[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1769 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1769

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow certain coins to be 
   acquired by individual retirement accounts and other individually 
        directed pension plan accounts, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 8, 2009

  Mr. Vitter introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow certain coins to be 
   acquired by individual retirement accounts and other individually 
        directed pension plan accounts, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Options for Investors through United 
States Certified Coins Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. CERTAIN COINS NOT TREATED AS COLLECTIBLES.

    (a) In General.--Section 408(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 (relating to exception for certain coins and bullion) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3)(A), by striking ``or'' at the end of 
        clause (iii) and by inserting after clause (iv) the following 
        new clause:
                            ``(v) a coin which--
                                    ``(I) is certified by an 
                                independent, third-party grading 
                                service,
                                    ``(II) is, or was at any time, 
                                legal tender in the United States, and
                                    ``(III) is traded on a nationally 
                                recognized electronic coin trading 
                                network or listed by an independent 
                                coin wholesale reporting service, or'',
            (2) in paragraph (3)(B)--
                    (A) by inserting ``in coin or bar form'' after 
                ``bullion'', and
                    (B) by striking ``a regulated futures contract,'' 
                and all that follows and inserting ``a regulated 
                futures contract, if a trustee described under 
                subsection (a)(2) maintains--
                            ``(i) physical possession of such coins or 
                        bullion, or
                            ``(ii) the indicia of ownership for such 
                        coins or bullion, provided physical possession 
                        of such coins or bullion is held by a custodian 
                        pursuant to paragraph (4).'', and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(4) Use of certain custodians as agents.--A trustee shall 
        not hold the indicia of ownership of any coins or bullion 
        described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (3) in lieu 
        of holding physical possession unless--
                    ``(A) physical possession of such coins or bullion 
                is maintained by a custodian that regularly engages in 
                the business of holding bullion, coins, and precious 
                metals, and which--
                            ``(i) has held such goods during the 
                        preceding 12 months for the beneficial owner of 
                        such goods other than the custodian, and
                            ``(ii) holds the coins or bullion as agent 
                        for the trustee,
                    ``(B) the trustee remains a fiduciary and otherwise 
                liable to the account holder to the same extent such 
                trustee would if it retained the physical possession of 
                the coins or bullion,
                    ``(C) the indicia of ownership is not subject to 
                any right, charge, security interest, lien, or claim of 
                any kind in favor of the custodian in possession of the 
                coins or bullion and is freely transferable by the 
                trustee without payment of money or value other than 
                for safe custody and administration, and
                    ``(D) upon request by the account holder, the 
                trustee identifies to the account holder the name, 
                address, and principal place of business of the 
                custodian in possession of the coins or bullion.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2009.
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