Skip to content
Connecting to price feed…
Fair Gold Price
Live pricesMarketsValue my gold

RRSP and TFSA

Gold and silver in an RRSP or TFSA, explained plainly.

What it takes to hold physical metal in a registered plan, what it costs, and how to avoid the sales tactics regulators warn about. We do not sell plans or metals, and we earn nothing if you open one.

What it is
A self-directed RRSP or TFSA that holds physical gold or silver instead of stocks and funds.
Who holds the metal
The plan’s trustee, a bank or trust company, with the metal stored in a vault. Not you, and not at home.
What it can hold
Only certain coins and bars: pure enough, and from the Royal Canadian Mint or an accredited refiner. No jewellery or collector coins.
How you fund it
A new contribution within your room, or a direct transfer from another RRSP or TFSA.

Overview

How gold in a registered plan works

An RRSP, RRIF, TFSA, RESP or FHSA can only hold qualified investments. Most physical things do not qualify. Canadian tax rules make an exception for certain gold and silver coins, bars and certificates (Canada Revenue Agency, Income Tax Folio S3-F10-C1). The rules are the same for each kind of plan.

You need a self-directed plan whose trustee agrees to hold physical metal. Many banks and brokers do not offer this, so ask before you start.

The three parties

  • Trustee: the bank or trust company that runs the plan, holds its assets and files the tax slips.
  • Seller: where the plan buys the metal. The rules limit who this can be: the Royal Canadian Mint, the refiner, or a Canadian bank, trust company, credit union, insurance company or registered securities dealer.
  • Vault: stores the metal for the trustee. It may be pooled with other owners’ metal, or held apart for a higher fee.

You cannot keep plan metal at home

The plan owns the metal, and its trustee must hold it. If metal is handed to you, that is a withdrawal. From an RRSP its market value is added to your income for the year.

If the plan buys the wrong thing

If a plan buys something that is not a qualified investment, you can owe a tax equal to 50% of its value, and the plan pays tax on any income from it. The 50% tax can be refunded if the item is sold promptly and you did not know it was not allowed. Check each product against therules on eligible metals before the plan buys it.

What it costs

Physical metal in a plan has costs that funds usually do not. Ask for every one of these in writing before you sign:

  • Account setup fee and the trustee’s yearly fee.
  • Yearly storage and insurance fee.
  • The seller’s price for each product, compared with its melt value. Our coin and bar pages show live melt values in Canadian dollars.
  • What the seller will pay to buy the same metal back, today. The gap between the two is the spread.
  • Fees to sell, to ship metal out, to transfer the plan or to close it.

Many people who want gold in a registered plan hold it through an exchange-traded fund instead, which an ordinary self-directed plan can buy like a stock. That is a different product with its own costs and risks. We are not recommending either.

Warning signs

  • An unsolicited call, or ads warning that your savings will be wiped out by a crash.
  • Pressure to move all, or most, of your retirement savings into metals.
  • “Free silver” or bonus offers. The cost is usually built into the price.
  • Steering towards proof, “limited edition” or collector coins instead of plain bullion. These carry much higher markups, and a coin priced more than 10% over its metal does not qualify for a plan.
  • Being told you can store plan metal at home, or take money out of a locked-in plan “tax free”.
  • A salesperson who gives investment advice but is not registered. Look them up at AreTheyRegistered.ca.

Read the regulators’ own material: the Canadian Securities Administrators, the Ontario Securities Commission’sGetSmarterAboutMoney.ca, and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, where you can also report a fraud.

Selling, or taking the metal out

  • Selling inside the plan: the trustee sells and the cash stays in the plan. No tax until you withdraw.
  • Taking metal out of an RRSP: its market value that day counts as a withdrawal. It is added to your income, and tax is withheld at source.
  • Taking metal out of a TFSA: no tax. The value is added back to your contribution room the next January.
  • An RRSP must be turned into a RRIF or an annuity by the end of the year you turn 71. A RRIF has a minimum withdrawal each year, so you may need to sell metal to cover it.

See transfers and withdrawals for the withholding rates.

Is it right for you?

We cannot tell you that, and anyone selling metals has a reason to say yes. A fee-only financial planner, who does not earn a commission on what you buy, can help you decide how much, if any, of your savings belongs in metals.

Next

This page is general information, not tax or investment advice. Rules have exceptions; confirm with your plan’s trustee or a tax professional.