What is a Gold IRA custodian?

Dear Birch Gold Group,

What exactly is a Gold IRA custodian, and what is their involvement with my retirement account?

Sincerely,
Ellen Mitchell

–

Hi Ellen,

Good question. Although you might not have much direct interaction with your Gold IRA custodian, the custodian plays an integral role in the management of your account – so it’s important to understand who they are and what they do.

In essence, a Gold IRA custodian is no different from the custodians for any other IRA. Custodians are typically financial institutions that are responsible for managing the storage of the assets in your account. In the case of Gold IRAs, the custodian manages your account (along with any other assets held by your IRA, such as other physical precious metals or securities in electronic form), while and approved depository holds the actual gold on your behalf. As such, the custodian also helps complete the transactions for your account, such as executing withdrawals, handling the necessary paperwork, tax reporting and other administrative responsibilities. In simplest terms, they keep track of your account and ensure that your assets are where they should be.

The Internal Revenue Service requires all retirement plans to be managed by a custodian – that includes not only Gold IRAs, but also 401(k)s, 403(b)s, SIMPLE IRAs and others.

Some additional useful facts about Gold IRA custodians:

• When you buy gold for your IRA, your funds will be placed under the management of your Gold IRA Custodian. Your gold will then be kept in an approved depository or vault.

• Any gold that you add to your Gold IRA must remain under the management of your custodian until you no longer want the gold in your retirement account.

• Taking gold out of your IRA for physical possession is considered a distribution from your account and will be taxed accordingly (if applicable).

Rest assured, when you open a Precious Metals IRA with Birch Gold Group, you don’t need to worry about finding your own custodian – we take care of that for you. We partner with a number of leading custodians for Gold IRAs and we make the entire process of opening your account simple and seamless.

Thanks for the question, Ellen!

Do you have a question about how to invest in precious metals? Want to know more about how to set up a Precious Metals IRA, or what types of coins are available to you? Send an email to goldguru@www.birchgold.com and we may answer it in a future post on our site.