When a person under the age of 59½ needs access to his IRA dollars, there is a 10% early withdrawal penalty applied to any distribution, unless an exception applies. One of the many 10% penalty exceptions is a 72(t) “series of substantially equal periodic payments.” Due to the possibility of errors over the required duration of such distribution schedules, it is our opinion that establishing a 72(t) should be the last resort.
Question:At age 71, I’m not yet subject to required minimum distributions (RMDs) from my IRA or workplace retirement accounts. However, I am required to take annual RMDs from a pre-2020 inherited IRA and a pre-2020 inherited Roth IRA.
With the popularity of Roth 401(k) contributions, after-tax (non-Roth) employee contributions have gotten short shrift. But, if your plan offers them, after-tax contributions are worth considering. They can significantly boost your retirement savings and can sometimes be funneled into Roth accounts while you’re still working.
Question:My wife turns 73 years old in August 2025. My understanding is that she has until April 1, 2026, to take her first required minimum distribution (RMD), in which case she would wind up taking two RMDs in 2026.
When you file for bankruptcy, one thing you usually don’t have to worry about is protecting your IRA funds from your bankruptcy creditors.
In the article "Why You Should Take Your 2025 RMD Now," the following caught my eye ...“Or, maybe you are charitably inclined and looking to satisfy your RMD by doing a qualified charitable distribution (QCD). This will require the custodian to send funds directly to charity and the charity must cash the check.”
Do you have a Roth IRA? If you do, there will very likely come a time when you want to take a distribution from that account. The distribution rules for taxation of Roth IRA distributions can be complicated, but if they are followed, the reward is tax-free withdrawals in retirement.
More and more 401(k) plans are making Roth employee contributions available, and employees leaving their jobs often want to roll over Roth 401(k) funds to a Roth IRA. What tax rules apply to distributions of amounts rolled over? Warning: The rules are complicated because they involve two five-year holding periods, one for the Roth 401(k) distribution and the other for the Roth IRA distribution.
I opened my first Roth IRA in 2017 and a second Roth IRA in December 2021. My current age is 71. I withdrew some funds from these accounts last year. For tax year 2024, I received a 2024 Form 1099-R for the 2017 Roth IRA account with a distribution code of Q and a 1099-R for the 2021 Roth IRA with a distribution code of T. That's where the confusion is - different distribution codes.
Sometimes we get stuck in traffic, or a highway is closed, and we are forced to find an alternate route. I’m not talking about driving across someone’s front yard or going the wrong way on a one-way street. Think side roads and legal detours. While a main road may be blocked, that might not be the only way to reach your destination. The same holds true with certain IRA transactions. Here are a handful of creative “detours” that retirement account owners may be forced to take in order to reach their intended goal.
