Get The Facts On American Buffalo Gold Coin IRAs Directly At Gold-Coin.com
March 8, 2010 – Gold coins and bars were declared legal assets to be held in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) as part of the 1997 Taxpayer Relief Act. Since then, American bullion has been profitable for people looking to grow and protect their future assets, with gold prices increasing 288 percent in the past ten years. There is now a recommendation from the Internal Revenue Service regarding the admissibility of American Buffalo coins.
The 1997 law required that in order for gold coins and bars to be accepted in a gold IRA, they must be 99.5 percent pure and be classified as bullion. While both American Buffalo proofs and uncirculated coins meet the purity requirement, the proof coins do not meet the allowed criteria for gold IRAs due to these reasons:
1. Only the uncirculated coins are considered bullion; the proofs are classified by the US Mint as collector’s coins.
2. Proof gold coins do not trade based solely on their precious metal value.
3. The production and distribution processes for proof coins are different than for bullion.
Because the Internal Revenue Service has not officially ruled on these gold coins, organizations like the Industry Council for Tangible Assets do not recommend that they be purchased for inclusion in gold IRAs. The only known exceptions to this position are the 1986 American Eagle coins, although a bill (S. 1533) has been proposed to Congress which would allow a number of collector’s coins such as the American Buffalos to be accepted for investment.
For now, gold IRA investors should either invest in American Eagles, uncirculated American Buffalos, or the American Eagle Proof if you prefer US-minted gold coins for your IRA.
Michael Williams
Senior Staff Writer - Gold-Coin.com
