Gold IRA Rollovers

Understand direct rollovers, trustee-to-trustee transfers, 60-day rollovers and common decision points.

Three ways retirement money can move

The IRS describes a direct rollover from an employer plan, a trustee-to-trustee transfer involving an IRA, and a 60-day rollover when a distribution is paid to you. These methods are not interchangeable.

With a direct rollover from an employer plan, the plan can pay the receiving plan or IRA directly and federal income tax is not withheld from the transfer amount. With a trustee-to-trustee IRA transfer, the institutions move the funds directly and withholding does not apply. If an eligible distribution is paid to you, the general 60-day rollover rule applies.

Why direct movement is often operationally simpler

A retirement-plan distribution paid to you is generally subject to 20% mandatory federal withholding even if you intend to roll it over. To roll over the full eligible amount within 60 days, you may need other funds to replace the amount withheld. IRA distributions paid to you have different withholding rules.

The IRS also applies a one-rollover-per-year limitation to certain IRA-to-IRA 60-day rollovers, while trustee-to-trustee transfers are not subject to that limitation.

2026 rollover update

On August 12, 2026, Treasury and the IRS issued Notice 2026-49 with optional sample forms and proposed procedures intended to simplify certain rollovers between retirement plans and IRAs. The guidance does not apply to IRA-to-IRA transfers, and use of the sample forms is optional.