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How the $17,000 Mitt Romney-Proposed Cap on Itemized Deductions Would Impact IRA Deductions

Recently, Presidential candidate Mitt Romney indicated that a $17,000 cap on itemized deductions could be used as a way to help pay for his plan to cut tax rates across the board.This has caused some to wonder how their deduction for an IRA contribution would be affected by such a provision.Thankfully, the answer is both favorable and easy to understand. It wouldn't be! That's because IRA deductions are not itemized deductions and therefore, would not be impacted at all.
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Inherited IRA

Greetings, I have a client that was one of two named beneficiaries (brother….20 years older) on an IRA owned by...
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Using Your IRA for Charities

If you are thinking about making a charitable donation for this year, you might use money from your IRA to do so. If an IRA distribution is used to make a charitable donation, the IRA distribution will be taxed even though the money went to a charity for a worthy cause. If you are under age 59 ½ on the date of the distribution, you will also be subject to the IRS 10% early distribution penalty, unless there’s an exception such as disability. We covered that exception in an answer to a question in last Thursday's mailbag.
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There is No Such Thing as a Non-Deductible IRA

I hear this a lot. "The contribution is to a non-deductible IRA." Or, "I have a non-deductible IRA." There is no such thing as a non-deductible IRA. There are non-deductible contributions made to an IRA. Think about it. Even if a contribution is made to a non-deductible IRA, it will not remain entirely non-deductible for long. There are some sort of earnings on the account – even if it is invested in a money market IRA. Would you make a contribution to an IRA that guaranteed no earnings for as long as you had any funds in the account?
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