What Are You Not Allowed To Put Into A Self-Directed IRA?
Saturday, February 15th 2025
Self-directed Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) provide greater investment diversification than their traditional or Roth counterparts, offering increased flexibility and higher potential returns, with additional responsibility and limitations placed upon what type of investments may be held by you. We will explore what assets cannot be put into self-directed IRAs as well as any regulations which govern them here in this comprehensive article.
Understanding Self-Directed IRAs
Before discussing prohibited investments, it is vitally important to understand self-directed IRAs. These accounts allow greater control over retirement savings by permitting you to invest in multiple asset classes at once – both traditional and Roth varieties exist, each providing similar contribution limits and tax benefits as its non-self-directed equivalents.
Self-directed IRAs require the services of an expert custodian to keep and administer assets properly, reporting activities to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), ensuring compliance with IRS rules, and meeting compliance obligations. Working with knowledgeable custodians is vital as violating self-directed IRA rules can incur substantial financial penalties.
Prohibited Investments
The IRS has provided an exhaustive list of prohibited assets you must avoid placing into your self-directed IRA, such as:
- Collectibles: This category encompasses an expansive array of tangible personal property, from artwork, rugs and antiques to stamps, coins and gems that meet specific purity criteria – artwork rugs antiques stamps coins gems alcohol beverages etc. However, there may be exceptions such as gold, silver, platinum, palladium, coin, bullion that may qualify for self-directed IRA holding if meeting specific purity standards.
- Life insurance: Unfortunately, self-directed IRAs do not permit purchasing or holding life insurance policies because the tax advantages would undermine how life insurance is taxed.
- S corporation stock: Although self-directed IRAs allow shareholders of C corporations (1) and limited liability companies (LLCs) to own S corporation (2) shares, due to its specific tax structure that distributes profits/losses directly to shareholders for taxation purposes – making such shares incompatible with tax-deferred accounts such as an IRA.
Prohibited Transactions
In addition to restricting investment choices for self-directed IRAs, the IRS also places restrictions on transactions performed within them. Engaging in prohibited activities could incur severe penalties such as disqualifying an entire IRA; here are some commonly prohibited transactions:
- Self-dealing: Self-dealing refers to transactions in which you, as the IRA owner, gain personally from its investments. For example, this could involve using your IRA funds for personal purposes, or lending money out directly from it – such as using it to purchase property for yourself personally, or lending funds back out again as loans from yourself or to disqualified parties.
- Disqualified individuals: According to IRS standards, disqualified persons include anyone in an intimate relationship with an IRA owner that are forbidden from transacting business with his/her IRA account – this could include spouses, children, parents, and fiduciaries (like an IRA custodian) among others. Transactions involving disqualified parties could incur severe penalties.
- Indirect benefits: Even transactions involving no disqualified person directly could still be prohibited if it results in any indirect benefit to either an IRA owner or disqualified persons; for instance, if your self-directed IRA investments support businesses of which an officer or significant shareholder of that business benefits indirectly and the transaction could therefore be considered indirect benefits and therefore prohibited.
Understanding Unrelated Business Taxable Income (UBTI) and Unrelated Debt-Financed Income (UDFI)
Though not explicitly prohibited, certain income generated through your self-directed IRA investments could trigger tax implications. Two such categories include Unrelated Business Taxable Income (UBTI) and Unrelated Debt-Financed Income (UDFI).
- Unrelated Business Taxable Income (UBTI): When investing your IRA funds into active trade or business not directly connected with its tax-exempt purpose, Unrelated Business Taxable Income may result. For example, owning interests in partnerships or LLCs which operate businesses could generate income subject to Unrelated Business Taxable Income taxation; any amount exceeding $1,000 should prompt filing Form 990-T with taxes due for this income generated within any year by that IRA will require filing this return and paying these taxes on it.
- Unrelated Debt-Financed Income (UDFI): When your self-directed IRA uses debt financing to acquire investments such as real estate, any income generated through debt-financed portion may qualify as unrelated Debt Financed Income and be taxed accordingly. Like Unrelated Bettor-Taxable Income (UBTI), any time your self-directed IRA generates over $1,000 of this type of income it will need to file Form 990-T in order to pay taxation on it.
To minimize these tax consequences, it’s advisable to work closely with both your self-directed IRA custodian and tax advisor in structuring investments to minimize UBTI/UDFI potential.
Navigating the Complexities of Self-Directed IRAs
Self-directed IRA investments can provide diversification and possible yields, but their rules and regulations are complex and subject to tight implementation of the IRS. To successfully manage self-directed IRA accounts while avoiding prohibited transactions and investments take a look at these suggestions for successfully using them:
- Collaborate with an experienced custodian: For optimal self-directed IRA results, look for a custodian with extensive knowledge of IRS regulations governing these accounts and can guide your investments so they remain compliant. A knowledgeable custodian will assist in spotting any potential pitfalls while keeping investments compliant with IRS rules and guidelines.
- Consult professionals: It may also be advantageous to engage the services of professionals familiar with self-directed IRAs such as tax advisors, financial planners, and attorneys whose advice can tailor itself specifically to you and your investment goals. These specialists may include custodians but may provide further support through tax advice, financial plans and attorney expertise that is specific for self-directed accounts.
- Conduct thorough due diligence: Before investing with your self-directed IRA, conduct extensive research to fully comprehend its assets, risks, and any regulatory concerns or potential tax ramifications. This may involve reviewing the financial health of an investment firm as well as its management team as well as any tax implications.
- Keep informed: As self-directed IRA rules can change over time, staying abreast of developments that could impact your account is key. Review IRS publications regularly as well as consulting professionals or attending educational events dedicated to self-directed IRAs for updates that might impact them.
Conclusion
Self-directed IRAs offer investors an exciting way to diversify their retirement savings portfolio and potentially achieve higher returns, but this increased responsibility comes with it, along with an array of rules and regulations regulating which investments are permitted. By understanding prohibited assets and transactions as well as working with knowledgeable professionals to conduct adequate due diligence on potential investments you can navigate your way safely through self-directed IRAs to make the most of your retirement savings plan.
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2 Comments
If you have a reliable custodian, you don’t really need to know about all this!
Hi Patrick,
This is true, a good custodian will let you know what to do and not to do.
Happy investing!