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The provision for qualified charitable distributions (QCDs), which allows IRA and inherited IRA owners 70 1/2 or older to transfer portions of their accounts to qualifying charities tax-free. while satisfying all or a portion of their RMDs (required minimum distributions), expired at the end of 2013. Although widely expected to be reinstated by Congress at some point there is no guarantee that will actually happen. That’s especially true since this is an election year. Suppose, though, that you want to make a QCD now, while the provision doesn’t currently exist. What should you do?

A recent IRS private letter ruling (PLR) showcased what can happen when a company retirement plan is terminated, and a common mistake that can occur when paying out those funds to employees or ex-employees. When a company retirement plan such as a 401(k) plan is terminated, the company has to go through a lot of formal steps to terminate it beyond simply deciding to discontinue the plan. These steps as well as what you can do to take action are detailed below.

A taxpayer we will call "Andrea" received an IRA distribution on May 10, 2012. She used the distribution and failed to put the distribution back into her IRA within the 60-day limit.Andrea filed a PLR (Private Letter Ruling 201429033) asserting that her failure to accomplish a rollover within 60 days was due to the fact that she used the amount to pay for medical expenses stemming from car accidents which occurred prior to the distribution. She did not have the amount available to deposit into her IRA until several months after the 60-day IRA rollover period

This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks at the delicate situation of moving retirement funds (either to another account or through distributions) when still employed. If you are nearing retirement and are looking long-term of your overall plan, these two questions could be applicable to your situation.

The pro-rata rule - another complicated intersection of moving IRA money. It's an important rule to know when thinking about distributing funds from your IRA, so we decided to break it down below into 3 things you need to know.

You are not allowed to invest your IRA money in collectibles such as artwork, rugs, stamps, gems, alcoholic beverages such as fine wine, and antiques. If you invest any part of your IRA in a collectible, you will get a tax bill for it. The Tax Code treats your investment in a collectible as a distribution, which means it’s taxable to you. Also, if you’re under age 59 ½ at the time of the investment, the deemed distribution will be subject to the 10% early distribution penalty tax too. The entire value of your IRA is not deemed distributed to you, only the amount invested in the collectible is taxable.

I talked to two different advisors this week who had almost the exact same story involving inherited IRAs.A client inherited a small IRA from a parent and the kind bank employee gave them a check. Wouldn’t this make most beneficiaries happy? Not necessarily. Click to find out why.

This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks at how long you have to store year-end retirement account statements as well as how a spousal beneficiary should do if he or she decides to leave a deceased spouse's IRA separate from their own. Click to read this week's Q&A with our IRA Technical Consultant.

On July 1, 2014 the Treasury Department released the long-awaited final regulations for Qualifying Longevity Annuity Contracts (QLACs). These new annuities will offer you a unique tool to help make sure you don't outlive your money. The QLAC rules, however, are a complicated mash-up of IRA rules and annuity rules, and you may need help in understanding their key provisions. To help you understand some of the most important aspects of QLACs, below are 3 critical QLAC questions and their answers.

If you participate in a company retirement plan, such as a 401(k), there's a way you can take a distribution and get out of paying the 10% early distribution penalty if you're under age 59 ½ at the time of the withdrawal. The rule is sometimes called the “age 55 rule.” Click to learn more about this rule.