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TAP IRA
TAP IRA was founded in 2017 in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, by a team of financial and real estate professionals. The firm positions itself as a specialized...
TAP IRA
TAP IRA was founded in 2017 in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, by a team of financial and real estate professionals. The firm positions itself as a specialized self-directed IRA provider that helps clients use retirement funds to purchase real estate directly, including residential fix-and-flip projects, rental properties, and raw land. Unlike generalist self-directed IRA custodians that accept any alternative asset, TAP IRA concentrates almost exclusively on real estate transactions. Its operational model centers on acting as a white-glove intermediary for individual investors and smaller real estate operators. Clients identify a property, and TAP IRA executes the purchase, holds title, and manages compliance on behalf of the IRA. The firm supports transactions ranging from single-family homes to multi-unit apartment buildings, often working with repeat investors who flip multiple properties per year. Confirmed transaction types include buy-and-hold rentals, rehabs, and wholesale deals, primarily in markets across Arizona, Nevada, and California. The firm is privately held and does not publicly disclose assets under custody, staffing levels, or total transaction volume. As of early 2025, the firm continues to operate from its Arizona base, with Aaron Gauthier serving as Chief Compliance Officer. TAP IRA's lightweight structure — minimal physical footprint, no institutional fund vehicles, and no reported outside capital raises — reflects a focused service business rather than a pooled investment manager. What structurally differentiates TAP IRA is its narrow transaction-based workflow. Most self-directed IRA custodians offer a broad menu of alternative assets — private equity, precious metals, cryptocurrency — and treat real estate as one option among many. TAP IRA inverts that model by building its entire compliance stack, documentation process, and customer support around the specific legal and logistical demands of real estate closings inside a retirement account. This vertical focus means the firm can process transactions faster than generalist custodians, but it also caps the addressable market to investors who exclusively want to deploy IRA capital into physical property.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2017
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Lake Havasu City
Corporate office
Lake Havasu City, AZ, United States
Principals
Aaron Gauthier
Chief Compliance Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
What does TAP IRA actually do?
TAP IRA operates as a self-directed IRA custodian or facilitator that specializes in real estate transactions. It enables clients to use retirement funds — typically Traditional, Roth, SEP, or SIMPLE IRAs — to purchase investment properties directly. The firm handles the legal and compliance requirements of holding real estate inside a tax-advantaged retirement account, including title holding and transaction processing.
Does TAP IRA allow checkbook control or LLC structures?
Self-directed IRA facilitators commonly offer either custodian-held or checkbook-control IRA LLC structures. In a checkbook-control setup, the IRA owns a single-member LLC, giving the IRA holder direct signing authority over a business checking account to make real estate purchases. TAP IRA's exact structural preferences and fee schedule for such arrangements are not publicly detailed and would require direct inquiry.
What types of real estate can TAP IRA purchase?
The firm supports a range of investment real estate assets, including single-family residences, multi-family units, condominiums, townhouses, raw land, and commercial properties. The unifying constraint is that the property must be an investment asset — personal-use properties and transactions involving disqualified persons (such as the IRA holder, their spouse, or lineal ascendants/descendants) are prohibited under IRS rules.
How does TAP IRA differ from a general self-directed IRA custodian?
Most self-directed IRA custodians support a wide array of alternative assets — precious metals, private equity, cryptocurrency, promissory notes, and real estate. TAP IRA focuses almost exclusively on real estate, building its operational processes and compliance infrastructure specifically around property acquisition, title management, and real estate transaction workflows. This narrow scope can produce faster processing for real estate deals but limits the firm's utility for investors holding mixed alternative assets.
Who runs compliance and oversight at TAP IRA?
Aaron Gauthier serves as the firm's Chief Compliance Officer. In this role, he is responsible for ensuring that the firm's transaction processes adhere to IRS regulations governing self-directed IRAs, including prohibited transaction rules and unrelated business income tax (UBIT) considerations. Gauthier's background is in financial services compliance.
Is TAP IRA a fiduciary or does it provide investment advice?
Self-directed IRA custodians and facilitators do not typically provide investment advice, and TAP IRA is not registered as an investment adviser. The firm processes transactions and maintains compliance on behalf of the IRA, but the IRA holder retains full responsibility for conducting due diligence on any property purchase. Investors should confirm the exact scope of TAP IRA's services and any advisory limitations before they engage the firm.
What are the major risks of holding real estate in a self-directed IRA?
Holding real estate inside an IRA introduces specific risks, including the loss of certain tax benefits like depreciation deductions and the 1031 exchange, exposure to unrelated business income tax (UBIT) if the property is debt-financed, liquidity challenges from holding an illiquid asset inside a retirement account, and severe penalties for prohibited transactions with disqualified persons. Any investor using a self-directed IRA for real estate should work with a qualified tax professional.
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