The “once-per-year” rollover rule is one of those IRA rules that has serious tax consequences and cannot be fixed if violated. Breaking the rule results in a taxable distribution and a 10% early distribution penalty if you’re under age 59 ½. Plus, any rolled over funds are considered excess IRA contributions that are subject to a 6% annual penalty unless timely corrected.
Question:
Hi,
I have a client that needs funds for a short period of time, so he plans to use the 60-day rollover rule to borrow money from his IRA and return it within 60 days. He has a Traditional IRA and a Roth IRA. He is under the impression he can do a 60-day rollover for each account. My understanding is that he can only do one 60-day rollover regardless of account type during any 365-day period, so he can only take funds from his IRA or Roth, but not both. Am I correct?
Question:
My question relates to an IRA withdrawal that is then deposited as a Roth conversion. Will this withdrawal count as a once-per-year IRA rollover?
Thanks in advance for your wonderful advice.
A person is allowed only one IRA-to-IRA or Roth-IRA-to-Roth-IRA 60-day rollover per year. This 12-month period is a full 12 months – it is not a calendar year. Accordingly, we refer to this as the “once-per-year rule.” For example, if a person received an IRA distribution in March that is subsequently rolled over, he is not eligible to initiate another 60-day IRA or Roth IRA rollover with a distribution received before the following March. The 12 months begin with the date the funds are received by the account owner. (Day of receipt is an important distinction. This could buy a person a couple of days when the 60-day deadline is approaching and a check was originally mailed to the IRA owner.)
Question:
I have four IRAs. Does the once-per-year IRA rollover rule mean I can only take one distribution per year in total or does it mean I can only take one distribution per year from each of my four IRAs?
Glen
One of the cardinal sins you can commit with an IRA rollover is to run afoul of the IRS “once-per-year” rollover rule. Violating that rule triggers a taxable distribution and the 10% early distribution penalty if you are under age 59 ½. Plus, the forbidden rollover would be treated as an excess contribution subject to an annual 6% penalty unless timely corrected. Unlike missing the 60-day rollover deadline, violating the once-per-year rule is a mistake that cannot be fixed.
The rules for rolling over IRA distributions can be complicated at any time of the year. They are especially challenging at the end of the calendar year.
Surprisingly, sometimes IRA owners have doubts as to whether a distribution taken in one calendar year can even be rolled over in the next. There is no problem with this! Nothing prevents you from taking an IRA distribution in December, 2020 and rolling it over in January, 2021, as long as you follow all the usual rollover rules that always apply.
We continuously get questions on 60-day rollovers. Many times those questions revolve around a client receiving more than one distribution or wanting to complete the 60-day rollover with more than one distribution. Here is what you need to know.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks into the one-rollover-per-year rule, RMDs and the 10% early distribution penalty.
Hopefully, by now everyone has heard that IRA owners can only do one IRA-to-IRA or Roth IRA-to-Roth IRA 60-day rollover in any one-year period. This interpretation of the 60-day rollover rules was part of a 2014 Tax Court decision (Bobrow v. Commissioner, T.C.Memo. 2014-21). What was unclear from this ruling and from subsequent IRS guidance was whether or not the rule applied to a surviving spouse who inherited multiple IRAs from a deceased spouse.
