Updated: July 30, 2026

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Can you roll your account into a precious metals IRA? Eligibility checker

Most retirement money can move into a precious metals IRA once it qualifies as an eligible rollover distribution. Pick your account type and situation for a general answer. Always confirm specifics with your plan administrator or custodian.

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General guidance only, not tax or financial advice. Eligibility depends on your specific plan document and IRS rules; confirm with your plan administrator and a tax advisor. A direct trustee-to-trustee transfer avoids the 60-day rule and 20% mandatory withholding.

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A self-directed IRA (SDIRA) is not a different type of retirement account. It is a regular IRA under IRC Section 408 held by a custodian whose product menu supports assets a brokerage IRA cannot custody. That includes physical precious metals, private real estate, private notes, and private company shares. The tax wrapper is the same. The custodian is different.

This guide explains when an SDIRA is a good fit, when it is a trap, and the exact statutes that decide the outcome. It walks through the 2026 contribution limits, the prohibited-transaction rules, and the operator roles (custodian, dealer, depository) that keep the account compliant. Read the OPRS dealer warnings before you shortlist any gold IRA operator, because the dealer decision is the single largest cost variable in year one.

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What a Self-Directed IRA actually is (2026 baseline)

The legal definition of an IRA sits in IRC Section 408(a). The statute requires a written trust created in the United States for the exclusive benefit of an individual. It must be run by a bank, a federally insured credit union, or a person who meets Treasury Regulations Section 1.408-2(e). That person is called a nonbank trustee.

A brokerage IRA at Fidelity, Schwab, or Vanguard is a Section 408 IRA. So is an SDIRA at Equity Trust or STRATA Trust. The tax code is identical. What differs is the asset menu the custodian can clear on its infrastructure. A brokerage clears listed securities. An SDIRA custodian clears alternative assets under a different set of contracts.

The “self-directed” label is a marketing term, not a statutory one. Every IRA is technically self-directed in that the owner picks the investments. In common usage, an SDIRA means an IRA whose custodian supports alternative assets: precious metals, real estate, private notes, LLC interests, private equity, or crypto. See our SDIRA setup walkthrough for the account-opening steps.

Assets you can hold in an SDIRA (and the ones you cannot)

The IRS FAQ on IRA investments lists what an IRA is barred from holding. It also confirms what SDIRAs commonly hold. The list of allowed and prohibited holdings is short, but the enforcement is strict.

Commonly allowed in an SDIRA

IRS-approved bullion coins and bars that meet the exception at IRC Section 408(m)(3) (American Gold Eagle, American Silver Eagle, and other bullion at the fineness standards the statute lists).
Direct-owned rental real estate, raw land, and real estate LLCs (subject to the disqualified-person rules).
Private notes, promissory notes secured by real estate, and factoring receivables.
Private company stock and LLC membership interests (subject to UBIT rules and the self-dealing ban).
Cryptocurrencies held through a compliant custodian arrangement.

Barred from any IRA (including an SDIRA)

Life insurance contracts (barred by IRC Section 408(a)(3)).
Collectibles as defined by IRC Section 408(m), except the narrow bullion exception. That bans art, antiques, gems, most rare coins, alcoholic beverages, stamps, and rugs.
S corporation stock (IRS says an IRA cannot be an eligible S-corp shareholder).
Any asset held in a transaction with a disqualified person under IRC Section 4975.

For precious metals specifically, see the OPRS breakdown on how to invest in precious metals with a self-directed IRA. The metal must be held by the IRA trustee at an IRS-approved depository, never at home, and never in a safe-deposit box in the account owner’s name.

2026 contribution limits and the SECURE 2.0 details

An SDIRA uses the same contribution limits as any other traditional or Roth IRA. On November 13, 2025, the IRS announced the 2026 figures in IR-2025-111. The limit for combined traditional and Roth IRA contributions is now $7,500 for a saver under 50, and $8,600 for a saver age 50 or older.

The 401(k) elective deferral cap rose to $24,500 for the same year. That matters for the rollover math when someone consolidates a former employer 401(k) into an SDIRA. A rollover is not a contribution and does not count against the IRA annual limit under Publication 590-A.

SECURE 2.0 Section 603 changed the catch-up rules for 401(k), 403(b), and 457(b) plans. Starting in 2026, catch-up contributions by employees whose prior-year FICA wages exceed $145,000 must go into a Roth account. That rule was delayed by IRS Notice 2023-62. It does not affect the IRA catch-up, which is still $1,000 for the traditional and Roth IRA lines above.

For RMDs, the final regulations at 89 FR 58886 confirm the SECURE 2.0 age-73 RMD start, moving to age 75 in 2033. They also lock the 10-year drain rule on most non-spouse inherited IRAs and require annual RMDs during the drain window when the decedent had already begun RMDs. Chapter details are in Publication 590-B.

The prohibited-transaction line at IRC Section 4975

The single biggest risk in an SDIRA is a prohibited transaction. The statute at IRC Section 4975 lists the transactions that are barred between the IRA and a “disqualified person.” A disqualified person includes the IRA owner, the owner’s spouse, ancestors, lineal descendants, and their spouses, plus certain fiduciaries.

Cross that line and the consequence is severe. The IRA loses its tax-exempt status as of the first day of the year in which the transaction occurred. The entire account balance is treated as a distribution, subject to ordinary income tax, and to the 10 percent additional tax under IRC Section 72(t) if the owner is under 59 and a half.

Typical prohibited-transaction traps

Buying a rental property from a parent, a child, or the account owner’s own LLC.
Renting an IRA-owned property to a family member on the disqualified-person list.
The account owner performing “sweat equity” work on an IRA-owned property.
An IRA lending money to the account owner’s own business.
Using an IRA-owned vacation property personally for even one weekend.
Taking physical possession of IRA-owned bullion outside a qualified distribution.

The IRS enforces this rule strictly. Tax Court cases like Peek v. Commissioner and Ellis v. Commissioner disqualified full IRAs over indirect self-dealing that looked technical on paper. If any structure comes close to the line, price a qualified retirement-plan attorney into the plan before the deal closes.

Why mainstream brokerages do not offer a “true” SDIRA

Every large brokerage can open a Section 408 IRA. Very few of them custody alternative assets. Their clearing infrastructure supports listed securities, mutual fund shares, and ETFs. It does not support a Brink’s truck delivering a bar of gold to a Delaware vault, or a title company recording an IRA-owned property deed.

Charles Schwab

Schwab offers what it labels a “self-directed” brokerage account inside a 401(k) plan, called the Personal Choice Retirement Account (PCRA). It gives plan participants access to Schwab’s securities menu. It does not custody physical gold, real estate deeds, or private LLC interests, so it is not an SDIRA in the sense used on this page.

Fidelity Investments

Fidelity IRAs support stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, and options. Fidelity does custody a small number of crypto assets in a specialized product. It does not custody physical bullion delivered to a third-party depository, and it does not custody real estate. A Fidelity IRA is not a fit for the alternative asset use cases below.

Vanguard, Merrill Edge, Betterment, Wealthfront, E-Trade

The same pattern holds. Every one of these platforms offers a Section 408 IRA. None custodies physical precious metals, direct-owned real estate, or private notes. If a saver’s plan requires any of those assets in the IRA wrapper, the account has to move to an SDIRA custodian.

SDIRA custodians and how to vet them

An SDIRA custodian must be an IRS-approved bank, federally insured credit union, or nonbank trustee. Nonbank trustee status is granted under Treasury Regulations Section 1.408-2(e). The IRS reviews the application, the net worth, the fiduciary controls, and the audit program. The list of approved nonbank trustees is published by the IRS on its website.

The two most cited SDIRA custodians are Equity Trust and Directed IRA (formerly known for its work with the KKOS Lawyers group). Both are IRS-approved nonbank trustees. Both have decades of operating history and a public complaint record you can check at the BBB. Read the full OPRS Equity Trust review for the account-opening and fee details.

Custodian vetting checklist

Confirm the custodian appears on the IRS approved-nonbank-trustee list, or that it is a bank or federally insured credit union.
Read the fee schedule as if it were a mortgage disclosure. Look for the setup fee, the annual custodian fee, the per-asset fee, and the wire fees.
Confirm the depository or title-holding arrangement in writing. The custodian should name the third-party vault or the title company.
Check the BBB profile and the state regulator record. A pattern of unresolved complaints on account transfers is a major red flag.
Ask for a written sample statement so you can see how assets are priced and reported.

The IRS and the SEC both warn that “IRS approval” of a custodian is not IRS endorsement of the assets held inside the account. The SEC investor alert on SDIRAs is worth reading before any account move, because SDIRAs are a frequent vehicle for the affinity-fraud cases the SEC and state regulators bring each year.

When an SDIRA makes sense (and when it does not)

Good-fit profiles

The account owner has real-estate expertise and wants to run a small rental portfolio inside the tax wrapper.
The account owner wants a portion of retirement savings in physical gold, silver, platinum, or palladium.
The account owner is a startup investor with access to Regulation D or Regulation Crowdfunding offerings.
The account owner holds private notes, factoring paper, or mortgage lending as a business line.

Poor-fit profiles

A saver whose entire retirement plan is a target-date fund at a brokerage. There is no operational need to move.
A saver who wants to hold a personal residence inside an IRA (a prohibited transaction from day one).
A saver with a family business who wants the IRA to fund the business (self-dealing under IRC Section 4975).
A saver whose alternative-asset thesis is short-term, given the illiquidity and custodian fees on an SDIRA.

The classic mistake is opening an SDIRA for a single deal without pricing the year-two and year-three custodian fees, the deal-specific transfer fees, and the exit liquidity. The account structure is durable. Its cost stack does not go away because the alternative-asset thesis did.

Precious metals in an SDIRA (the gold IRA use case)

The most common SDIRA use case is holding IRS-approved physical bullion. That is what the market calls a gold IRA. The mechanics are: an SDIRA custodian opens the account, a bullion dealer sells the metal, and an IRS-approved depository stores it in the custodian’s name. The account owner never takes possession before a qualified distribution.

The dealer is the single largest cost variable. Setup and custodian fees are typically a few hundred dollars per year. The dealer markup on the coins or bars can range from about 3 percent for straightforward bullion to well over 25 percent for so-called “proof” or “premium” coins that some dealers push aggressively. OPRS keeps a working shortlist: 3 of the 27+ gold IRA dealers we have reviewed make our current trusted list.

For a silver-focused SDIRA, the fee math shifts because silver takes more physical space per dollar. Storage costs are typically expressed per bar or per ounce, so a $50,000 silver position costs more to vault than a $50,000 gold position. See the OPRS silver IRA breakdown for the operator shortlist and the dealer-vetting criteria that carry over from the gold side.

Before any dealer call, request a written cost breakdown: the ask price on the specific coin or bar, the wire fee, the depository setup fee, and the annual storage fee. If the salesperson pushes toward premium or proof coins that are not on the IRS list, close the call. Then cross-check the operator against the OPRS dealer warning list before signing any custodial paperwork.

UBIT and UDFI: the two tax hits SDIRA owners forget

An SDIRA is generally tax-deferred (traditional) or tax-free (Roth) on its investment returns. Two exceptions can trigger a current tax bill inside the IRA itself. The first is Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT). The second is Unrelated Debt-Financed Income (UDFI). Both are governed by IRC Sections 511 through 514.

UBIT applies when an IRA owns an active business, or an LLC interest treated as active for tax purposes. Restaurant equity or franchise interests are common triggers. The IRA files Form 990-T and pays tax at trust rates on the ordinary business income above the threshold set in the statute.

UDFI applies when an IRA uses debt to acquire an asset, most often a rental property bought with a non-recourse mortgage. The debt-financed portion of the rental income and of the eventual sale gain becomes subject to UBIT. Buy-and-hold rentals held free-and-clear inside the IRA avoid UDFI entirely.

Neither UBIT nor UDFI is fatal. Both need a CPA who has run a Form 990-T for a self-directed retirement plan before. Do not use a general small-business CPA who is learning on your account.

Bottom line on whether to open an SDIRA

An SDIRA is the right structure when the account owner has a real, durable thesis on an alternative asset, the operational skill to run it, and enough IRA balance to absorb the fixed custodian and depository fees. The tax benefits are the same as any IRA. The complexity and the audit risk are much higher.

If the plan is a modest allocation to physical gold or silver for portfolio diversification, an SDIRA is the only path. If the plan is a real-estate portfolio, it is the only tax-advantaged path other than a solo 401(k). For everything a brokerage can already custody, a brokerage IRA is the cheaper choice.

Before any account move, run the exact allocation, the fee stack, and the prohibited-transaction implications past a licensed tax advisor. This page is educational content, not personalized tax or investment advice.

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