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On June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional. The ruling opens the door for same-sex couples who are married under state law to enjoy the same tax benefits that opposite-sex married couples have.

This month's IRA Updates looks like Private Letter Ruling 201324022, in which IRS waived the rollover requirement due to a fraudulent withdrawal by the husband in this case. We look at the case and the ruling below.

Many IRA custodians are using cross collateralization language in the account opening agreements used in their financial services companies. What the agreement contains is language stating that if you or any of your accounts owe money to the financial service company, which you do not pay, then the company can take the amount owed out of any of the accounts that you have with them. This language is there for the sole purpose of protecting the financial service company from deadbeats.

This week's Slott Report Mailbag discusses several topics dealing with the 2013 tax laws, including limits on personal exemptions and the gift tax exemption. Several of these questions require complete understanding of NEW tax laws, so make sure your financial advisor is verse in the latest tax law updates.

If you have a retirement plan where you work, that plan might allow you to take a distribution from it if you are experiencing financial hardship. Employer retirement plans are not required to provide for hardship distributions, so make sure to check with the plan administrator. Here is IRS FAQs regarding retirement plan hardship distributions.

You are married and have an IRA. You know you need to name a beneficiary for those funds. But what if you do not want to name your spouse as the beneficiary? Are you required to name him or her? Find the answer below.

This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks into two tricky areas of IRA planning. The first is how IRA distributions affect an individual's income, and in turn, their susceptibility to the 3.8% health care surtax. We then answered a question about the equally problematic Roth IRA 5-year rules.

If you have an IRA, you have access to your money at any time and for any reason (unless the IRA custodian has limits on your access). Unlike an employer retirement plan, such as a 401(k) or pension plan, you don’t have to ask anyone if you can take money out of your IRA to pay some bills. Your IRA is completely under your control, and no one can stop you from taking a distribution. But there are risks when you use your IRA funds for personal expenses during the 60-day rollover period.

You are under age 59 ½ and need funds from your IRA to live on. You set up an early distribution payment plan that will be exempt from the 10% early distribution penalty (called 72(t), SOSEPP, or SEPP payments). You now want to move that account from your current IRA custodian to a new one. Can you do that? Click to find out.

Ed Slott and Company IRA Technical Consultant Jeffrey Levine discusses 3 key factors you need to know when planning or thinking about a Roth IRA contribution. You can view the video below and make sure to subscribe to our IRAtv YouTube page for the latest IRA, retirement and tax planning videos.