1 deadline#

Your first gold IRA RMD may wait until April 1 of the year after you reach your RMD age, but every later RMD is due by December 31.

Any amount distributed in the year you reach your RMD age (73, or 75 if born 1960 or later) counts toward that first RMD (Publication 590-B). April 1 of the next year is your required beginning date.

What does delaying the first RMD to April 1 cost?#

Delaying your first RMD to April 1 puts two RMDs in one tax year, which cost one example couple about $1,689 in extra federal tax. The couple was born in 1954, turns 73 in 2027, files jointly and has $80,000 of other taxable income.

2026 married-filing-jointly brackets (Rev. Proc. 2025-32) used for all years; SafeOunce computation.

Stacking both RMDs pushes about $16,900 of income into the 22% bracket instead of 12%. For people born in 1953, a 2026 RMD of $9,433.96 (on $250,000) may wait until April 1, 2027. It then joins the 2027 RMD of $9,411.76 (on $240,000): $18,845.73 in one year (SafeOunce computation).

Born in 1959: age 73 or 75?#

If you were born in 1959, plan on age 73: the statute points to both 73 and 75, and only the IRS's proposed regulations settle it at 73.

That answer rests on proposed regulations, not final as of September 2026.

Does working past 73 delay a gold IRA RMD?#

No: an IRA, including a gold IRA, has no still-working delay. That delay applies only to an employer plan such as a 401(k) (26 U.S.C. 401(a)(9)(C)), and never to someone who owns more than 5% of the employer.

Losing this delay is one of the plan protections a 401(k) to gold IRA rollover gives up.

How Do You Calculate a Gold IRA RMD?#

You calculate a gold IRA RMD by dividing the account's value on December 31 of last year by the IRS divisor for the age you reach this year. You then turn the dollar result into ounces or cash.

The gold IRA RMD calculator does the same math in dollars and ounces.

The formula: December 31 value divided by the IRS divisor#

The IRS divisor at age 73 is 26.5, so a gold IRA worth $100,000 on December 31 needs an RMD of $3,773.58 at 73, and $4,065 at 75. The divisor is a life-expectancy number from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table, one per age.

The table below turns each divisor into a share of your account.

Uniform Lifetime Table, Treas. Reg. 1.401(a)(9)-9, in use since 2022; percentages are SafeOunce computations (1 divided by the divisor).

A calculator using 25.6 at 72 or 24.7 at 73 runs on the pre-2022 table (replaced by T.D. 9930, November 2020).

How your gold is valued for the RMD#

Your custodian values the metal for the RMD at a market price for its metal type on December 31, not at what you paid the dealer. That is its fair market value (FMV).

Box 11 of Form 5498 flags the RMD even when another IRA pays it. How gold IRA metals are valued by each custodian is explained separately.

Converting the RMD into ounces#

An RMD is set in dollars but paid in metal, so the ounces you need change with the metal price after December 31. The price on the custodian's processing day counts.

The table below runs a gold and a silver account through real 2026 LBMA prices (the London benchmarks).

SafeOunce computation, coins valued at the metal price. Past prices, not a forecast.

Gold's 5.1% fall after year-end means about 5.4% more ounces per RMD dollar by late September. A Silver Eagle is worth under $75, so splitting coins is no problem, but silver fell 14.8% (SafeOunce computation).

If your spouse is more than 10 years younger#

If your spouse is your only beneficiary and more than 10 years younger, you use the IRS Joint Life table, which lowers the RMD. It uses both ages (Treas. Reg. 1.401(a)(9)-9(d); Publication 590-B Table II).

At owner 75 and spouse 60, the divisor is 28.3 instead of 24.6. On $200,000, the RMD is $7,067 instead of $8,130, about 13% smaller (SafeOunce computation). A spouse exactly 10 years younger gets the Uniform divisor (26.5 at 73 and 63). The table below shows 4 more age pairs.

Treas. Reg. 1.401(a)(9)-9(d). Take divisors from the regulation itself: summary tools have misprinted them.

5 Ways to Take an RMD From a Gold IRA When Coins Cannot Be Split#

You can take a gold IRA RMD in 5 ways: from another traditional IRA, as cash, as whole coins, as coins plus cash, or from a cash reserve. No IRS rule addresses coins that cannot be split; the 5 ways follow from Publication 590-B and Treas. Reg. 1.408-8.

The table below runs all 5 ways on the $10,487.80 RMD above, with coins at an illustrative $4,150 and fees from Equity Trust's FS-0004-05 Rev. 081726 schedule (September 2026).

SafeOunce computation. Sale proceeds are shown at the illustrative $4,150; the dealer's bid and the $30 fee leave less cash.

1. Take the whole RMD from another traditional IRA#

If you own another traditional IRA, you can take the gold IRA's RMD from that account and leave every coin in the vault. This is called aggregation: adding up the RMDs of your IRAs and taking the total from any of them.

Take $400,000 in traditional IRAs at 75 (RMD about $16,260). The non-gold money covers the whole RMD for about 22 years if 10% is in gold, about 12 years at 50%, and never at 100% (SafeOunce computation).

Aggregation never crosses the 3 lines below.

• A 401(k) or 403(b) and an IRA: each pays its own RMD (a 401(k) under its plan rules, 26 U.S.C. 401(a)(9); a 403(b) under Treas. Reg. 1.408-8(e)(3)).
• A Roth IRA and a traditional IRA: a Roth has no lifetime RMD to share (Treas. Reg. 1.408-8(e)(3)).
• Your own IRA and an inherited IRA: they never mix, and neither do IRAs inherited from different people (Treas. Reg. 1.408-8(e)(2)).

2. Sell metal inside the IRA and take cash#

Ask the custodian to sell enough metal inside the IRA to cover the RMD, then pay you the exact RMD in cash. The sale inside the IRA, called a liquidation, is not taxed; only the cash paid out is.

You or your dealer set the sale price, not the custodian: "it is your obligation to agree upon a purchase price/selling price" (Equity Trust disclosure, retrieved September 29, 2026). The dealer pays its bid, which sits below its selling price. SD Bullion's sell page showed a 1 oz Gold Eagle ask of $4,280.53 and bid of $4,049.93 on September 29, 2026, a 5.39% round trip.

How to get a written bid before you sell gold in your IRA is covered step by step.

3. Take whole coins in kind and round up#

Taking whole coins means you usually take out more than the RMD, and the extra earns no credit toward next year.

Three coins at an illustrative $4,150 are $12,450 of taxable income against a $10,487.80 RMD. So $1,962.20 is taxed now rather than in a later year.

To keep physical gold, in kind beats selling and rebuying. At the 5.39% SD Bullion round trip, selling 3 coins in the IRA and rebuying them outside costs about $671, against Equity Trust's $175 in-kind minimum (SafeOunce computation).

Commingled (pooled) storage returns "the weight and general type of metals you purchased but may not receive the same brand, year, or condition" (Equity Trust disclosure). If specific coins matter, ask for segregated storage, which keeps your exact coins.

4. Take coins plus cash to hit the exact amount#

To hit the RMD exactly, take fewer whole coins than the RMD and have the custodian sell one more coin and pay the difference in cash.

In the example, 2 coins ($8,300) go out in kind and the custodian sells a third, paying $2,187.80 in cash: exactly $10,487.80. Equity Trust's fees for this total at least $205 (September 2026).

The same choice applies when the RMD is less than one coin. The 24-coin gold account above owes $4,261.27, which is 1.028 oz at $4,144.55 (LBMA PM, September 28, 2026). Pay it as 1 coin plus $116.72 in cash, or as 2 coins, which over-distribute $4,027.83 with no future credit.

5. Keep a cash reserve for RMDs and fees#

Keeping one to two years of RMDs and fees as cash inside the gold IRA lets you pay each RMD on time without selling in a hurry.

The cash earns little: GoldStar sweeps idle cash to Happy State Bank, and the rate difference "will be considered GoldStar's compensation" (GTC Rev. 01/2026).

Size the reserve for the next fee bill as well as the RMD. Equity Trust bills annual fees each January; GoldStar and STRATA bill on the account-opening anniversary (fee schedules, September 2026). If fees go unpaid, Equity Trust may "liquidate your precious metals assets" and "force distribute any remaining assets" (disclosure, September 2026).

What Does a Gold IRA RMD Cost? Custodian Fees Compared#

A cash RMD costs $0 to $75 per sale at the 3 metals custodians below, and an in-kind RMD about $45 to $175 or more (September 2026). Fidelity's bullion commission is about $210 on this RMD. None of these include the dealer's bid spread.

The table below compares 4 published fee schedules for the steps an RMD uses.

Whether STRATA charges its listed $100 re-registration on a metals distribution is not established; ask in writing. A wire is a bank transfer of your cash out of the IRA.

Custodian fees are the small part of the cost: Equity Trust's $30 sale fee is 0.3% of the example RMD, against the 5.39% SD Bullion round trip. Setup, yearly and transaction gold IRA custodian fees are compared for every custodian.

When your RMD is smaller than the dealer's minimum buyback#

If your RMD is smaller than the least a dealer will buy back, sell the dealer's minimum inside the IRA and take only the RMD out in cash. A sell-back minimum is the smallest order a dealer will buy from you.

The alternatives are a coin in kind ($125 plus shipping under Equity Trust's FS-0004-05 Rev. 081726, September 2026) or taking the $813 from another traditional IRA.

How Are Gold IRA RMDs Taxed?#

A gold IRA RMD is taxed as ordinary income at your normal federal rate, whether you take cash or coins, and never at the 28% collectibles rate. Ordinary income is taxed like wages. The collectibles rate of up to 28% applies to gains on coins sold outside an IRA (26 U.S.C. 1(h)(4)-(5)).

IRA distributions are taxable income (26 U.S.C. 408(d)(1)) but not net investment income (1411(c)(5)). RMDs are the last step in how gold IRA taxes work from contribution to distribution.

Worked example: a $300,000 gold IRA at 74#

A married couple, both 74, with a $300,000 gold IRA must take $11,764.71 in 2026, which adds $1,412 to their federal tax if their other taxable income is $60,000.

2026 married-filing-jointly brackets (Rev. Proc. 2025-32); SafeOunce computation.

The whole RMD lands in the 12% bracket, which for joint filers runs to $100,800 of taxable income in 2026.

Withholding when your IRA holds only metal#

A custodian can withhold tax only from cash, so a gold IRA that holds only coins cannot withhold on an in-kind RMD unless some metal is sold first. Withholding is tax the custodian sends to the IRS for you.

IRA distributions default to 10% federal withholding, which you can change from 0% to 100% on Form W-4R. The 20% mandatory rate applies to 401(k) checks, never to an IRA. Form W-4R and gold IRA withholding are decoded box by box.

Coins taken in kind: the tax now and the tax later#

Coins you take as an RMD are taxed on their value on the day the custodian processes the distribution, shown in box 1 of Form 1099-R.

Outside the IRA, the coins are collectibles again, so a later sale can be taxed at up to 28% on the gain (26 U.S.C. 1(h)(4)-(5)). Publication 590-B gives property from a Roth IRA a cost basis (your cost for tax) equal to its value on the distribution date. For coins from a traditional IRA, confirm the basis with a tax professional. The basis after taking physical gold out of an IRA has its own page.

How an RMD can shrink the $6,000 senior deduction#

From 2025 through 2028, each extra $10,000 of RMD income above $75,000 of modified adjusted gross income ($150,000 joint) cuts the $6,000 senior deduction by $600 per qualifying person.

Modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is your adjusted gross income with a few items added back. The deduction is $6,000 per person 65 or older, reduced by 6% of MAGI over the threshold (IRC 151(d)(5)(C)(iii); IRS newsroom page updated July 25, 2025). An RMD that lifts a couple's MAGI from $150,000 to $160,000 cuts their 2 deductions by $1,200 in total (SafeOunce computation).

What Happens to Your RMD If Gold Falls After December 31?#

If gold falls after December 31, your RMD in dollars stays the same, so you must sell or ship more ounces to meet it. Treas. Reg. 1.408-8(b)(2) says "no adjustments are made" for changes after that date.

The 2013 example: 4.07% of the value became 5.6% of the ounces#

In 2013, when gold fell from $1,657.50 to $1,204.50 (LBMA PM), an RMD set at 4.07% of the value took 5.6% of the ounces if it was sold at year-end.

The general rule: the RMD's share of what you hold equals 1 ÷ divisor ÷ (1 − the price drop). At 75, $100,000 gives an RMD of $4,065.04: 4.07% of the December value, but 5.08% of the account after a 20% fall (SafeOunce computation).

SafeOunce illustration using today's Uniform Lifetime divisor (the 2013 table differed); LBMA PM prices. Past prices, not a forecast.

Taking the RMD early, or from a non-gold IRA, limits this risk. Down years like 2013 are listed in the year-by-year gold IRA returns table.

The RMD can never exceed the whole account#

After a crash, your RMD is capped at whatever the account is worth on the day of the distribution.

What Happens If You Miss a Gold IRA RMD?#

If you miss a gold IRA RMD, you owe a 25% excise tax on the amount you did not take, cut to 10% if you correct it in time. An excise tax is a penalty tax on one act, reported apart from your income tax.

The 25% excise tax, the 10% correction rate and the waiver#

A missed $10,000 RMD costs $2,500, or $1,000 if you correct it within the correction window, or $0 if the IRS grants a waiver.

The table below shows the 3 outcomes.

SafeOunce computation under 26 U.S.C. 4974.

Form 5329 is the IRS form for extra taxes on retirement accounts. Publication 590-B says that for a "reasonable error", once you take steps to fix the shortfall, "you can request that the tax be waived". The old 50% penalty no longer applies.

The December processing trap#

Ask for your gold IRA RMD by early December, because metal sales and shipments take days to process and the distribution counts on the day it is processed.

Entrust records an in-kind distribution "based on the value of the metals on the day the request is processed". Its initial review takes 1-2 business days, then shipping approval follows (Entrust knowledge base, September 2026). Priority Gold's RMD page says sales take "several business days to two weeks" (September 2026).

A request made on December 29 can be processed in January, leaving that year's RMD missed (SafeOunce reading of the rules).

Can you put an RMD back into the IRA?#

No: an RMD can never be rolled back into an IRA, and an RMD put back in becomes an excess contribution taxed 6% a year until removed. An excess contribution is money in an IRA above what the law allows.

The bar comes from 26 U.S.C. 408(d)(3)(E); the IRS RMD FAQs answer the question with one word: "No."

Other distributions follow the 60-day rollover rule: the same coins must go back (Treas. Reg. 1.408-4(b)(1)). In an RMD year, the first amounts you take count toward the RMD and cannot be rolled over. Only one IRA-to-IRA 60-day rollover is allowed per 12 months (Bobrow; Announcement 2014-15).

Your Yearly Gold IRA RMD Calendar#

A gold IRA RMD year runs on 6 fixed dates plus one suggested request date, from the December 31 value that sets the amount to the December 31 deadline that ends it. Form 1099-R reports every distribution to you and the IRS.

How Do RMDs Work for Roth, Inherited and 401(k) Gold?#

The RMD rules above cover your own traditional gold IRA; a Roth gold IRA, an inherited gold IRA and gold held through a 401(k) follow different rules. Each gets a short answer below.

Roth gold IRA: no RMDs while you are alive#

A Roth gold IRA has no RMDs while you are alive, so you are never forced to sell or ship its coins (26 U.S.C. 408A(c)(4)). Holding precious metals in a Roth IRA trades an upfront tax bill for no forced sales.

Inherited gold IRA: the 10-year rule and yearly RMDs#

Most people who inherit a gold IRA from someone who died after 2019 must empty it by the end of the 10th year after the death. They must also take yearly RMDs if the owner had already reached the required beginning date.

These are enforced from 2025 under T.D. 10001, after relief for 2021-2024 (Notices 2022-53, 2023-54 and 2024-35). Year-by-year numbers for an inherited gold IRA are worked through for heirs.

Eligible designated beneficiaries get softer rules. They are your surviving spouse, your own child under the age of majority, a disabled or chronically ill person, and anyone not more than 10 years younger than you (26 U.S.C. 401(a)(9)(E)(ii)). Heirs owe no 10% early-withdrawal tax. Naming gold IRA beneficiaries decides which rules your heirs face.

Gold held through a 401(k)#

A 401(k) pays its own RMD under its plan's rules (26 U.S.C. 401(a)(9)), and an IRA's RMD never satisfies it, or the other way round. In practice, few 401(k) plans let you hold coins; why a plan rarely lets you hold gold in a 401(k) is explained separately.

Questions readers ask about gold IRA RMDs#

Five more gold IRA RMD questions come up often, and each has a short answer below.

Is it better to take an RMD monthly or annually?#

Annually usually costs less: the IRS only requires the total by December 31, and gold IRA custodians charge per transaction. Twelve monthly sales cost $360 at Equity Trust ($30 each) against $30 once. Twelve in-kind shipments at Equity Trust cost at least $2,100 against $175 (SafeOunce computation, fees as of September 2026).

Can your RMD go to a charity in gold?#

Yes: a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) is allowed from age 70 1/2, and once your RMDs start (73 or 75) it counts toward them. The 2026 limit is $111,000 (26 U.S.C. 408(d)(8); Notice 2025-67). A QCD is a gift paid straight from your IRA to a charity. The simplest route is to sell inside the IRA and send the cash. Whether custodians will ship coins to a charity is not established. The rules for qualified charitable distributions from a gold IRA are covered separately.

Is a gold ETF easier for RMDs than coins?#

Yes, in one way: gold ETF shares in an ordinary IRA sell like any fund, with no shipping or in-kind fees, but you never hold the metal. An ETF (exchange-traded fund) trades like a stock; its yearly fee (expense ratio) is 0.10% for GLDM, 0.25% for IAU and 0.40% for GLD (fund 10-K filings, as of September 2026). Costs of a gold IRA vs gold ETF are compared separately.

What is the downside of a gold IRA at RMD age?#

At RMD age, a gold IRA's main downside is that the metal pays no income, so every RMD comes from selling or shipping metal at that year's price. In 2026, gold fell 26.1% from its LBMA PM record of $5,405.00 (January 29) to $3,993.55 (July 16), past prices, not a forecast. The real downsides are weighed against the case for gold.

Does your state tax a gold IRA RMD?#

Your state of residence decides state tax on an RMD, never the state where the vault is. A former state cannot tax the RMDs of someone who has moved away (4 U.S.C. 114). Rates for state income tax on gold IRA withdrawals are compared for all 50 states.