Your client, prospect or you are jittery because of today's extremely volatile markets. He decides to move some of his IRA money to another investment. In order to do this, he decides to take a distribution of some of his IRA money to move to another custodian, perhaps a self-directed IRA custodian. But with the swings in the market he gets nervous that he might miss out on the upside while he is waiting for the paperwork to be processed for the new IRA. So he uses his IRA money, while it is outside of the IRA, to purchase his new investment. He figures he can just put the investment back into the new IRA, no harm, no foul, right?
What are the spousal IRA contribution rules? What benefits will a Roth conversion have for legacy planning? Can I use Social Security money to fund my wife and I's joint retirement account? We answer those questions in this week's Slott Report Mailbag.
What is Form 5329? Its title is "Additional Taxes on Qualified Plans (Including IRAs) and Other Tax-Favored Accounts." You should file the form whenever you miss a required distribution, take a distribution before age 59 ½ when one of the penalty exceptions does not apply, and when you make excess contributions. Those are most of the reasons to file the form. The form calculates any additional taxes owed (what are often called penalties) for certain IRA transactions. Not filing the form could only make things much, much worse.
Retirement is sometimes, especially in this economic climate, NOT planned. That is why proactive planning at a young age (when you start working) is so important.
