It is my understanding, though, that if you are younger than 59-1/2 years old and take possession of stock certificates from an IRA account, it is treated as an early distribution by the IRS and you have to pay taxes + 10% penalty on the distribution. (I took possession of physical metal from a precious metals IRA in 2007 and had to pay the taxes.

I am thinking about taking possession of some IRA stock certs and paying the taxes, but it's enough of a tax bite in that case to give me pause.

Gg