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Here are four details you need to know about IRA-to-Roth IRA conversions and the pro-rata rule. The pro-rata rule also applies to employer plan retirement plan distributions, but it is applied differently.

If you are required to take an RMD (required minimum distribution) from your IRA for 2016, your IRA custodian is required to send an RMD statement to you by January 31, 2016. Here are seven things you need to know about this important information, which will be arriving in your mail sometime in the next few weeks.

What kind of nightmarish world would we be living in where prices would go up 2,000% overnight? A world where gas today is $1.50 per gallon, but tomorrow it will cost you $30 for the same gallon. Thankfully, such increases are all but unheard of in the real world. At least that’s the case most of the time. Effective February 1, 2016, the IRS is raising the cost of some IRA (and other retirement account) related private letter rulings (PLRs) by as much as 2,000%... overnight! Here’s the deal.

Intricate questions to kick off the new year. One consumer has a question about moving pre-tax money to post-tax accounts, while another is getting conflicting answers about utilizing his IRA for ministry housing. Finally, we answer a question on what's sure to be a popular topic in 2016, the tax reporting of hard-to-value IRA assets.

There are two major differences between saving for retirement and eating bacon. Bacon is bad for you and saving is regarded as good for you. Yet most of us eat bacon regularly and don’t save. Beverly DeVeny explains how you can have your bacon... and eat it too.

A new year brings new retirement account rule changes. IRA Analyst Sarah Brenner dissects six retirement account rule changes that you need to know. Everything from qualified chartiable distributions (they are back!) to SIMPLE IRAs and expanded penalty-free distributions for higher education expenses are discussed.

Let's kick off the holiday festivities with a short list of 10 of the most amazing, surprising and/or illuminating facts about retirement that Jeffrey Levine read in November. Before each fact, you will find Jeff's brief commentary, and after each fact, you will find the original article from which the fact was pulled should you be interested in further reading. Happy Holidays!

As 2015 draws to a close, the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (the PATH Act) was signed into law on Friday, December 18. Buried in this legislation, which is over 2,000 pages long, is a provision that expands your ability to take a penalty-free distribution from your IRA for higher education. We examine qualified education expenses and the addition of computer expenses in the possible penalty exceptions.

It’s taken almost a full year – literally – but Congress is finally set to pass an appropriations act, which will include the much anticipated extenders bill. However, this isn’t your run-of-the-mill extenders bill. This year’s version of the extenders bill permanently extends several key tax provisions, including the QCD (Qualified Charitable Distribution) provision that allows certain IRA owners to give IRA funds directly to charity without having to include them in income. Stuffed into the bill under a section appropriately titled “Miscellaneous Provisions” are several other changes to the tax law – that have nothing to do with the extenders – but that may impact your planning for one or more reasons. The following is a brief summary of some of the most important provisions in the law.

The leaders of Congress promised us that they would deal with the issue of expired tax breaks early in the year so that the American public could proactively go forth with their tax planning based in reality. Well, that didn’t happen. It appears that neither Republicans nor Democrats have the ability to pass timely tax legislation. So, here we are again.