The Slott Report

If you have an IRA, you need to know about the “sweet spot.” What is the IRA sweet spot? Well, that is when you are between ages 59½ and 70½.

This week's Q&A Mailbag answers reader questions on excess IRA contributions and RMDs for inherited IRAs.

The IRS website provides a host of free resources that can help minimize your tax bill and manage your taxes all year round. Yet, most taxpayers are unaware of them. Here are a dozen of the best.

The pro-rata rule is an important, though commonly misunderstood, rule that affects the taxation of IRA money. It only comes into play when your traditional IRA consists of both pre-tax and after-tax monies. These after-tax dollars can come from non-deductible IRA contributions or rollovers of after-tax funds from employer plans. Either way, once those monies are in the account, subsequent distributions or conversions are subject to the pro-rata rule. The pro-rata rule does not apply to Roth IRA assets. Instead, Roth IRA distributions are subject to their own set of ordering rules.

This week's Q&A Mailbag answers reader questions on Roth IRA contributions and distributions.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act revised the way inflation adjusted numbers will be calculated by IRS. The Act now mandates that these numbers be calculated using chained CPI. IRS has gone back and recalculated inflation adjusted amounts for use in 2018.

Do you think you understand all the rules that govern your Roth IRA? Not so fast! There are many misconceptions as to how these complicated accounts work. Here are 5 Roth IRA facts that might surprise you.

This week's Q&A Mailbag answers reader questions on SEP contributions, RMDs, and Inherited IRAs.

Bitcoin is receiving a surge of publicity as a possible IRA investment, and a number of new firms have recently started targeting the "Bitcoin IRA" market. Read about six things to know when investing IRA funds in Bitcoin.

If you’re like me, when you first read the qualified disclaimer rules, the phrase comes “must be nice” comes to mind. And while it’s true these rules are used more often by wealthier Americans, anyone can incorporate them into their estate planning as a tool to make last minute changes. In fact, disclaimers can be a valuable postmortem planning tool giving beneficiaries one last opportunity to divert a bequest to accomplish family goals, such as tax savings.