Updated August 7, 2026. Quick answer: there are three ways out and only one of them is usually right. Sell the metal inside the account and move cash by trustee-to-trustee transfer — that is not a distribution, not taxable, and not limited to once a year. 🔴 Taking the metal home is a distribution, and it is the expensive mistake.
The three routes
| Route | Taxable? | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sell inside, transfer cash trustee-to-trustee | No | You accept the dealer’s buyback price. Usually still the best of the three |
| 2. Sell inside, take a 60-day rollover | No, if completed in time | 🔴 The one-rollover-per-year limit applies. Miss the 60 days and the whole amount is a distribution |
| 3. Take the metal in kind | Yes | Ordinary income on the value distributed, plus 10% if you are under 59½. You now own metal personally and still have to sell it eventually |
Why the transfer beats the rollover
The 60-day rollover rule is real but limited. The statute allows a rollover where the amount “is paid into an individual retirement account… not later than the 60th day after the day on which he receives the payment or distribution” — and a separate provision limits you to one such rollover in a 12-month period.
🔴 A trustee-to-trustee transfer is not a rollover at all, so neither limit touches it. The IRS said so directly in Announcement 2014-15: an IRA owner may still “transfer funds from one IRA trustee directly to another, because such a transfer is not a rollover and, therefore, is not subject to the one-rollover-per-year limitation of § 408(d)(3)(B).” If a custodian pushes you toward taking a cheque, ask instead for a direct transfer to the receiving custodian. It is the safer route and it is free of both traps.
⚠️ And note what you generally cannot do: the regulation frames a rollover as putting back “the same amount of money and any other property” received. Taking metal out, selling it personally, and rolling in the cash is not the clean manoeuvre it sounds like. If you want to be in cash, sell it inside the account.
Get a second opinion on the account, not just the metal
The fees, the custodian and how the account fits the rest of your retirement savings matter more to the outcome than the spot price, and an adviser can look at all of it against your wider plan.
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What an in-kind distribution actually costs
Any amount distributed from an IRA is “includible in gross income”, and if you are under 59½ the tax is increased by “10 percent of the portion of such amount which is includible in gross income.” So a $150,000 in-kind distribution is $150,000 of ordinary income in one year — frequently pushing income into higher brackets, and for people on Medicare raising premiums two years later.
Honest gap: the material we verified does not contain a single IRA-specific sentence stating that the amount included is the metal’s fair market value on the distribution date (the closest analogue is a qualified-plan-trust regulation). The custodian will report a value on Form 1099-R; ask how it will be determined before you request the distribution, because on an illiquid asset that number is not obvious.
There is one more asymmetry worth knowing before choosing route 3. Metal you own personally gets a new basis at death; metal inside a traditional IRA never does — an IRA never gets a step-up explains why §1014(c) treats it as income in respect of a decedent. That cuts in favour of taking metal out only if you were going to be taxed anyway; it is not a reason to trigger a large distribution.
The order to do it in
- Get the buyback quote in writing, as a percentage of spot, before you commit to anything. That number tells you the real cost of the exit — how the fees and markups work.
- Open the receiving IRA first, so the transfer has somewhere to land.
- Instruct a trustee-to-trustee transfer, in writing, and keep the instruction.
- Check the RMD position before year end if you are 73 or older — RMDs with physical metal is its own problem.
⚠️ Do not let a sale be bundled with a repurchase. Exiting one metals position into another metals position at a second markup is not an exit. If you are unsure whether to exit at all, that is the decision page: should I keep my gold IRA.
Sources
Inclusion in income: IRC §408(d)(1). 60-day rollover and the one-per-year limit: IRC §408(d)(3)(A) and (B). Trustee-to-trustee transfers outside the limit: IRS Announcement 2014-15. The same-money-and-property framing: Treas. Reg. §1.408-4. Additional 10% tax: IRC §72(t)(1). No step-up: IRC §1014(c). All read 7 August 2026.
Where we stand: Clear Money Guide sells no metals and takes no compensation from any metals dealer, depository or custodian. This page describes practices documented by regulators and courts, not any particular company beyond what an official document names. General information, not legal or tax advice.