Rollover from 401(k) plan with both pre-tax and after-tax contributions

Have a 401(k) plan which allows a direct rollover of pro-rata pre-tax portion to a government 457b plan. However, it only allows indirect rollover of after-tax portion with a check to me. I like to roll it over to an existing individual Roth IRA account within 60 days of receiving the check. I understand that I don’t have to pay taxes on this indirect rollover and the future earnings in the Roth IRA account. Does the 365-day restriction applies on this “indirect” 401(k) to Roth IRA rollover, i.e., I can only do it once within any 365-day time period as required by IRS? The 401(k) plan does not have any restriction on the frequency of partial distributions, and I do have a large balance so I like to do the partial rollovers over a period of time.



The one-rollover-per-12-months limitation does not apply to rollovers to or from a 401(k).

Thank you! 

Please confirm that this indirect rollover of nontable funds from 401k to individual Roth IRA is not a taxable event, and the future earnings from the rolled in funds in the Roth IRA will be tax-free upon withdrawals. Thank you.

Yes, this rollover is non taxable, although it still must be reported on lines 5a and 5b of Form 1040. Roth earnings that are distributed will be taxable until the Roth IRA is qualified (5 years and age 59.5), but the earnings come out after the non taxable contributions.

For partial 401k distributions, are contributions distributed before the earnings? With both pre-tax and after-tax contributions, how the pro-rata calculation works? Thank you.

Thank you. I am 70+ years old. As I understand from your explanation above, rolling the 401k into the 457b now will provide the penalty free distributions. 

Correct. There is never an early distribution penalty after 59.5.

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