In fact, most precious metals retirement plans at USAGOLD start with a rollover. Current law also allows both transfers of IRAs. We currently work directly with three escrow companies that offer self-directed plans. However, there is mixed evidence as to whether owning gold can really protect your savings
.
The IRS, according to the WSJ, “is warning taxpayers to beware of anyone who claims that precious metals contained in your IRA can be stored at home or in a safe deposit box. They could then pay income tax on the entire IRA balance, plus a tax penalty if they are under 59½ years of age. These funds, such as SPDR Gold Shares, iShares Gold Trust, ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares and others, are essentially trusts that own huge amounts of gold bars. Once you’ve taken the smart step of adding physical precious metals to your retirement plan, your next decision may be to decide whether to start over with a new Self-Directed IRA account or fund your account with a wire transfer or
rollover. It
would take someone just starting an IRA a few years to amass an account large enough to make it cost-effective, even with maximum annual contributions. People with retirement plans typically have a conventional IRA or 401 (k) with a bank or brokerage firm that specializes in bank deposits, stocks, mutual funds, pensions, and other assets. The tax code also states that the gold or silver must be held by an IRS-approved custodian or trustee, although some gold IRA marketers claim that there is a loophole in this law (more on that later). To address this issue, some alternative IRA advisors are pointing out a problem in the tax code that they believe could allow you to store your precious metals nearby, such as in a
local safe deposit box or at home.
Current law allows both transfers of IRAs and extensions from qualified retirement plans, such as 401 (k), 401 (a), 403 (b), 457, Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), and pensions. Essentially, the company helps you set up a so-called limited liability company (LLC) and subordinate that company to a self-directed IRA. For this reason, even investors who generally prefer gold, such as Russ Kösterich, portfolio manager of the BlackRock Global Allocation Fund, advise you to treat precious metals with the same care as any other physical asset, such as real estate. When making a transfer, your current IRA depository sends the money directly to your Gold IRA depository, and no cash is withdrawn from the
account.
After you’ve opened your account, transferring funds from an existing IRA account is pretty easy. The advantage of gold ETFs is that you can buy and sell stocks just like stocks and hold them in a conventional IRA or 401 (k). No special account is required
.
