IRA Rollover Tax Questions - Gold Conversion

• •Been looking into converting a portion of my traditional IRA into a Gold IRA, specifically aiming for about $75k-100k of my roughly $400k balance.
• •The direct rollover seems straightforward enough, avoiding immediate taxation on the amount moved if it goes straight from one custodian to another.
• •But I'm feeling a bit hazy on the specifics once that gold is *in* the IRA.

Been looking into converting a portion of my traditional IRA into a Gold IRA, specifically aiming for about $75k-100k of my roughly $400k balance. I'm a professor here in Richmond, VA, and as you can imagine, I'm pretty research-driven, so I've been poring over IRS publications and various financial advisor sites. The direct rollover seems straightforward enough, avoiding immediate taxation on the amount moved if it goes straight from one custodian to another. But I'm feeling a bit hazy on the specifics once that gold is in the IRA.

My main question revolves around the tax implications down the line. With a traditional IRA, my distributions in retirement will be taxed as ordinary income. Does this change at all with physical gold inside the IRA? I've seen some conflicting info about collectibles and their tax treatment, but my understanding is that as long as it's an IRS-approved gold product (like American Gold Eagles or Canadian Gold Maples), it retains the same tax-deferred status as any other traditional IRA asset. Is anyone here further along in the process or even taking distributions from a Gold IRA? Did the "collectibles" tax rate (higher than ordinary income) ever come into play for you, or is that primarily for direct ownership of physical gold outside of a retirement account?

I'm trying to plan this meticulously to avoid any nasty surprises come retirement. The idea of having a tangible asset providing diversification through inflation and market volatility is really appealing, especially with the current economic climate. Any insights from folks who have actually gone through this, particularly regarding tax reporting at distribution, would be incredibly valuable. Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences!