The Slott Report

Not all contributions to IRAs belong there. When a contribution is not permitted in an IRA it is an excess contribution and needs to be fixed.

Hi, I have a friend, 45 years old, who has both an individual Roth IRA and an individual rollover IRA. The Roth is over 5 years old. He would like to know if he can use either to pay off a debt he incurred several years ago.

Contributing to a Roth IRA is generally considered to be a good idea. But not everyone is eligible to make an annual contribution. We have seen several cases recently of individuals who contributed for many years until they discovered they were not eligible to make any Roth contributions. Here is what you need to know.

As Americans live longer, more are eventually coming to need long-term nursing home care. The cost of this can be devastating to a family. Nursing home care now costs an average of over $85,000 per year, and much more than that in some parts of the country.

For years there has been concern by some planners that a back-door Roth conversion might be considered a step transaction by IRS. Most planners, however, did not feel that a back-door Roth fit all the criteria of a step-transaction.

Question: Can you do trustee-to-trustee transfer from an Annuity Trad IRA to Mutual Fund Trad IRA?

Every retirement plan custodian has an interactive website that participants can visit, if their employer offers that feature. While all are a little different, the websites all contain access to vital information about your account under the plan.

Change can be good. Is your IRA ready for a change? Maybe you are looking for a new type of investment or maybe a new IRA custodian. To change it up with your IRA, you may need to move your IRA funds.

Question: My husband passed away this April at 83. I’m 68 and sole beneficiary of his traditional IRA. I was advised that it didn’t matter if I rolled his IRA into mine and then took his RMD for the year as long as I do so by 12/31/2018. I rolled his IRA into mine early May.

By Ed Slott, CPAFollow Us on Twitter: @theslottreport When someone keeps telling you not to worry about them doing a certain...