Frequently asked questions

Investor Services is the client-facing custody experience. Institutional Trust Company is the trust entity that would act as custodian; Investor Services is how you’d open, view, and direct accounts. The platform is powered by FISCP and secured by B5 Secure.

Not yet. It is seeking a South Dakota non-depository trust charter and is not currently accepting accounts. This site is a demonstration and reference experience.

Because the entity is pre-charter. Until the charter is granted, nothing here is an offer to open an account or a solicitation — you can explore how everything works and reach out with questions.

Custody would sit with a South Dakota non-depository trust company, governed by South Dakota law. The website and Investor Services materials are governed by California law, with venue in Santa Clara County.

No. Forms, figures, and flows are shown for demonstration and reference. Treat everything as illustrative until the entity is chartered and operational.

It’s a custody and investment model, not a separate tax type. A self-directed IRA can be Traditional or Roth and follows those same contribution, deduction, and distribution rules — what’s different is the range of assets it can hold and that you direct the investments.

The tax treatment is identical. The difference is breadth and control: a self-directed account can hold alternatives like real estate, private equity, notes, metals, and digital assets, and you direct each investment rather than choosing from a fixed menu.

The platform is designed for the full range — Traditional and Roth IRAs, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs, solo 401(k)s, health and education accounts, trusts, and entity accounts — more than twenty types in all. Availability follows the account’s governing rules.

That’s the most common way these accounts are funded. A direct rollover or trustee-to-trustee transfer moves retirement money without triggering tax, provided it’s done correctly. We’d walk you through it when accounts open.

Yes. Many investors hold both and split contributions or conversions between them. Each follows its own rules, and the annual contribution limit is shared across your IRAs.

Both traditional and alternative assets — stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, bonds, and cash, alongside real estate, private equity and venture, private credit and notes, precious metals, and digital assets. See the individual asset pages for the rules that apply to each.

Often yes, in a self-directed model — subject to prohibited-transaction rules, disqualified-person restrictions, UBIT/UDFI on operating or debt-financed income, and independent valuation. The IRA must hold title and run all income and expenses through the account. Get professional review before you invest.

Digital assets can be held through qualified custody keyed to the IRA — you don’t hold the private keys personally. The IRS treats virtual currency as property, so ordinary IRA and prohibited-transaction rules apply. Volatility and custody-eligibility are real considerations.

No. IRA metals must be held by the custodian at an approved depository — taking personal possession is a distribution, and home storage has been rejected by the Tax Court. Likewise, you can’t personally use real estate the IRA owns.

Collectibles (art, gems, most rare coins, alcoholic beverages) and life insurance are prohibited in an IRA under the Code, along with anything that would require a transaction with a disqualified person.

Under IRC § 4975, it’s a transaction between the IRA and a disqualified person — self-dealing, personal use, lending to yourself, or providing services to the IRA’s assets. A prohibited transaction can disqualify the entire IRA, so the rules matter.

You (as the account owner and a fiduciary), your spouse, your ancestors and lineal descendants and their spouses, and any entity that they control (generally 50% or more). The IRA can’t transact with any of them.

Unrelated business income tax (UBIT) applies when an IRA earns operating-business income through a pass-through entity; unrelated debt-financed income (UDFI) applies to the debt-financed portion of an investment, such as leveraged real estate. Either can require the IRA to file Form 990-T and pay tax.

It holds title to the assets in the IRA’s name and processes the transactions you direct — funding investments, receiving income, keeping records, and handling distributions. It does not choose, evaluate, or recommend investments.

No. Holding or processing an asset is not an endorsement, valuation, due-diligence review, or a determination that it complies with tax or securities law. The diligence and the decision are yours.

The IRA does — in its own name, or through an entity the IRA wholly owns. You direct the account, but you don’t hold the assets personally; that separation is what keeps the account’s tax status intact.

From the account’s cash. Purchases, capital calls, and property expenses are paid from IRA cash, so an account holding alternatives needs a cash reserve. Income and proceeds flow back into the IRA.

Per-record authorization is enforced by B5 Secure on the FISCP platform — denied by default, with signed requests and a post-quantum-ready path (ML-KEM / ML-DSA). Access is least-privilege, and activity is written to a tamper-evident audit trail.

It describes the ISCP→FISCP security and processing-integrity record as of December 31, 2025 — not investment performance. Investments can still lose value; the figure is about the integrity of the platform, not a guarantee against market loss.

A trust company is not an FDIC-insured bank. Uninvested cash may, under certain program conditions, be eligible for pass-through FDIC insurance at participating banks — that protects only against a bank’s failure, not against investment loss. Investments themselves are not FDIC-insured and can lose value.

Email security@investorservices.com. We acknowledge good-faith reports within one business day and won’t pursue researchers acting in good faith. See the security policy for the full coordinated-disclosure process.

Account and custody fees would be set out in a published fee schedule at launch — typically an account fee plus asset- or transaction-based charges for alternatives. Because the entity is pre-charter, no fees are being charged today.

No. Everything here is educational. Your situation depends on your account type, transactions, tax year, and circumstances — consult a qualified tax or legal professional before acting.

Yes — a custodian issues the standard retirement-account forms, such as Form 5498 for contributions and fair-market value, and Form 1099-R for distributions. Certain investments (for example, debt-financed real estate) may also require the IRA to file Form 990-T.

Only if the IRA earns unrelated business or debt-financed income (UBIT/UDFI) above the filing threshold. The return is filed by the IRA — the custodian facilitates it — and any tax is paid from IRA funds.

Reach out through the contact page and we’ll share information and next steps. Because the entity is pre-charter, we’re not opening accounts yet — but we’re happy to answer questions and keep you posted.

The usual account-opening basics — identity verification, beneficiary designations, and, if you’re rolling money over, details of the account you’re transferring from. For alternative investments, you’d also provide the investment’s documents so the IRA can be titled correctly.