When do I have to start taking RMDs from a gold IRA?

At age 73 under the SECURE 2.0 Act. Your first required minimum distribution is due by April 1 of the year after you turn 73, and each subsequent one by December 31. A traditional gold IRA follows the same schedule as any traditional IRA. The starting age is scheduled to rise to 75 in 2033.

How is a gold IRA RMD calculated?

It is your account's fair market value on December 31 of the prior year divided by a life expectancy factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. At age 73 that factor is 26.5, so a $200,000 account would require about $7,547. Because the value is the market value of your metal, a higher gold price produces a larger required distribution.

Can I take my gold IRA RMD as physical metal instead of cash?

Yes. You can take an in kind distribution, where the physical metal is shipped to you rather than sold. The fair market value of the metal distributed is still taxed as ordinary income for the year, exactly as if it had been sold, so in kind does not avoid the tax. It simply means you hold the metal personally afterward.

Do I owe tax on a gold IRA RMD?

Yes. Whether you sell metal for cash or take the metal in kind, the value that leaves a traditional IRA is ordinary income in the year you take it. Because 2026 gold prices have been high, the dollar value, and therefore the tax, is larger than it would be at a lower price. This is general information, not tax advice.

What if my RMD does not match the value of a whole coin?

You cannot distribute a fraction of a coin, so you have three options: sell metal to raise the exact cash, take whole coins in kind and accept that you have distributed and been taxed on more than the minimum, or aggregate. The IRS lets you total the RMDs across your traditional IRAs and satisfy the whole amount from one of them, so you can cover a gold IRA's RMD from a different IRA holding cash.

Does a Roth gold IRA have required minimum distributions?

No. A Roth IRA, including a Roth gold IRA, has no required minimum distributions during the owner's lifetime. RMDs apply to traditional gold IRAs. The rules described here are for a traditional account funded with pre tax dollars. Compare Gold IRA Companies →

Gold IRA Required Minimum Distributions: How RMDs Work When You Hold Physical Metal

Updated Jul 31, 2026 • 6 min read

Written by ClearChoiceRadar Editorial

The short answer

A traditional gold IRA has the same required minimum distributions, or RMDs, as any traditional IRA. Under the SECURE 2.0 Act, they begin at age 73. Your first one is due by April 1 of the year after you turn 73, and every one after that by December 31 of the year. Holding the account's value in physical metal instead of stocks does not change that schedule.

Two things are worth stating up front. A Roth IRA, including a Roth gold IRA, has no required minimum distributions during the owner's lifetime. And the required beginning age is scheduled to rise from 73 to 75 in 2033. Everything below is about a traditional gold IRA under today's rules. For the broader rules on getting money out, see our withdrawal and RMD rules page.

How the required amount is calculated

The RMD is not a percentage someone picks. It is a formula: your account's fair market value on December 31 of the prior year, divided by a life expectancy factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. For a gold IRA, that year end value is the market value of the metal your custodian holds, which the custodian reports.

An example, using the Uniform Lifetime Table factor of 26.5 that applies at age 73:

Input	Value
Account value on prior December 31	$200,000
Uniform Lifetime Table factor at age 73	26.5
Required minimum distribution	$200,000 divided by 26.5, about $7,547

The consequence for a metals account is direct: because the RMD is driven by the year end market value, a higher gold price produces a higher year end value, which produces a larger dollar RMD. The rule is fixed; the number it spits out moves with the price of gold.

Sell metal or take it in kind? The choice that is specific to metals

There are two ways to satisfy the RMD from a gold IRA, and the difference matters:

Sell metal for cash. The custodian sells enough of your holdings to raise the required dollar amount and distributes cash. You realize the value as ordinary income for the year.
Take an in kind distribution. The physical metal itself is shipped to you, out of the IRA and into your own possession. The fair market value of the metal distributed is still counted as ordinary income for the year, exactly as if it had been sold.

Either way, the IRS treats the value that leaves the account as taxable income in the year you take it. In kind does not avoid the tax; it just means you now hold the metal personally and owe income tax on its value. If you sell metal to raise the cash, remember the dealer's buy and sell spread is part of what you net. Our taxes on selling gold page covers the income side in more detail.

The liquidity wrinkle nobody warns you about

Here is the practical problem unique to metal. Your RMD is a precise dollar figure, $7,547 in the example above. But you cannot distribute a fraction of a coin. If your smallest holding is a one ounce coin worth around $4,000, no whole number of coins equals $7,547.

You have three ways out, and the third is the one most people miss:

Sell metal to raise the exact cash. The custodian liquidates enough to hit the dollar figure precisely. Clean, but it incurs the sell side spread.
Take whole coins in kind and accept the overshoot. Two one ounce coins would over satisfy this RMD, and the full value distributed is taxable that year. You are not penalized for taking more than the minimum, but you also do not get to carry the excess forward to next year's requirement.
Aggregate across your IRAs. The IRS lets you total the RMDs owed across your traditional IRAs and take the whole amount from any one of them. So you can calculate the gold IRA's required amount, then satisfy it out of a different IRA that holds cash, and leave the metal untouched. This does not work across account types, an IRA RMD cannot be taken from a 401(k) and vice versa, but among IRAs it is the cleanest solution to the fractional coin problem.

Whichever route you take, plan it before the December 31 deadline rather than in the last week, when selling or shipping metal in a hurry is at its most expensive.

What record prices change, and what they do not

With gold trading near historic highs for much of 2026, the dollar figure of a metal RMD is larger than it would have been at a lower price, which means a larger taxable event in the year you take it. That is the thing to plan for. The rules themselves do not move with the price. You can track the year end value that drives the calculation on our gold price page and price history.

One consequence worth knowing: missing an RMD is expensive but less catastrophic than it used to be. SECURE 2.0 cut the penalty on a shortfall from 50 percent to 25 percent, and to 10 percent if you correct it within the timeframe the law allows. That is a reason to fix a missed distribution promptly, not a reason to be casual about the deadline.

This is general information, not tax advice. RMD calculations, the taxable amount, and any correction depend on your full picture, so confirm the specifics with a tax professional. More short answers are on our gold IRA answers hub.