Giving gold to children: coins, custodial accounts and the tax rules

Ways to give gold to a child

Coins or bars as a gift

The simplest option is to hand over the metal. Small bullion coins, such as a 1/10 oz Gold Eagle or Maple Leaf, are popular gifts because they’re affordable and easy to recognize. A proof coin from the child’s birth year makes a nice keepsake, but it costs well above its gold value, as our guide to proof vs. bullion coins explains.

A gift of metal belongs to the child, even if you keep it safe for them. Write down what you gave, when, and what you paid. When the child eventually sells, their cost for tax purposes is generally what you paid, not the value on the day of the gift. One exception: if the metal was worth less than you paid on the day you gave it, the child uses that lower value to work out a loss, and a sale at a price between the two values produces neither a gain nor a loss.

A gold fund in a custodial account

A custodial account, set up under your state’s Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) or Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA), lets an adult manage investments for a child. At most brokerages you can buy a gold ETF in one, alongside stock funds. Keep in mind:

• The gift is irrevocable. The money belongs to the child.
• The child takes control at an age set by state law, generally between 18 and 25.
• It can reduce college financial aid, because it counts as the child’s asset.

A custodial Roth IRA

If a child has earned income from a job, an adult can open a custodial Roth IRA and contribute up to the child’s earnings for the year, capped at $7,500 in 2026. A gold ETF can be held in it, and qualified withdrawals decades later are tax-free. A self-directed gold IRA holding physical metal is possible too, but its annual fees make little sense for a small child’s account.

Accounts that can’t hold gold

• 529 college savings plans let you choose only from the plan’s own menu of investment portfolios, which generally don’t include gold.
• Trump Accounts, which opened for contributions on July 4, 2026, allow up to $5,000 a year per child. The federal government adds a one-time $1,000 for a child born from 2025 through 2028 who is a U.S. citizen with a Social Security number, if a parent or guardian elects it. Until the year the child turns 18, the account can only hold low-cost funds that track a U.S. stock index, with expense ratios of 0.10% or less, so gold isn’t allowed.

The tax rules

Rule	2026 figure
Gifts you can give each person without filing a gift tax return	$19,000
Lifetime gift and estate tax exclusion	$15 million
Child’s unearned income that’s tax-free	First $1,350
Next band, taxed at the child’s rate	$1,350 to $2,700
Unearned income taxed at the parents’ rate (the “kiddie tax”)	Above $2,700

Gold coins produce no income while they’re held, so they don’t usually trigger the kiddie tax until they’re sold. A gold fund set up as a trust is a little different: when it sells small amounts of gold to pay its expenses, the child can have small gains or losses each year without selling any shares. When it is sold, the gain is taxed as a gain on a collectible, at up to 28% for gold held more than a year.

Gifts above $19,000 to one person in a year need a gift tax return, Form 709, but tax is only owed once your lifetime gifts pass the $15 million exclusion.

Is gold a good gift for a child?

It can be a meaningful one. A coin is something a child can hold, and it can start conversations about money and saving. As an investment for a long horizon, though, gold has usually trailed stocks: since 1972, U.S. stocks have returned about 11% a year with dividends, against about 9% for gold. Our gold vs. stocks guide has the details.

A sensible mix for many families is a coin or two as a keepsake, and the bulk of a child’s savings in a 529 plan, a custodial account or a Trump Account invested in stock index funds.

Frequently asked questions