If your employer offers a SEP (Simplified Employee Pension) plan, it's very similar to a profit sharing plan, except that contributions are placed into your designated SEP IRA. Once the funds are in your IRA, you own and control your own money. Your employer does not control the money after it's been deposited in your SEP IRA.
Hurricane Isaac, which began on August 26, 2012, did considerable flooding and wind damage to parts of the U.S., especially Louisiana and Mississippi. Some areas in those states were declared federal disaster areas by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
If you're like the majority of people - including financial advisors and accountants - here's something you probably don't know. IRA does NOT technically stand for individual retirement account. Instead, the IRA stands for Individual Retirement Arrangement. If you don't believe me, just check out IRS Publication 590. It's right there on the cover. With that said, let's discuss what each of these three little words means in a little more detail.
Even though the 2011 tax season for most of us ended on April 17, 2012, some of us who made a timely IRA contribution for 2011 might have changed our mind on that IRA contribution. Specifically, some individuals who contributed to one type of IRA for last year may now want to change that contribution into a different type of IRA contribution.
Today is a very special day here at the Slott Report. Why is that, you ask? Well, today is the start of a brand new feature here at the blog called "5 Quick Questions." From time to time you will see new 5 Quick Questions on all sorts of IRA and retirement account related topics.
The Wall Street Journal's weekend edition featured an article by Kelly Greene on how IRAs are about to get trickier due to Uncle Sam tightening his belt on individual retirement account mistakes. The agency will report to the Treasury Department on how to recoup penalties from those who make IRA errors.
IRS recently completed a SEP plan compliance project and found errors by both the SEP employer and by the financial institution filing SEP contribution information. Below we outline the errors made by the employers and the financial institutions.
The IRS announced that it reached a financial settlement with an accounting firm that promoted illegal tax shelters, some of which involved Roth IRAs. BDO USA LLP was fined $34.4 million dollars for its part in promoting and not reporting various tax shelters over seven years. Some of these abusive tax shelters involved the use of Roth IRAs.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag features your questions (and our answers) on topics including non-spouse beneficiaries, the Income in Respect of a Decedent (IRD) and IRA rollovers. Click to read a Q&A with our IRA Technical Consultants.
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