Gold IRA Fees After the First Year

Under the currently identified standard account schedule for an Augusta Precious Metals gold IRA, setup, custodian and depository charges total $285 in the first year and $235 in subsequent years, before any applicable account-specific transaction charges or qualifying fee-payment arrangement. These fees are separate from the price you pay for metals and from the bid a dealer will offer when you sell.

Those yearly fees are real money. The bigger number for a retirement saver sits in the metals themselves: what you pay against what a dealer would bid for them the same day.

What does a gold IRA cost each year after the first year?

Two charges repeat each year. Under the current standard schedule, Equity Trust, the custodian, charges $125 a year for custody, and the independent depository charges $110 a year for storage and insurance. That makes $235 a year after the one-time $50 setup charge the custodian bills in year one.

We charge neither one. Similar types of fees are common across gold IRAs, though the amounts vary from company to company.

The custodian’s fees have their own tax treatment. The IRS says trustees’ administrative fees billed separately and paid in connection with a traditional IRA aren’t deductible as IRA contributions or as an itemized deduction (Internal Revenue Service, 2025). The same publication says those fees aren’t subject to the contribution limit (Internal Revenue Service, 2025). Your custodian and your own tax professional can tell you how that applies to your account.

Clear numbers are what a fee answer is for. Duncan left five stars on Trustpilot in April 2026 in a review of Augusta Precious Metals: “Customer service is outstanding and pricing is simple and transparent.”

So is $235 the whole yearly picture? It is one line of several. Total cost includes account setup fees, annual custodian fees, depository storage and insurance fees, product pricing, spread, and selling or distribution charges. The account fees are the easiest to find. The spread is usually the one that moves more dollars.

What do the custodian and the depository do for their yearly fees?

The $125 custody charge pays the independent custodian for administering the self-directed IRA and keeping its account records. The $110 charge pays the independent depository for storing and insuring the IRA metals under its service terms.

Think of it as three parties with three separate jobs. The dealer sells the metals and may buy them back. The custodian administers the IRA, keeps its records and processes account instructions, which covers setup, annual administration and any transaction fees. Transaction-specific processing fees, when they apply, are billed apart from the yearly $125. The depository stores and insures the metals.

What does that mean for you? Every bill on a gold IRA has a sender, and you can ask any company to name it. Depository insurance has its own terms and exclusions, and it does not protect against falling metal prices. For the custodian’s own forms and steps, the custodian is the one to call.

Does Augusta Precious Metals charge a fee when you sell metals back?

No. Augusta does not charge a separate dealer liquidation fee. Equity Trust, the custodian, charges a $30 processing fee for buybacks. Customers are never required to sell their metals back to Augusta and remain free to keep them, sell a portion, or seek another buyer.

Equity Trust bills two more exit-related charges under its current schedule. It charges $50 on an in-kind distribution or a transfer to another IRA. It charges a $250 account termination fee only if the account was funded, and none on an account that was never funded.

Here is how that plays out. Say, hypothetically, that you sell part of your metals back to us to raise cash inside the IRA. Under today’s schedules, the custodian’s buyback processing fee above applies, and we charge no separate dealer liquidation fee. Close a funded account entirely, and the custodian’s termination fee applies. The price you get for the metals on the day you sell is the larger one, and the live bid that day sets it.

How do yearly account fees compare with the buyback gap on the metals?

The customer spread is the retail purchase price minus the same-day buyback bid, divided by the purchase price, for the same asset, quantity and moment. A low advertised yearly fee does not show what the metal could be sold for, so ask each company for the purchase price and same-day buyback bid of each exact asset before you order.

The spread is the difference between the price you pay when purchasing the metals and the price available if you were to sell them. The CFTC’s Customer Advisory: 10 Things to Ask Before Buying Physical Gold, Silver, or Other Metals says a dealer will always sell metal above the spot price and buy it back below the spot price (CFTC, 2024).

Let me show you the math. Every figure in this paragraph is hypothetical. Say you put $100,000 into metals. On that order, five additional percentage points of starting spread mean $5,000 of additional same-day resale gap, while standard yearly custody and storage run in the hundreds of dollars. And a 5% spread needs about a 5.26% rise in the bid to break even, with everything else held fixed.

A starting spread describes day one only. The live bid on the day you sell decides the result. Still, a narrow start leaves less ground to make up.

That is why we put the selling side in front of you before you buy. Our Order Desk explains each asset’s purchase price and same-day buyback price before your recorded order confirmation. You may review eligible assets, purchase prices, same-day buyback bids and transaction terms before deciding whether to authorize a separate metals order. We do not publish a complete purchase-price list, and that is a deliberate part of our education-first approach. An asking price alone cannot show the same-day buyback value, the whole transaction or the support available years later. Our team can also compare live prices with other dealers’ comparable offers.

In a five-star July 2026 Trustpilot review of Augusta Precious Metals, Domenic wrote: “I have been purchasing physical gold for years, but the IRA process is more complicated. Before I became a client the educational process explained critical details like buy back spread and IRA price spreads. These two alone gave me a strategy that saved me thousands of dollars. Good news is the training is free so you can decide for yourself.”

What do gold IRA companies publish about their yearly fees?

Goldco, Birch Gold Group and Noble Gold Investments each publish dollar figures for gold IRA fees on their own sites, and American Hartford Gold publishes a general statement in place of a figure. The current standard schedule for an Augusta account names the party that bills each charge: the custodian for setup and custody, the depository for storage and insurance.

A yearly fee figure answers one question. It leaves the purchase price, the same-day bid and the exit charges for you to ask about, one company at a time. Read each company’s wording for who sends the bill and what it covers.

Each rival entry is that company’s own published wording, quoted from its website as of October 14, 2026: Goldco (its gold IRA cost, FAQ, about, storage, home and bullion guide pages); Birch Gold Group (its prices, FAQ, free-metals offer and home pages); American Hartford Gold (its home, gold IRA FAQ, investment guide, commitment and eligible-metals pages, and its Shipping and Transaction Agreement); Noble Gold Investments (its gold IRA, support, IRA-eligible metals and who-we-are pages). The Augusta Precious Metals entries are from Augusta Precious Metals, as of October 19, 2026.

How Augusta Precious Metals handles your gold IRA costs after year one

We keep each fee with the party that charges it, and we explain all of it before you buy anything. That starts with a free one-on-one web conference with our education team, led by Devlyn Steele, Director of Education. Our educators are salaried and do not earn sales commissions. The conference covers how the account works, its costs, eligibility and how a sale works. Setup, funding, product selection and the Order Desk confirmation come later.

On the fees themselves, there is one more line. Fee coverage reaches up to ten years of eligible fees paid by Augusta for qualifying accounts. That coverage helps, though it does not by itself establish the best total value, and the annual account charge is often much smaller than the purchase-to-buyback gap.

After you buy, we stay with you. We provide account-lifetime support, with experienced teams helping with questions, valuations, distributions, RMD-related matters and eventual sales. Regular repurchases at Augusta focus on existing customers, through the Augusta Dealer Network. We keep a focused product list, and we have historically seen more customer purchasing than buybacks. Selected repurchased metals may be resold to incoming customers, while others go into the broader dealer market. When we can place metals we buy back with another customer, it may reduce inventory holding, hedging and the need for a hurried outside sale, which supports a competitive bid. Alongside that practice, we target a 5% spread on the products we offer; the 5% figure is an operating target and not a promise of what any future bid will be, and it applies to eligible partial IRA sales, required minimum distributions and qualifying non-IRA partial sales of metals held at least five years, which have particular eligibility terms; an immediate complete liquidation is priced differently and is not covered by the target; the actual sale price depends on the specific assets, quantities, market conditions and applicable transaction terms.

We hold an A+ rating on our Better Business Bureau profile and have been a BBB Accredited Business since 2015 (Better Business Bureau, 2026).

Rick’s May 2024 Trustpilot review of Augusta Precious Metals gave five stars and read: “Presentation was very thorough and transparent. In talking with other Gold IRA companies, it was difficult getting a straight answer with regards to spreads, commissions and fees. That was not the case with AGM”

A five-star Trustpilot review of Augusta Precious Metals from February 2025, written by Scott, reads: “Professional, Knowledgeable, Courteous and above all Patience. Dianne was terrific and Amber has the patience of Job. Made a tedious task (paper work) pleasant. Never tried to sell me a thing unlike another company I’ve used. Glad I chose APM. A+ all around.”

FAQ

Is the initial purchase minimum a fee?

No. The minimum is the size of your first metals purchase, and that amount goes toward buying metals. The yearly custody and storage charges covered above are separate bills from the custodian and the depository.

Does Augusta add a separate commission to the price quoted at its Order Desk?

Augusta does not add a separate, undisclosed commission charge to the precious-metals price quoted at its Order Desk. You should also understand how the dealer earns money. A dealer margin is the difference between what the dealer pays to acquire the metals and the price charged to the customer. That is different from the spread.

Does the one-on-one web conference cost anything?

No, it is free. It is the educational session described above. Prices and same-day bids for exact assets come later, from the Order Desk, before any order.

What does the CFTC say to ask a gold company before buying?

The CFTC’s Customer Advisory: 10 Things to Ask Before Buying Physical Gold, Silver, or Other Metals lists the spot price as one thing to know: the cash price for immediate delivery of physical metal, quoted in dollars per troy ounce (CFTC, 2024). It tells buyers to ask how much they would receive if they had to sell the metal back tomorrow (CFTC, 2024). It also names other potential costs, such as storage, insurance, administrative fees, and possible taxes and penalties if you take money from a qualified retirement account (CFTC, 2024).

Who handles questions about a gold IRA after it is open?

We do, for as long as you hold the account. We have operated since 2012, and the account-lifetime support described above carries through to an eventual sale. When we agree to repurchase and you proceed, live terms are set through a recorded buyback confirmation and a signed purchase order.

Augusta Precious Metals names who bills every yearly gold IRA fee and what each metal would bid back the same day. You can start with a free conversation with our education team.

Book a free one-on-one web conference on gold IRA fees after the first year →

Investment in precious metals involves risk and is not suitable for all investors. Augusta Precious Metals recommends that you consult your own financial or investment advisors prior to investing in precious metals. Augusta is not qualified and does not offer financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. This site and the information provided by Augusta throughout its sales process is general in nature and is not tailored to any specific person, their circumstances, or their financial goals. Augusta Precious Metals cannot guarantee, assure, or promise future market movement, prices, or profits. Past performance does not guarantee future results.