Facts about Home Storage IRAs

2 The appeal of a Home Storage IRA, or IRA Limited Liability Company (LLC), is obvious. We are all aware of the potential for capital controls, bank failures, and bail-ins. Investors are more than a little distrustful of banks especially with their retirement nest egg. So it’s very understandable that many would find storage of gold or silver in their own home preferable to storage anywhere else. What most investors looking to open a Home Storage IRA are unaware of is the stringent regulations and qualifications required. Make sure you know how to correctly open a Home Storage IRA! But before we go into the necessary qualifications you must meet to open a Home Storage IRA, it’s important to understand exactly what a Home Storage IRA is – or at the very least – what it’s supposed to accomplish. Many retirement accounts hold traditional assets like stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. For the most part, IRAs are strictly prohibited from holding anything that may be deemed as “collectible items”. This includes works of art, rugs, antiques, metals, gems, stamps, and coins. An exception to this law was passed in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, allowing account holders to store certain permissible gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bullion within their IRA accounts. Thus began the gold-backed IRA product. You can hold precious metals in your IRA… The Tax Relief Act allowed for the exception if the bullion is “in the physical possession of a trustee”. Home Storage IRA options attempt to use the IRS LLC loophole to make YOU a trustee. This involves creating a limited liability company in your name, registering it with the IRS, and using the “LLC” as the trustee for your IRA. If done correctly, this would allow you to keep your IRA precious metals in your home as your own IRA trustee. While this seems simple on the surface, the process is actually quite particular, and requires applicants prove to the IRS they meet a long list of qualifications.