The point of investing is to secure your financial future.

While most of the available gold and silver bullion is at least 99.9% pure, only some coins and rounds may be included in an IRA account. Precious metal IRA accounts are governed by rigorous criteria that dictate which forms of bullion are acceptable.

Here, we will take a look at IRA bullion guidelines and which bullion products are accepted into IRA accounts.

What Does IRA Approved Mean?

In 1997, President Clinton signed the Taxpayer Relief Act. This act reduced taxes dramatically and offered new avenues toward tax credits for citizens. One of those avenues included tax relief for retirement accounts.

Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) allow individuals to put away funds, bonds, or bullion into a specific account designed to save for retirement while benefiting from numerous tax advantages. When it comes to bullion, however, there are three guidelines that need to be met in order to legally count that bullion toward your IRA:

  1. Your IRA bullion cannot be kept in your own private deposit box or home safe. Instead, it must come under the supervision of an approved custodian, typically in a metal depository.

  2. If you already possess bullion at the time you open your IRA, that bullion is not eligible for inclusion. You must purchase the bullion after opening the IRA or transfer prior owned bullion from another IRA account.

  3. Precious metal bullion must also meet certain fineness requirements in order to be included.

There are a number of bullion options that are IRA approved, meaning that they are guaranteed to be legal for IRA investment opportunities. Investment bullion is an attractive option since it is a tangible asset that is inherently valuable unlike bank notes or savings bonds.

IRA Approved Bullion

Here, we have included a list of popular gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and other bullion products that are approved for your precious metals IRA account.

Gold

In order for gold bullion products to be approved for IRA accounts, they must have a minimum purity of 99.5% and also possess a refiner/assayer hallmark stating it has been approved by NYMEX or COMEX. (The American Gold Eagle is a notable exception to this rule at 91.67% pure gold.)

Here are some of the most popular gold pieces invested into IRA accounts:

There are numerous additional coins, rounds, bars, etc. that can be approved for an IRA investment so long as they meet the minimum fineness requirement. Check out our complete selection of IRA approved gold.

Silver

Like gold, silver also has a minimum fineness requirement to be approved by the IRA. Any silver product must be 99.9% percent in order to be included in a precious metals IRA. Here are some of the choices you have if you plan to make silver a part of your IRA investment:

Various other coins, bars, and rounds fall under IRA approval. Check out our full selection of IRA approved silver from both sovereign and private mints.

Platinum

There are fewer platinum products that qualify for a precious metals IRA than either gold or silver. The minimum fineness requirement for platinum is 99.95%, and some investment choices for IRA include:

Our selection of IRA approved platinum includes additional coins and bars for your investment.

Palladium

Just as with platinum, palladium fineness must also reach a minimum 99.95% percent in order to be included in an IRA. Some IRA approved palladium bullion products are:

Additional palladium bars and other products can also be considered IRA approved so long as they have a fineness of 0.9995 and above.

Diversify with a Precious Metals IRA

If you have questions about placing precious metals in your IRA, finding a custodian, or if you are not sure your precious metal bullion product is IRA-approved, Provident Metals can help! Contact us today with any questions you may have about the investment process or our bullion products.