The National Council on Aging maintains a web tool at www.BenefitsCheckUp.org that can help adults over age 55 figure out which of the more than 2,000 federal, state and private benefits programs they might qualify for based on their financial situation and location.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag includes questions on some of our most-discussed topics, including 60-Day IRA Rollovers and the Roth IRA 5-year rules for distributions. These are delicate areas filled with penalty traps, so make sure you use the answers below as a guide and contact a competent, educated financial advisor to steer you around the landmines of taxes and penalties.
This week's
Slott Report Mailbag includes questions (and our answers) on the income requirements for a Roth IRA contribution, SEP IRAs and governmental 457(b) plans.
As always, we stress the importance of working with a competent, educated financial advisor to keep your retirement nest egg safe and secure. Find one in your area at this link.1.
Is a monthly retirement check considered income in order to open a Roth IRA?
Answer:An IRA contribution must be based on the taxable compensation of the individual for the year of the contribution. Pension, profit sharing or IRA distributions are not considered compensation for the purpose of a contribution to an IRA.
The IRS has released the winter 2012 issue of the Statistics of Income (SOI) Bulletin. The SOI Bulletin is produced on a quarterly basis and provides the most recent data available from various returns filed by U. S. taxpayers. This latest SOI Bulletin includes data on personal wealth in the U. S. for 2007 and information from individual income tax returns filed for 2009. Information related to several other categories is also provided.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag includes questions on taking required minimum distributions from Roth IRAs (do you have to?), handling 401(k)s and Roth IRAs and using trustee-to-trustee transfers to set you up for retirement.
Recently, we wrote about potential tax advantages available to individuals who receive lump sum distributions from employer-sponsored qualified retirement plans. Both articles confirmed that to qualify for either one of these provisions a lump-sum distribution must be received in one taxable year. This has prompted many questions on how lump-sum distributions are reported and taxed on an individual’s income tax return.
Whoa! Today is April 13th already? That means we are just days away from this year's tax deadline. Where does the time go? Have you filed yet? If not, you better get crackin'! But even if you've filed your 2011 return already, have you thought about any of the other key deadlines you may need to plan for this year? Before you know it, those dates will be here as well.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag includes questions on required minimum distributions (RMDs) (what to take from what accounts) and the ever-popular Roth IRA 5-year rules...seriously, we get several questions on these ordering rules each week. Click to read this week's Q&A with our IRA Technical Consultant.
Financial Services Organization TIAA-CREF recently conducted a survey among Americans to gauge their understanding of IRAs. The less than stellar results are not surprising. We take a look at the survey below.
Tax time is drawing near, and as expected, we had several questions about IRA and Roth IRA contributions in this week's Slott Report Mailbag. We answer those questions as well as a question on converting an IRA to a Roth IRA near retirement.
