Gold is one of the most stable assets you can invest in, especially if you’re interested in growing your retirement fund.
It can serve as an excellent hedge against inflation and economic instability.
However, we’re not going to be surprised if you’ve already heard that there are specific fees for gold storage when you work with companies like Augusta Precious Metals.
It can certainly make you wonder whether you can simply store your gold assets at home, especially with the proliferation of home storage gold IRA ads online.
Today, we seek to discuss whether gold IRA storage at home is legal and how it can be made possible.
The Truth About Home Storage Gold IRA
We have been noticing a lot of home storage gold IRA ads making their rounds online.
Some even offer a free safety deposit box for signing up for their gold IRA services.
This is quite worrying for us since they promote misinformation. To make matters worse, it can put their clients at risk of potential penalties.
Gold scams truly abound. Hence, one needs to be vigilant, especially when it comes to storing precious, expensive investments.
What The IRS Has to Say About Gold IRA Storage at Home
To set the record straight, here’s what the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has to say about purchasing assets with your IRA funds.
According to their IRS FAQs page: “The law does not permit IRA funds to be invested in life insurance or collectibles.”
They then went on to list the different assets that they consider “collectibles.” These include artworks, antiques, and precious metals.
However, there are exceptions. IRS also stated that certain forms of bullion and coins could be purchased with your IRA funds.
That is provided that they meet the IRS criteria and will be in the physical possession of an IRS-approved depository.
You must also remember that you should have a self-directed IRA to invest in physical gold and other related precious metal assets.
That’s because these accounts will allow you full control over your investment decisions, such as which retirement assets and financial products.
Indeed, this is an ideal option, especially if you’re interested in investing in physical gold and other precious metals.
That said, you might want to look into gold IRAs as well. A gold IRA is a self-directed account specifically designed to be invested in precious metal assets.
Legal Ways to Store Gold at Home
There are two ways to store your gold assets at home legally.
Gold IRA Withdrawal
The first method entails withdrawing from your gold IRA and having your physical gold assets delivered to your home.
Don’t worry, as many gold IRA companies offer this option. However, you should be aware that you will incur penalties if you perform this transaction before reaching the age of 60.
Purchase Physical Gold
The other route is significantly easier. You always have the option to purchase physical gold assets such as gold coins and gold bars outside your account.
This way, your precious metals will be considered non-IRA gold.
Here’s a quick tip: If you really want to maximize your gold investments, we recommend opening self-directed individual retirement accounts.
From there, you can work with a financial expert and a legitimate custodian to make your gold investments.
You’ll also be able to enjoy your tax advantages this way.
Meanwhile, you can also purchase non-IRA gold products that you can store in a safe deposit box in your home.
This way, you’ll also have backup assets that you can dip into in times of need.
Some potential advantages of doing so include not being bothered by meeting qualification requirements such as size, weight, and fineness requirements.
After all, it can be quite challenging to meet the list of requirements for IRS-approved precious metals.
The second and more obvious benefit is that it won’t get you in trouble.
For us, this is the perfect solution to get the best of both worlds.
The Only Way to Store IRA Gold at Home
Our proposed solution may not be what you have in mind. There are certain advantages to IRA-purchased gold.
The strict regulations only seek to protect consumers from bad gold dealers.
Just think about it. Suppose you purchase dozens of gold bars but weren’t aware that your sources were less-than-reputable gold dealers.
Wouldn’t it significantly hurt your retirement fund as well?
Hence, we present the only legal option to store IRA gold at home without suffering harsh penalties.
You need to be an IRS-approved nonbank trustee. The catch is that it can be very difficult to get approved.
First, you must have a limited liability company (LLC). There is a minimum net worth to be met as well.
It is also crucial for the applicant to have a provable and reputable financial background, especially in handling retirement funds.
These are not the only requirements. These are simply the primary hurdles that you must overcome if you even want to come close to being accepted.
We highly recommend checking out the IRS information page on approved nonbank trustees and custodians for more information.
We also want to mention that even so, you might not be able to store your gold at home.
After all, even LLCs would have to comply with storage facility requirements.
Possible Penalties for Storing IRA Gold at Home
Suppose you still want to try storing your IRA gold at home despite the risks we have featured above.
Then there are the penalties that you’ll possibly incur:
Distribution Penalties
This is the primary penalty for anyone who stores IRA gold in a non-IRS-approved facility.
That’s because they consider this a type of “distribution”, a term that simply denotes withdrawals.
According to the IRS, taking distributions from your IRA earlier than when you turn 59 ½ years of age without a 10% tax penalty will forfeit your tax advantages.
Post-Audit Penalties
There’s no stopping the IRS from conducting a thorough audit of your IRA once they discover your distribution infraction.
This can potentially expose other flaws that can further add to your penalties.
Don’t underestimate the potential fees that the IRS has in store for those who don’t abide by their rules.
In fact, a Rhode Island couple got caught storing IRA gold in their home and fined over $300,000.
The Right Way to Manage Your Gold IRA
We understand the benefits of storing your own gold at home.
There are different reasons why one might prefer this arrangement.
The most obvious reason is to skip the storage fees. Some people also prefer to keep their assets at home since they trust themselves more than any institution.
Lastly, many account holders simply feel more comfortable having their assets within reach due to our unstable economy.
That said, there are also advantages to complying with the rules.
Remember that they formulated these regulations to protect our assets.
For one, keeping your gold in an approved storage facility provides a level of insurance and protection that you simply can’t match at home.
In the end, it’s better to work with a gold IRA company.
Many of them are banks, trusts, and other financial institutions.
Not only can they keep your assets safe, but they’ll also make the investment process significantly more convenient.
Among the reputable institutions you can turn to is Augusta Precious Metals.
Working With Augusta Precious Metals
This IRS-approved custodian provides several services, such as handling your disbursements, keeping track of all transactions, and ensuring that everything is IRS-reported and compliant.
When you decide to work with them, the first step you need to take is to sign up.
Then, fund your account via wire payment or check. You can also transfer or roll over funds from another retirement account.
Note that the IRS provides a window to perform rollovers once a year.
Those who can complete their rollover within 60 days can do so without fees and taxes.
Once fully funded, you may start investing in gold. Gold IRAs can be used to invest in a variety of assets, including physical gold.
You may also work with this reputable precious metal dealer if you wish to purchase actual gold instead of gold-related financial products.
You may then contact your IRA custodian to send the funds over. The dealer will send your assets to your storage facility after settling the payment.
You can then enjoy your distributions upon retirement!
Storing IRA Gold at Home
It is only natural for anyone to want their assets to be within arm’s reach. We live during troubling economic times, after all.
Unfortunately, gold IRA storage at home simply isn’t possible for an individual.
You may register an LLC to gain more control over how your assets will be stored, but they will still end up in a storage facility.
If there’s one thing that we want you to take away from our article, though, it would be this: do not trust home storage gold IRA ads.
They are purposely formulated to be misleading. It’s better to trust reputable IRA companies like Augusta Precious Metals.