HSA Contributions and IRA Rollovers: Today’s Slott Report Mailbag

Friday, June 14, 2019

By Andy Ives, CFP®, AIF®
IRA Analyst
Follow Us on Twitter: @theslottreport

Question:

I am over 70.5 and I have to take an IRA minimum distribution or else pay taxes and penalties on scheduled amount. My question is – can I take the mandatory distribution which I will pay taxes on anyway and then roll the distribution into my ROTH IRA? So far I have several YES and several NO answers. Your input would be the deciding vote for me. What say you??????

Thanks

Jimmy

Answer:

Jimmy,

As the deciding vote, we can say unequivocally that RMDs are not eligible for rollover to another IRA and are not eligible for conversion to a Roth IRA. If you did, it would be considered an excess contribution and would need to be removed. If you have earned income and are otherwise eligible to contribute to a Roth IRA, you can certainly do so, but the RMD cannot go straight to your Roth IRA.

Question:

My question is as follows: A 58-year old is offered a HDHP from their old employer and elects to participate and pay the health premiums for the plan. The individual is retired (no earned income) and also contributes to the HSA as part of the HDHP. Are the individuals’ HSA contributions still tax deductible even though the individual is retired and has no earned income

Thank you,

Mario

Answer:

Mario,

In order to be eligible for an HSA, a person must be enrolled in a high deductible health plan (HDHP) to contribute, so they are good there. As for individual contributions to the HSA, they are tax deductible as an above-the-line deduction (reduces AGI), regardless of an individual’s tax-filing status or income. Earned income is not required to make an HSA contribution.

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