When Can I Take Money Out of My Roth IRA?
By Beverly DeVeny and Jeffrey Levine
Follow Us on Twitter: @IRAGuru4EdSlott
This week’s Slott Report Mailbag, proudly sponsored by GoldCo Precious Metals, delves into more of the frequent IRA questions we receive (here’s another recent mailbag answering popular IRA questions). Can you put your future retirement home in your IRA? Can you make an IRA contribution for a deceased person in their year of death? When can you take money out of your Roth IRA? We have the answers below. As always, we recommend that you work with a competent, educated financial advisor to keep your retirement nest egg safe and secure. You can find one in your area here.
1.
Can I put my house, vacation home, condo for my child to live in while attending college, future retirement home, stocks or other property I currently own, in my IRA or Roth IRA?
Answer:
No, you cannot do any of the above transactions with your IRA. You cannot engage in self dealing with your IRA. This means that you cannot enter into a transaction in your IRA that benefits you in any way other than your potential benefit from investment gains in the IRA. You also cannot transfer assets you own to your IRA. So you cannot put your house, or stocks or other assets that you already own into your IRA in exchange for IRA assets. IRA contributions must be made in cash (unless the assets going into the IRA have come from another retirement account) which is another reason why you cannot put assets you currently own into your IRA or Roth IRA.
2.
Can an IRA or Roth IRA contribution be made for a deceased person in the year of death?
Answer:
IRS says no because a dead person has no need to fund a retirement plan. Who can argue with that logic?
3.
When can I take money out of my Roth IRA? Will I have to pay any taxes or penalties on what I withdraw?
Answer:
You can take your basis out of a Roth IRA at any time. Your basis is amounts you have contributed, amounts you have converted, or certain amounts you have rolled over from a Roth 401(k), Roth 403(b), or Roth 457(b). Distributions of your basis will not be taxed as you paid tax on those amounts when they went into your Roth. A distribution from your Roth is considered to first come from contributions, then converted amounts, and lastly from earnings.
You cannot take a tax free distribution of earnings before you have had any Roth IRA for 5 years AND are over the age of 59 ½, are dead, disabled, or are taking out the funds under the first time home buyer exception. In addition, if you are under the age of 59 ½, the 10% early distribution penalty will apply.
You could also be subject to the 10% early distribution penalty on the distribution of converted amounts if the conversion was done less than five years ago AND you are under the age of 59 ½ at the time of the withdrawal. The penalty will be owed on the amount of the converted dollars withdrawn, not on the total converted amount (unless you withdraw the total converted amount).
——————————————–
This week’s Slott Report Mailbag is sponsored by:
GoldCo Precious Metals
Protect Your IRA/401k With A Gold & Silver IRA Now
www.GoldcoPreciousMetals.com
If you have over $100,000 in your IRA or 401(k), it’s as good as gone. But by using 1 simple & legal IRS Loophole, you can protect your retirement dollars by adding physical assets like gold & silver to your retirement account. Get a FREE exclusive gold IRA guide now!