As we approach the end of 2014, we have been telling you about all of the things that you need to do with your retirement accounts before year-end. As if you weren’t busy enough at this time of the year, there are many things that must be done by December 31, 2014 to avoid problems and potential IRS penalties. Setting up a SEP IRA is not one of them.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks at the Roth IRA 5-year rules and how they apply to an investor who wants to start taking distributions from his Roth IRA. Also, it's year-end, so we look at a popular question involving the process of determining if you have a required minimum distribution (RMD), and if so, how much.
Many of you have asked us if Congress will reinstate Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) for 2014. As of today they have not yet been reinstated for 2014, but that doesn’t mean Congress has forgotten about them. Here’s the latest on what’s happening.
If you’re the beneficiary of a deceased IRA owner, December 31, 2014 is an important date. If the decedent died in 2013 or earlier, you generally have to take a required minimum distribution (RMD) from the IRA by year-end to avoid a 50% penalty for not doing so. Read on to see how it works.
If you’re able to take a lump-sum distribution from your qualified retirement plan (401(k), pension plan, ESOP, etc.) this year, you may want to hold off until next year. We generally advise clients never to try to take a lump-sum distribution after Thanksgiving; it's better to start the process at the beginning of the next year. Read more to see why.
In this week's Slott Report Mailbag, we answer questions on IRA rollovers with pre-tax and after-tax money, 401(k) plans without a beneficiary, and if an IRA and deferred annuity can be grouped together for RMD purposes.
In order for you to make a contribution to a Roth IRA for the year, you must have compensation and adjusted gross income within certain limits. If you’re married and filing jointly with your spouse, even if only one of you has compensation, you might both be eligible to contribute to a Roth IRA using the spousal IRA contribution rules.
In this week's Slott Report Mailbag, we answer questions on if money from a QDRO can be directly rolled over into the other spouse's 401(k), the RMD requirements for inherited Roth IRAs, and if the 5-year rule for distributions applies to IRA beneficiaries.
There’s a lot of confusion about the retirement plan and IRA rules. Recently, we were made aware of two cases where the attorneys didn’t know how an IRA should be split in a divorce and incorrectly used the employer retirement plan rules when drafting the documents used to divide the IRA.
If you have a Roth IRA, you may want to move it to a different IRA custodian. Whatever the reason, you can move your Roth IRA funds to another Roth IRA at any time. There are two ways to do that; using a rollover or a transfer.
