IRA-Eligible Precious Metals Database: Every Coin and Bar Checked Against the Tax Code (2026: 50 Products, 3 Custodian Lists)

An IRA can own only two kinds of metal: US coins that Congress named, like the American Gold Eagle, and very pure bullion held by your custodian. Bullion is metal priced by its weight, not its rarity, and it must be as pure as a US futures exchange requires. Your custodian is the trust company or bank that legally holds your IRA.

Buy the wrong coin and the IRS treats the whole price as a withdrawal. One wrong $40,000 purchase can cost a married couple, both 58, $11,720 in federal tax.

This database checks 50 coins and bars against the law, three custodians' lists and one dealer's price on September 29, 2026: 30 are eligible and accepted, 8 legal but refused or not named, 11 never qualify and 1 cannot go in.

Prices vary even among eligible coins: the cheapest eligible 1-ounce gold coin cost 2.02% over melt, the value of the metal inside, and a Palladium Maple Leaf 32.1%.

Below, "named" means a custodian's list names the product, and "covered" means a general rule on it includes the product. Purity .995 means 99.5% pure.

What Makes a Coin or Bar IRA-Eligible? 2 Legal Routes and 1 Custodian Check#

A coin or bar is IRA-eligible in one of two ways: the tax code names it, or it is bullion pure enough for a US futures exchange. Either way, your custodian must accept it and hold it. Everything else is a collectible, which an IRA may not buy, such as "any metal or gem" and "any stamp or coin" (408(m)(2)).

These two routes decide what any precious metals IRA can buy. The purity numbers come from exchange delivery rules.

Why is a 22-karat Gold Eagle (91.67% gold) allowed when gold bullion must be 99.5% pure? It takes Route A, with no purity test. Three other US Mint coins, the Gold Buffalo, the Palladium Eagle and the America the Beautiful 5 oz silver coin, are not named in the law, so they take Route B only.

Custody applies on both routes, even to named coins. In McNulty v. Commissioner (157 T.C. No. 10, November 18, 2021), the Tax Court taxed IRA-owned Gold and Silver Eagles kept at home as withdrawn. The case involved 320 one-ounce Gold Eagles bought for $374,000 in 2015, tax deficiencies of $250,558 (2015) and $18,094 (2016), and a 20% accuracy penalty. An IRS private letter ruling, PLR 200217059 (2002, not precedent), did the same for bullion held by a company not acting for the IRA trustee.

The two routes compare as follows.

Sources: 26 U.S.C. 408(m)(3); 31 U.S.C. 5112; COMEX Rules 113101 and 112101. The Gold Buffalo (5112(a)(11)), Palladium Eagle (5112(a)(12) and (v)) and America the Beautiful 5 oz coin (former 5112(u)) are US Mint coins but are not named in 408(m)(3)(A), so they qualify only by purity.

The full rule, word by word, is on which gold, silver, platinum and palladium the tax code allows.

Is There an IRS List of Approved Coins?#

No: the IRS publishes no list of approved coins or bars, so any "IRA-approved coins" list is someone else's reading of the tax code. The IRS says "there is no list of approved investments for retirement plans" (IRS Retirement Plan Investments FAQs, updated April 8, 2026).

IRS Publication 590-A only sketches the rule: an IRA "can invest in one, one-half, one-quarter, or one-tenth ounce U.S. gold coins, or one-ounce silver coins minted by the Treasury Department," plus "certain platinum coins and certain gold, silver, palladium, and platinum bullion."

The only list the IRS keeps is of nonbank trustees: companies it approved to hold IRAs although they are not banks. That list had 73 entities as of April 1, 2026. Its one metals business is Lone Star Tangible Assets, LP, approved November 30, 2023. STRATA Trust and Equity Trust are not on it: they are state-chartered trust companies, which means a state licenses them.

What the seller phrase "IRS-approved gold IRA custodians" really covers has its own page. On a seller's page, "IRA-approved" is the seller's own label. One seller's article, updated September 22, 2026, says "the IRS does not formally approve specific coins, bars, or rounds," then refers to "the list of IRS-approved precious metals."

The same article gives the silver minimum as 99.99% (it is .999). Another ranking page calls proof Gold Eagles ineligible, although two of the three custodian lists checked name them and the third excludes only slabbed coins.

Why Your Custodian Has the Final Say on IRA Coins#

Your custodian has the final say because it can refuse a coin that the tax code allows, and a refused coin cannot go into your IRA. Its rules go beyond the law.

• Accredited maker: bars and rounds need a maker that an exchange, market body or national mint recognizes. STRATA lists "NYMEX, COMEX, NYSE/Liffe, LME, LBMA, LPPM, TOCOM, ISO 9000, or a national government mint": mostly exchanges and trade bodies, plus ISO 9000, a general quality certificate.
• Accredited is not "LBMA Good Delivery": that London list had 67 gold refiners on September 29, 2026, without the US Mint, the Royal Mint, Johnson Matthey or Sunshine Minting. Good Delivery gold bars weigh 350 to 430 ounces; IRA bars are far smaller.
• Original packaging for proofs: a proof is a mirror-finish collector coin. STRATA wants "complete, original mint packaging" and the certificate of authenticity (COA); GoldStar also wants it "ungraded."
• No graded coins: a graded, or slabbed, coin is sealed in a plastic holder with a grade such as MS-70. Equity Trust refuses them, "including the American Eagle."
• Condition: bullion coins must be "in brilliant uncirculated condition and free from damage" (STRATA).
• Do-not-accept lists: each custodian names products it refuses, such as the Krugerrand, pre-2013 Britannias, "U.S. Buffalo Proof", "U.S. Liberty" and "LBMA Germania Mint".

Do all gold IRA custodians accept the same coins? Mostly, but the three lists split on at least 6 products, shown below. The main gold IRA custodians are compared side by side.

GoldStar even words its rule two ways: "COMEX, NYMEX, or ISO 9000 approved refiners" on one page, nine bodies up to a "national government mint" on another. The statute has no refiner rule at all.

Your custodian checks whether a coin is allowed, not whether you paid a fair price. An SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) case against Equity Trust was dismissed on June 27, 2016 (Initial Decision No. 1030); the judge noted that a duty to check deals "would require custodians to charge much higher fees."

The IRA-Eligible Coins and Bars Database (September 2026)#

The database holds 50 coins and bars: 30 are eligible and accepted, 8 pass the law but custodians refuse or do not name them, 11 never qualify, and 1 cannot go in. All three custodian lists name or cover 26 of the 30 eligible products, and two of the three name the other 4.

The law and the custodian lists are separate tests, so 8 legal products carry "ask in writing". The custodian cells use the words below.

Every verdict is one of four labels: "Eligible", "Legal route, custodian says no or silent: ask in writing", "Not eligible" and "Cannot be contributed". No product gets a score.

How We Checked Each Coin and Bar: the Tax Code, 3 IRA Custodian Lists and Dealer Prices#

We checked each product in three steps (the tax code, three custodians' lists and one dealer's price on September 29, 2026), then gave it one of four verdicts.

1. Law. Each product takes Route A (named in 408(m)(3)(A)), Route B (purity under 408(m)(3)(B)) or no route. Purity comes from the statute, the mint or the dealer; the sources are in gold IRA purity requirements.
2. Custodian lists. STRATA Trust, GoldStar Trust and Equity Trust all publish product-by-product lists; the choice is not a ranking.
3. Price. The spot price is today's market price for one ounce of pure metal, and melt value is the metal inside at that price. The ask is the dealer's selling price, and the bid is what it pays you back. Premium = (ask - melt) / melt, using SD Bullion's wire price and melt on the same page load (its card prices run about 4% higher). JM Bullion supplied palladium spot and the Palladium Eagle price.
4. Verdict. Each product gets one of the four labels above.

Weights use the troy ounce of 31.1034768 grams. A 30-gram Chinese Panda holds 0.9645 troy ounce, so compare per ounce. The sources are listed below.

Company website links in this table: SafeOunce earns nothing from these links.

Gold Coins and Bars: 21 Entries#

Gold has 21 entries, and the American Gold Eagle is the only gold coin the tax code names. Every other gold coin or bar needs 99.5% purity (.995). The cheapest eligible 1-ounce coin on September 29, 2026 was the Australian Kangaroo, at 2.02% over melt at SD Bullion.

A karat counts gold in 24 parts, so 22 karat is 91.67% gold. "Random year" means the dealer picks the year; (C) marks a category-listing price. The 1/2, 1/4 and 1/10-ounce sizes are compared on IRA-eligible gold coins.

Custodian pages read September 29, 2026. Premiums: SD Bullion wire price divided by melt value on the same page load, one morning; rows marked (C) were read from a category listing. "Not captured" means no listing of that product was read that morning. Good Delivery is the London bullion market's list of accepted refiners. Edge case outside the rows: the 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle is .9999 and passes purity on paper, but no custodian list checked names it; ask in writing. Not a ranking or endorsement.

Same purity can give the opposite answer. The Gold Eagle and the Krugerrand are both 22 karat, but the Krugerrand, the cheapest 1-ounce gold coin at 0.11%, is not eligible: the law does not name it, and it fails the .995 test.

The Gold Buffalo is a US Mint coin, yet the law does not name it, so it takes Route B. Custodians accept the bullion Buffalo, while two of them refuse the proof Buffalo by their own rules. A 30-gram Panda at $4,105.64 was $174.89 cheaper per coin than a 1-ounce Eagle at $4,280.53, but per troy ounce it cost $4,256.66, only $23.87 less.

Custodian lists still write "Credit Suisse - PAMP Suisse bars", although Credit Suisse sold Valcambi, the refiner behind its bars, in 2003; eligibility comes from the refiner and purity, not the bank name. The LBMA (London Bullion Market Association) opened a review of Valcambi on June 16, 2026; it says Valcambi "remains a Good Delivery Refiner," and no finding had been published by September 29, 2026.

Silver Coins, Bars and Rounds: 19 Entries#

Silver has 19 entries, and only the 1-ounce American Silver Eagle is allowed by name. Every other silver coin, bar or round needs 99.9% purity (.999). Eligible 1-ounce bullion coins ran from 3.1% to 16.1% over melt at SD Bullion on September 29, 2026.

A round looks like a coin but comes from a private maker and has no face value, the dollar amount stamped on a coin. Junk silver means pre-1965 US coins, 90% silver. The full list of IRA-approved silver has its own page.

Spot silver: $61.34 on the dealer page, September 29, 2026. Melt value = spot price x silver content.

Custodian pages read September 29, 2026. Premiums: SD Bullion wire price divided by melt value on the same page load, one morning. "Not captured" means no listing of that product was read that morning. Not a ranking or endorsement.

Fractional Silver Eagles, meaning coins smaller than 1 ounce, do not exist, because 31 U.S.C. 5112(e) describes a 1-ounce coin only. Equity Trust's FAQ lists them anyway.

Silver is also bulky: at $61.34 an ounce, $100,000 buys about 1,630 ounces, or 50.71 kilograms (about 112 pounds), against 24.1 ounces of gold. It can cost more to store, too. In fee schedules read in September 2026, Gainesville charged 0.25% a year for silver against 0.20% for gold, and SD Depository 0.39% against 0.29%. At GoldStar, the Delaware Depository keeps only 1,000-ounce silver bars segregated; smaller silver is commingled, meaning stored with other clients' metal of the same kind.

Platinum Coins and Bars: 5 Entries#

Platinum has 5 entries, and the American Platinum Eagle is the only platinum coin the tax code names, proofs included. Every other platinum product needs 99.95% purity (.9995). Of the six platinum-group metals, only platinum and palladium can go in an IRA. Every size is priced in IRA-eligible platinum coins and bars.

Spot platinum: $1,706.80 on the dealer page, September 29, 2026.

Custodian pages read September 29, 2026. Premiums: SD Bullion, one morning. Outside the rows: the Australian Platinum Kangaroo cost 10.8% over melt at SD Bullion the same morning, but none of the three lists names it; ask in writing. Not a ranking or endorsement.

The coin law behind the Platinum Eagle, 31 U.S.C. 5112(k), covers "platinum bullion coins and proof platinum coins." It is the only coin law that names proofs outright. The Canadian Platinum Maple Leaf is .9995, not .9999, per the Royal Canadian Mint's 2025 page.

Palladium Coins and Bars: 3 Entries#

Palladium has 3 entries and no coin named in the tax code. The American Palladium Eagle qualifies only by its 99.95% purity, and none of the three custodian lists names it. All sizes are compared in IRA-eligible palladium coins and bars.

Spot palladium: $1,245.43 (JM Bullion, 05:51 EDT, September 29, 2026).

Custodian pages read September 29, 2026. Premiums: SD Bullion, one morning, except the bullion Palladium Eagle (JM Bullion, August 5, 2026). "W" marks a coin struck at the US Mint's West Point facility; a reverse proof is a collector finish; PF70 is a grade printed on a sealed holder. Not a ranking or endorsement.

Only 23,700 bullion Palladium Eagles had been struck as of September 2026: 15,000 in 2017 and 8,700 in 2021. Every other year is a West Point collector issue, so most Palladium Eagles on sale are collector coins. The bullion coin cost $2,394.49 on August 5, 2026 (JM Bullion).

On September 29, 2026, $10,000 bought $8,865 of palladium in 1-ounce bars and $7,570 in Maple Leafs; at the August 5 price, $5,824 in Palladium Eagles.

Metals and Products That Never Qualify: 2 Entries#

Two things can never go into your IRA: rhodium and the other minor platinum-group metals, and coins or bars you already own. Section 408(m)(3)(B) names only gold, silver, platinum and palladium, so any other metal stays a collectible in any form.

Metal you already own fails for a different reason: it may be pure, but it would enter the IRA the wrong way.

Your IRA can still buy new metal of the same kind with cash, through your custodian.

Which IRA-Eligible Coins and Bars Cost the Least? Premiums in September 2026#

The cheapest IRA-eligible products on September 29, 2026 were large gold bars and 1-ounce .9999 gold coins, while fractional coins, proofs and palladium coins cost the most. At SD Bullion, a 100-gram gold bar cost 1.07% over melt and a Kangaroo cost 2.02%.

Every premium here is one dealer's price on one morning. The CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission), the federal metals-fraud regulator, put bullion typically at 5% to 10% over spot (release 8215-20, August 4, 2020). It put numismatic coins, sold for rarity, at 40% to 200%.

Some gold IRA sellers' contracts let them keep far more than the premiums in this database. A spread is the share of your price the seller keeps, so it sits inside the price you pay. The caps below are each document's maximum.

Markup = spread / (1 - spread). Metal left treats the seller's cost as metal value. SafeOunce computation from each company's own document; not a finding that any buyer paid these amounts.

How spreads and markups work at each seller is explained in gold IRA markups and spreads.

The premium ladder ran wide inside each metal.

Proofs and fractional coins are left out of these rows and cost more: up to 34.89% for gold and 87.5% for platinum (1/10 oz Platinum Eagle). The Palladium Eagle (71.7%, JM Bullion, August 5, 2026) is left out because no custodian list checked names it.

Each premium sits on top of the spot price; how the spot price of gold is set has its own guide.

The cheapest eligible coin or bar for each metal#

The cheapest eligible way into each metal on September 29, 2026 was a bar or a 1-ounce foreign coin, never the American Eagle of the same metal. The table shows what $10,000 buys at each end.

SD Bullion wire prices, September 29, 2026. Metal bought = $10,000 / (1 + premium). "Eligible" means the Eligible verdict, so the Palladium Eagle (71.7%, JM Bullion, August 5, 2026; no custodian list names it) is left out. Silver compares database rows only; the 1/10 oz 2026 Britannia (138.2%) is covered in the next section. One dealer, one morning; not a recommendation.

Why fractional coins and small bars cost more#

Small coins and bars cost more per ounce because making and selling them costs more per ounce, and the charge starts at the Mint. Fractional means under 1 ounce.

Bars follow the same pattern: 22.46% for 1 gram against 1.31% for 10 ounces. A 1/10-ounce 2026 silver Britannia cost 138.2%, against 3.1% for the 1-ounce coin. So $10,000 bought 68.4 ounces of silver in the small coins but 158 ounces in 1-ounce coins, 2.3 times as much.

"Eligible" says nothing about price. In the Metals.com case (CFTC v. TMTE, pending), the CFTC alleges that Barrick Capital sold more than 93,000 of these 1/10-ounce Britannias at an average 287% markup, about $6.58 a coin. Each held $6.13 of silver on September 29, 2026.

Coin World reported on January 7, 2026 that the US Mint then charged wholesale buyers 3% over the gold value for 1-ounce Eagles, rising to 5%, 7% and 9% for the 1/2, 1/4 and 1/10-ounce sizes.

Round-trip cost: what you lose buying and selling the same day#

Buying and selling the same day cost about 5% on a 1-ounce Gold Eagle but about 32% on a Palladium Maple Leaf on September 29, 2026. This round trip is the ask you pay minus the bid you get back.

SD Bullion ask and bid, September 29, 2026; bids come from a static sell page that may lag the live quote. If you later sell 1% under spot instead, the rise needed is (1 + markup) / 0.99 - 1: 4.1% for a Gold Eagle bought at 3.03%, and 50.5% for metal bought through a 33% spread.

The rise needed is larger than the loss because it is measured from the lower bid. A low premium does not promise a cheap exit either: random-year Silver Britannias (10.1% premium) lost 19.6% and random-year Silver Maple Leafs (8.0%) lost 15.0%, against 14.6% for random-year Silver Eagles (11.2%). Test your own ask and bid, with fees and years added, in the gold IRA break-even calculator.

Custodians value metal near spot or the bid, not at what you paid, so this is not a custodian error. The reasons are in why your gold IRA statement shows less than you paid.

7 Ways an "IRA-Approved" Coin Can Still Fail#

An "IRA-approved" coin can still fail in 7 ways: wrong year, refused proof, graded holder, unlisted coin, dealer label, "exclusive" pricing or metal you already own. Each trap gives the rule, the evidence and what to do.

1. Year traps: Britannias before 2013 and Libertads before 1991#

Britannias dated before 2013 and gold Libertads dated before 1991 fail the purity test. So a "random year" order, where the dealer picks the year, can deliver a coin your IRA cannot hold.

One dealer's random-year gold Libertad listing says the coin contains "either 0.999 or 0.9" gold (SD Bullion, September 29, 2026). The year also changes the price of an eligible coin: a 2013-dated Silver Maple Leaf cost 24.3% over melt, against 8.0% for a random year, that morning. What to do: write "2013 or later" or "1991 or later" on the order.

2. Proof Buffalos and other proof coins outside the named-coin route#

Two of the three custodians checked refuse proof Buffalos: the law does not name the Buffalo, and they accept it only as a bullion coin. GoldStar refuses "U.S. Buffalo Proof", Equity Trust says "no Proofs", and STRATA names only "U.S. Buffalo bullion coins."

Proof American Eagles are different. Custodians generally accept them in original packaging, the box and capsule the Mint sold them in, with the certificate. No IRS ruling or case addresses them, but the coin law points their way: 31 U.S.C. 5112(j)(1) refers to "any proof version of any such coin" for the Gold and Silver Eagle, and 5112(i)(4)(C) speaks of "bullion and proof gold coins." Against that, 408(m)(2)(D) lists "any stamp or coin" as a collectible.

A 1-ounce proof Eagle sold without its box, in a plastic capsule only, cost 4.81% over melt that morning, but a custodian can refuse it for the missing box and COA. Even accepted proofs cost gold.

The 1/10-ounce proofs left $11,938 less gold than Philharmonics. What to do: ask for the box, the COA and your custodian's written yes.

3. Graded ("slabbed") coins, even American Eagles#

The custodians checked refuse coins sealed in a grading company's plastic holder, even when the coin inside is an American Eagle the law names. Equity Trust refuses slabbed coins "including the American Eagle." GoldStar refuses "certified or 'graded' coins," and STRATA refuses "any rare or collectible coin."

In law, a slabbed Silver Eagle is still a named coin, so the refusal is custodian policy. A 2026 Silver Eagle graded MS-70 cost 58.5% over melt that day, against 16.1% ungraded. What to do: buy only ungraded coins for an IRA.

4. Coins no custodian list names: gold Libertad, Palladium Eagle, Silver Kangaroo#

None of the three custodian lists checked on September 29, 2026 named the Palladium Eagle, the 1991-and-later gold Libertad or the Silver Kangaroo. So get a written yes before you buy one.

All three can pass only on Route B: the Palladium Eagle is .9995, the modern gold Libertad .999, and the Silver Kangaroo's purity is not in our data. US Money Reserve's list, read the same day, and a Birch Gold Group article both show a "Palladium American Eagle" that none of the three custodians names.

STRATA refuses "Mexican Peso and Onza" coins, and whether that covers gold Libertads is unclear. What to do: ask your custodian in writing before the dealer sends you the bill.

5. Dealer "IRA-approved" categories that include refused coins#

A dealer's "IRA-approved" label is marketing, not a custodian decision. SD Bullion's "IRA approved gold" category on September 29, 2026 included four kinds of products that custodian rules refuse or restrict.

• A proof Buffalo with box and COA, which GoldStar and Equity Trust refuse.
• A cull (damaged) 1/4-ounce Gold Eagle, while STRATA requires coins "free from damage."
• A 2015-W American Liberty High Relief with "no Box and COA," while GoldStar lists "U.S. Liberty" as unacceptable without defining the term.
• Novelty gram bars, which pass only if your custodian accepts the maker.

What to do: check each item against your custodian's own list.

6. "Exclusive" coins and the enforcement cases behind them#

An "exclusive" coin can be IRA-eligible and still cost far more than its metal. An exclusive coin is sold by one seller only, so you cannot compare its price. Red Rock Secured's customers paid over $69 million for Royal Canadian Mint Red-Tailed Hawk coins worth about $30 million, a 56.5% loss at purchase. Sales calls that steer buyers into such coins are explained in numismatic coin upsells.

A famous mint name does not fix the price either: the same mint's 2026 "Our Purest" Gold Maple Leaf (.99999 fine, $200 face value, mintage 1,500) sells for CAD $8,409.95, eligible by purity but priced by scarcity.

US Money Reserve lists "IWO JIMA (EXCLUSIVE)" and "Pearl Harbor (EXCLUSIVE)" coins as "IRA-approved" (read September 29, 2026). The 1-ounce Iwo Jima gold page shows a 2020 coin, "$100 (TVD)" (Tuvalu dollars), ".9999 Gold (24K)" and "Perth Mint (Australia)". It passes Route B, no custodian list checked names it, and the page says "Call-in required for live pricing."

The same seller's "IRA Buyback Advantage" pays "the greater of the Fair Market Value or the Original Purchase Price" only "at the time the annual RMD is taken," excluding "all types of bullion." In plain English: the better price reaches only your required minimum distribution (RMD), the yearly withdrawal that starts at 73 (born 1951-1958) or 75 (born 1960 or later).

Three cases are shown below; every case is dated in the tracker of precious metals IRA enforcement actions.

A high premium takes years of price gains to earn back, at illustrative growth rates that are not forecasts.

Years = ln(1 + premium) / ln(1 + growth). SafeOunce computation; fees ignored.

The CFTC calls "semi-numismatic" "a made-up industry term that really has no special meaning." Sellers may also quote coin laws calling Gold, Silver and Palladium Eagles "numismatic items" (31 U.S.C. 5112(i)(3), 5112(f)(3) and (g), 5112(v)(4)); that label serves a Mint sales law, 31 U.S.C. 5132(a)(1), not tax status.

Polar Bear coins still appear on IRA pages: on September 29, 2026, Cedar Gold Group featured a "2018 1/2 oz Canadian Polar Bear Silver Coin" as "IRA Eligible," with no price in its product grid.

7. Coins and bars you already own, including Costco gold bars#

Coins or bars you already own, including Costco gold bars, cannot go into an IRA. Contributions must be cash; see Costco gold bars and your IRA.

What to do: sell the metal outside the IRA. The 2026 contribution limits are $7,500, or $8,600 at age 50 and older (IRS Notice 2025-67), explained on gold IRA contribution limits.

What Happens If Your IRA Buys a Coin That Isn't Eligible?#

The IRS treats the full price of an ineligible coin your IRA buys as money you withdrew that year. You owe income tax on it, plus a 10% additional tax, an early-withdrawal penalty, if you are under 59 1/2 (26 U.S.C. 72(t)).

The full reasoning is on the IRS collectibles rule page. Three worked examples in 2026 dollars follow.

SafeOunce computation; Rev. Proc. 2025-32 brackets; illustrative, not tax advice.

In the first case, the $40,000 lifts the couple's federal income tax from $10,304 to $18,024.

The Krugerrand's 0.11% premium, against 3.03% for 1-ounce Gold Eagles, bought about $1,416 more gold; the $16,000 tax bill is about 11 times that.

IRS Publication 590-A says the same amount is not taxed again when the coins later come out, so keep the papers that show you paid.

The IRS also has longer to catch these purchases: its examiners are told to consider the six-year statute of limitations, the deadline for assessing tax, instead of the usual three years (IRS Snapshot on collectibles). It applies when income left off your return exceeds 25% of the income reported (26 U.S.C. 6501(e)).

Using IRA coins yourself can put the whole IRA at risk. Personal use can be a prohibited transaction under 26 U.S.C. 4975(c)(1)(D), one of the IRA prohibited transactions for gold, and that can end the whole IRA's tax status.

How to Check Any Coin or Bar Before Your IRA Buys It: 5 Questions#

Check any coin or bar with 5 questions before your IRA buys it: the metal, the name, the purity and year, your custodian's list, and where it is delivered.

1. Check the metal. Only gold, silver, platinum and palladium qualify.
2. Check the name. A US Gold Eagle of any size, a 1-ounce Silver Eagle or a Platinum Eagle passes by law (Route A).
3. Check the purity and the year. Everything else needs at least .995 gold, .999 silver, or .9995 platinum or palladium, in the year you are buying (Route B).
4. Check the custodian. The maker must be on its list, proofs need original packaging and the certificate, and graded or damaged coins fail. Get a written yes for anything unlisted.
5. Check the delivery. The metal goes straight from the dealer to the custodian's vault, never to you.

Then ask the premium over melt and the same-day buyback price. Coin World reported in January 2026 that the Mint charged wholesalers about 3% on a 1-ounce Gold Eagle, and retail ran 3.03% to 4.36% on September 29, 2026. Anything well above about 5% on that coin is seller margin. The IRA eligibility checker runs the same 5 questions as a form.

The table matches the data to five situations; an in-kind withdrawal means taking the coins themselves out instead of cash.

No row is a product recommendation.

IRA-Eligible Coins vs Gold ETFs and Metal You Keep Yourself#

Physical coins in a gold IRA need eligible products and a special custodian; a gold ETF in an ordinary IRA needs neither, and coins kept at home can be any coin but get no IRA tax treatment. Only a gold IRA with physical metal needs this database.

Gold ETFs inside an ordinary IRA#

A gold ETF held in an ordinary IRA needs no eligible coins and no special custodian, because the IRA owns fund shares, not metal. An ETF is a fund that trades like a stock. IRS PLR 200732026 (August 10, 2007) says an IRA's purchase of gold trust shares "will not constitute the acquisition of a collectible"; such a ruling answers one taxpayer only. Gold paid out by the fund instead of cash would be a collectible unless it meets 408(m)(3).

The expense ratio is the yearly fund fee: 0.10% for SPDR Gold MiniShares (GLDM), 0.25% for iShares Gold Trust (IAU) and 0.40% for SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) (fund annual reports, 2025-2026). Fidelity also sells bullion inside its own IRAs, with a $1,000 minimum purchase and storage of 0.125% a quarter, or 0.50% a year (fee schedule read September 29, 2026). The cost math is in gold IRA vs gold ETF.

Coins and bars you keep at home, outside an IRA#

Any coin in this database, eligible or not, can be bought and kept at home outside an IRA; only metal your IRA owns must stay with the custodian. Costs, taxes and control are compared in gold IRA vs physical gold.

Americans may own gold again from December 31, 1974 (Pub. L. 93-373), with no federal limit, and even the Krugerrand is legal to own.

Inside an IRA the rule is the opposite: in McNulty v. Commissioner (157 T.C. No. 10, 2021), IRA-owned Eagles were kept at home through an IRA LLC, a company the IRA owned and the saver managed, and their cost became taxable distributions. That ruling is the court case behind every home storage gold IRA warning.

Silver, platinum and palladium IRAs#

The same database rules apply to silver, platinum and palladium IRAs, which are ordinary IRAs holding a different metal. Each metal has its own minimum purity, and only silver and platinum have a named US coin.

IRA-eligible coins: frequently asked questions#

Nine common questions are answered below, each in its first sentence.

Is a .9167 gold coin IRA-eligible?#

Only if it is an American Gold Eagle, which the tax code names; other 22-karat coins such as the Krugerrand and the Sovereign fail the .995 test. The Eagle is described in 31 U.S.C. 5112(a)(7)-(10), which 408(m)(3)(A)(i) names. Each 1-ounce Eagle weighs 33.931 grams and holds 1 troy ounce of gold.

Can Canadian Maple Leafs go in a US IRA?#

Yes: gold, silver, platinum and palladium Maple Leafs qualify as bullion by purity, and all three custodian lists checked on September 29, 2026 name them. Gold and silver Maple Leafs are .9999, and platinum and palladium Maple Leafs are .9995.

Do IRA coins have to be legal tender?#

No: legal tender status is not part of the test. US law says "Foreign gold or silver coins are not legal tender for debts" (31 U.S.C. 5103), yet Maple Leafs, Philharmonics and rounds qualify. Here is what legal tender means for metals investors.

How much gold can you legally own at home?#

No federal law limits how much gold you may own at home. Private ownership has been legal since December 31, 1974 (Pub. L. 93-373). Gold owned by your IRA is different: it can never be kept at home (McNulty v. Commissioner, 2021).

Does the IRS know if you buy gold or silver?#

Inside an IRA, yes: your custodian reports the account's value each year on Form 5498 and every withdrawal on Form 1099-R. Outside an IRA, a dealer that buys metal from you files Form 1099-B only for products and amounts that match a CFTC-approved futures contract (2026 Form 1099-B instructions). Cash over $10,000 triggers Form 8300, a cash-payment report. Each form is explained in does the IRS know about your gold.

What assets cannot be held in an IRA?#

For metals, the tax code bars collectibles, "any metal or gem" and "any stamp or coin", except the named coins and pure bullion in this database. The 11 "Not eligible" rows above show the metal cases, from Krugerrands and Sovereigns to junk silver and rhodium.

Can a 401(k) hold IRA-eligible coins?#

Usually not: most 401(k) plans offer no physical metal at all. Where a plan lets you pick metal, the same rules apply: 408(m)(1) covers "an individually-directed account under a plan described in section 401(a)", the kind of plan a 401(k) is. See whether you can hold gold in a 401(k) through funds instead.

When did foreign coins and bars become IRA-eligible?#

Bars and foreign bullion coins became eligible from the 1998 tax year, while American Gold and Silver Eagles were allowed from 1987. The history runs through four laws: the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 (collectibles rule), the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (Eagles), a 1988 change (state coins) and the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (bullion). Each is quoted in the history of gold in IRAs.

What do fineness, bullion and proof mean?#

Fineness is purity (.9999 means 99.99% pure metal), bullion is metal priced by weight, and a proof is a specially struck collector finish sold with a certificate. In karats, .9999 is 24.00, .999 is 23.98, .995 is 23.88, .9167 is 22.00 and .900 is 21.60. The precious metals IRA glossary explains 60 terms.