IRA-Eligible Gold Coins: The Strict Regulatory Reality

The §408(m) purity rule

The governing law is Internal Revenue Code §408(m). It permits precious metals in an IRA only when they meet a minimum fineness and are held by an approved trustee. For gold, the minimum is 99.5% pure (.995 fineness). Silver must be 99.9%, platinum and palladium 99.95%. A coin or bar that falls below its threshold is simply not eligible, regardless of how it is marketed.

The American Eagle exception

There is one famous wrinkle. The American Gold Eagle is only 91.67% pure (22-karat), which is below the .995 threshold. It is nonetheless eligible because §408(m) names it explicitly by statute — a deliberate Congressional exception. This is the kind of specific, non-obvious rule that separates a dealer who knows the law from one who is improvising. The Eagle qualifies; a generic 22-karat coin that is not named in the statute does not.

Coins and bars that qualify

The reliably eligible list is short and boring, which is exactly its virtue. American Gold Eagles (by exception), American Gold Buffalos (.9999), Canadian Gold Maple Leafs (.9999), Austrian Philharmonics, and Australian Kangaroos all qualify, as do bars and rounds produced by an LBMA-, NYMEX-, or COMEX-approved refiner meeting the fineness minimum. These are the products with a transparent, checkable melt value — the ones whose price you can verify against spot.

What does not qualify

Several categories fail outright. Collectible and numismatic coins valued for rarity rather than metal content are excluded. Pre-1933 and most foreign “rare” coins generally fail. Graded or “certified” coins in slabs are typically sold at premiums that have nothing to do with eligibility. And anything below the fineness minimum — including the South African Krugerrand at 91.67%, which unlike the Eagle is not named in the statute — does not qualify.

“IRA-approved” marketing traps

The phrase “IRA-approved” is not a regulatory designation; anyone can print it. The trap works like this: a coin is technically eligible on fineness, so the dealer truthfully calls it “IRA-approved,” then sells it at a numismatic-style premium far above its melt value. You have bought an eligible coin at an ineligible price. Eligibility and value are two different questions, and the marketing deliberately blurs them.

How to verify before you buy

Three checks protect you. Confirm the fineness against the §408(m) minimum, or confirm the coin is named in the statute. Confirm the price against melt — multiply the metal content by spot and see how large the premium is. And ask the dealer directly whether the product is standard bullion or a premium/numismatic product. A dealer who refuses to answer plainly has answered.

“A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.”Proverbs 11:1

Grace removes the question entirely by selling only standard IRS-eligible bullion — American Eagles, Maple Leafs, and LBMA-approved bars — at a published spread. There is no “exclusive” coin in the catalogue, because the exclusive coin is where the rule and the price most often part ways.