The Slott Report

This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks at converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, as well as making Roth contributions in the year of retirement.

Catch-up contributions for most retirement plans and IRAs can be made beginning in the year you are going to turn age 50. The only plan that does not allow catch-up contributions is the SEP IRA. The following are the catch-up limit amounts.

Roth 401(k)s and Roth IRAs have a lot in common. Both offer the ability to make after-tax contributions now in exchange for tax-free earnings down the road if the rules are followed. However, there are some important differences between the two plans that you will want to understand.

This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks into missed RMDs, inherited IRAs, and QDROs.

If you want to move your retirement account from one institution to another, you can do it one of two ways; directly or indirectly. Moving your account directly is the preferred way because it avoids a lot of headaches, but for various reasons, sometimes people choose to use the indirect method.

We received many questions this past tax season about Roth IRA conversions that were supposed to be tax-free, but were not.

This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks into IRA beneficiaries, Roth IRAs, and spousal contributions.

On April 13, President Trump signed into law legislation that blocked Obama-era Department of Labor (DOL) regulations encouraging the establishment of IRA plans run by cities and municipalities. On May 17, he signed similar legislation applying to state-run IRAs. While these new developments may make the road ahead for both city and state run IRA plans more difficult, these plans are not going away.

The long-running saga of the Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary rule took another turn on May 22 when Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta confirmed that there would be no delay in the June 9, 2017, implementation date. Mr. Acosta said that after careful consideration, there was no legal basis to extend the deadline.

It sounds funny to say, but death is a part of life for all of us. It’s one of the few things that all of us have in common at some point, and it’s one of the few issues that must be addressed in every plan. While every situation is unique and we all have our own goals and objectives, the overwhelming majority of married couples with IRAs and other similar accounts, such as 401(k)s and 403(b)s, name their spouse as their primary beneficiary as part of their estate plans. As such, knowing the rules for when a spouse inherits an IRA is critical for just about every married couple.