Your link shows what TDA allows for an IRA with limited margin, not what is possible and allowed under the law. If you think an IRA is not allowed to borrow money (from a bank or broker, not you personally), please post a link to the IRS guidance or IRC.Nope. UBTI is not relevant as this is securities trading. Here is the problem simply. You've maxed out your contribution for the year and your short call get's exercised and a debit exists that exceeds your available cash. You liquidate to pay the loan - may be OK, but definitely not worth to going to tax court. Your call get's exercised and your net debit after selling out everything and used all your free cash. What does your broker do ? Lend you money on your IRA - taxable event and really ugly consequences and they are required to report. It' text book - you sold a call on a $10 stock - let's say they require 2X in cash to cover(btw this where the profitability to the firm will come in - on the interest rate spread on the cash). Stock get a takeover offer at $35 or gaps open to $35. You now have a unsecured debit in the IRA and you have a limit on contributions.
I understand that using margin or various short options you can end up losing more money than you have, which is obviously bad. I recall one guy here had that happen at IB and they took money from his personal taxable account to meet the obligation (gotta read the fine print on your account agreements; they had the right to), which left him dealing with likely tax penalties for excess IRA contributions.
https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/margin-call-on-an-ib-ira-account-need-suggestions.51251/
In short, there are risks and there are consequences but I've seen nothing to say that these types of trades in an IRA are illegal, just rarely supported. Here's a review of what your shouldn't do/own, and shorting or margin or short options are nowhere on that list.
http://www.irafinancialgroup.com/prohibitedtransactions.php