How do you verify a state's bullion sales-tax rule?

From the primary source: the revenue department publication or comptroller rule that creates the exemption (for example CDTFA Regulation 1599 in California or Texas's HB 78 threshold). The rule, the threshold and the source URL are printed on the state page with the date we checked them.

How are companies scored?

Every company is scored 1–5 on five weighted criteria: fees and fee transparency (25%), customer feedback (25%), transparency and education (20%), buyback and liquidity (15%), and products and storage (15%). The weighted average produces the overall score shown on every state page.

Why does the same company table appear in every state?

Because the companies are national: they serve all 50 states and DC under the same fee schedules. Rating them per state would fake variation. What genuinely differs by state — sales tax, distribution tax, storage logistics — is the state section around the table.

Do companies pay for better ratings?

No. We do not sell placement, and a company can never pay to change a score. Criteria are published before any commercial relationship exists. Our affiliate disclosure explains how the site may earn money without affecting ratings.

Why are some states not linked yet?

A state page publishes only after its tax facts are verified against primary sources. Until then the state stays in our table marked "verification pending" and its page is excluded from search engines. We would rather ship 4 verified states than 51 guesses.

How We Verify State Gold IRA Facts and Rate Companies

This site has two data layers, and they are verified differently. The state layer — what a jurisdiction does to a gold IRA — comes only from government primary sources, checked and dated. The company layer — who you might open the account with — comes from the network's national comparison, scored on fixed weights. Mixing the two is how state pages usually end up fake: local flavor wrapped around recycled marketing.

The state layer: what we verify

Three facts per jurisdiction, each with a named source and a check date:

Bullion sales tax — exempt, exempt over a threshold, or taxable; the exact threshold ($1,000 in Texas and New York, $2,000 in California, none in Florida since August 2025).
Tax on IRA distributions — no income tax, exclusion (like New York's $20,000 for savers 59½+), or ordinary-income treatment.
Storage — which approved depositories investors in the state actually use, including the one state-run vault in Texas.

A state page publishes only when all three are verified. Until then the page exists in a pending state: excluded from search engines, no sourced claims shown. When a rule is in flux — a bill filed, a threshold challenged — the page carries a watch note instead of pretending certainty.

Sources we accept for state facts

Revenue department publications and tax information releases (CDTFA, Texas Comptroller, NYS DTF, Florida DOR), comptroller rules, statutes and session laws, state tax form instructions, and depositories' own operational disclosures. We do not accept dealer-prepared "state tax guides" as a source of facts — including our own network's guides; they must trace to the same primary documents.

The company layer: five criteria and their weights

Criterion	Weight	What we measure
Fees & Fee Transparency	25%	Setup, admin and storage fees from published schedules; no hidden line items.
Customer Feedback & Ratings	25%	Volume and shape of BBB, Trustpilot and ConsumerAffairs records: complaint themes, resolution behavior.
Transparency & Education	20%	Publishes real numbers, explains costs honestly, educates before it sells.
Buyback & Liquidity	15%	Published buyback terms and how cleanly a position unwinds when you sell.
Products & Storage	15%	IRA-eligible product range and depository options, including state-specific vaults.

Scoring rules

Each criterion is scored 1–5 against the published definition, then weighted.
Hard cap — hidden pricing: no published fee schedule, no full fees score — regardless of everything else.
Hard cap — unresolved complaints: a pattern of unresolved BBB or regulator complaints caps the feedback score.
Collectible flag: steering IRA buyers toward numismatic or "graded" products with heavy markups is scored as a transparency failure.
When sources disagree, we publish the range instead of rounding it into confidence.

Update schedule

State tax facts are re-verified at least twice a year, and sooner when a legislature or revenue department moves. Company fees and terms are re-verified at least quarterly. Every page shows the date its facts were last checked; corrections ship within days of confirmation.

What this site is not

Not investment, tax or legal advice. State tax law changes through legislatures and courts; a threshold that held in October 2026 may not hold when you read this. We explain structure and point at the deciding document — your custodian and a licensed professional decide your case.