The Slott Report

The qualified charitable distribution was first effective in 2005 and expired as of 12/31/2007. It has been extended for 2008 and 2009. Originally, it was a way for an IRA owner to take all or part of his or her required minimum distribution (RMD) as a distribution payable to a qualifying charity.

If you recently converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, you can recharacterize by October 15 of the year following the conversion. A recharacterization means reversing your Roth IRA conversion as if it never happened. When you convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, you pay the income taxes based on the fair market value of the assets, your basis at the time of conversion.

2010 is coming up fast with its new Roth conversion rules. In 2010 anyone can do a Roth conversion. The income and marital restrictions are permanently removed. In addition, the government is going to give you a deal on paying the taxes due on any conversions you do in 2010.

IRAs are not savings accounts. The IRA account comes with some very strict rules on moving the funds from one account to another. If you do not follow the rules, you can lose the tax deferred status of the IRA funds and have to pay income tax on them.There are two ways to move IRA or Roth IRA funds.

The number one problem I see when a trust is named as an IRA beneficiary is that at some point, either during the account owner's lifetime or when the trust inherits the IRA, the IRA gets transferred into the trust. An IRA is an Individual Retirement Arrangement and it must be owned by an individual. The transfer into the trust is a taxable event and cannot be undone, but it can be avoided.

Ever wonder if the fees you pay your bank, broker, or insurance company for your IRA could be income tax deductible? Under certain circumstances, you can deduct an IRA trustee's administrative fees that are billed separately (and paid by you) in connection with your IRA.

You have made after-tax contributions to your IRA or you have rolled over after-tax funds from your 401(k) or other employer plan to your IRA. How do you and the IRS know what is taxable when you take a distribution?