Updated August 7, 2026. Quick answer: no. 🔴 In 2021 the Tax Court held that an IRA owner who took physical possession of coins her IRA had paid for received a taxable distribution of the full amount — and sustained penalties on top. The structure that was sold to her as compliant is the same structure marketed today as a “home storage” or “checkbook LLC” IRA.
What the court actually decided
McNulty v. Commissioner, 157 T.C. No. 10, was decided on 18 November 2021. The taxpayer used a self-directed IRA to fund a single-member LLC, the LLC bought American Eagle coins, and the coins were kept in a safe at her home, alongside coins she owned personally.
The court’s reasoning is worth reading in its own words:
When coins or bullion are in the physical possession of the IRA owner … there is no independent oversight that could prevent the owner from invading her retirement funds. This lack of oversight is clearly inconsistent with the statutory scheme. Personal control over the IRA assets by the IRA owner is against the very nature of an IRA.
⚠️ The structure was not the problem — the possession was. Routing the purchase through an LLC did not change the outcome, because the objection is to the owner holding the asset, not to the number of entities between her and it.
Where the requirement comes from
An IRA must have a qualifying trustee. The statute requires that “the trustee is a bank (as defined in subsection (n)) or such other person who demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Secretary that the manner in which such other person will administer the trust will be consistent with the requirements of this section.”
Separately, an IRA that acquires a collectible is treated as having made a distribution: the amount is “treated as distributed” in the year of acquisition. Coins and metals are collectibles by default — which is why gold IRAs exist only through a narrow carve-out for specified coins and for bullion meeting a fineness standard, and that carve-out comes with a possession condition attached.
🔴 An honesty point most pages on this subject get wrong. There is a live textual argument about whether that possession condition reaches coins or only bullion. The McNulty court did not resolve it — it decided the case on the trustee requirement instead. So the case is decisive about home storage, and it is not authority on the coins-versus-bullion question. Anyone telling you the statute clearly permits home-stored coins is arguing a point a court declined to decide.
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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The part that should end the conversation
The taxpayers argued they had relied on the promoter’s website. The court rejected that. It reasoned that a reasonable person would recognise the material as marketing, and that the promoter “was not disinterested”. It also weighed heavily that the taxpayers never told their own accountant about the arrangement.
⚠️ Read that as a rule you can act on: reliance on the person selling you the structure is not a defence. If a promoter’s compliance claim is genuinely sound, it will survive being shown to your own tax adviser, who is paid by you. If the pitch discourages that step, the pitch is the evidence.
If you already have one
This is a question for your own tax professional promptly, not a DIY fix, because the distribution is treated as happening when possession occurs rather than when you notice. Bring the LLC documents, the custodian agreement, the purchase records and the storage arrangement.
Two things to avoid in the meantime: do not assume moving the coins to a depository retroactively undoes a completed year, and do not take further distributions on the theory that the account is already broken. The routes out covers the mechanics; the sales tactics page covers how these structures are marketed.
Sources
McNulty v. Commissioner, 157 T.C. No. 10 (18 November 2021), read from the opinion text. Trustee requirement: IRC §408(a). Collectibles treated as distributed, and the coin and bullion exception: IRC §408(m)(1), (2) and (3). 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.