The Slott Report

Question: Recently, I received two checks, one for all assets in a Traditional IRA and one for all assets in a Roth. Mindful of the 60-day rollover rules, I endorsed one of them to my brokerage company to complete an IRA-to-IRA transfer. When attempting to do the same with the Roth funds, I was told that this would create another rollover and run afoul of the IRS "one-every-12-months" requirement.

We at the Slott Report would like to wish all our readers a happy and safe holiday season. 2020 has been a year like no other. Thank you for taking your valuable time to read the Slott Report during this challenging period. The end of the year is always a time to look back. 2020 has been a busy year at the Slott Report. In January, the SECURE Act became effective and changed the retirement account landscape.

One year ago from yesterday (December 20, 2019), President Trump signed into law the SECURE Act. At that time, virtually no one had heard of the coronavirus and certainly very few (if any) could have foreseen the global pandemic that’s still very much with us.

Question: Hello, Can you still recharacterize a Roth contribution (due to income limits) to a Traditional IRA and then subsequently convert the IRA back to a Roth in the same year? Will this conflict with the new law that prohibits undoing a Roth conversion? Thanks you for your help,

Bob is 40 years old. He is a single tax filer, participates in a 401(k) at work, and makes a healthy annual salary of $160,000. Bob has consistently contributed $5,000 each year to his Traditional IRA for 5 years ($25,000 total). However, Bob could not deduct any of the contributions because he has always been over the phase-out range for tax filers covered by a company retirement plan.

The end of 2020 is almost here. With the end of the year come certain retirement account deadlines. Here are 5 items you should have on your 2020 year-end retirement plan to-do list: 1. Do a 2020 conversion If you are considering converting an IRA to a Roth IRA in 2020, time is quickly running out. The deadline for 2020 conversion is the end of the calendar year. There is a common misconception that a conversion can be done up until your tax-filing deadline.

Question: I am 79 and still employed. My employer has an SEP for me and I have a Rollover IRA from a previous employer. Can I transfer my Rollover IRA to the SEP account? Thank you, George Answer: Hi George, There are no restrictions in the tax law against combining a SEP IRA and traditional IRA that contains funds rolled over from an employer plan.

Thinking of using your IRA as a “short-term loan” to raise some extra cash for the holidays? What could go wrong? Well, actually, two major things could go wrong. And either could lead to serious tax headaches. Let’s say Chloe started her holiday shopping early this year and, as usual, spent more than she had budgeted.

Recently we became aware of a multi-layered tax strategy that we think is a bridge too far when it comes to Coronavirus-related distributions (CRDs). In fact, it may even be outright tax fraud. As most readers are aware, the CARES Act created CRDs which waive the 10% early distribution penalty on up to $100,000 of 2020 distributions from IRAs and company plans. The tax would still be due, but could be spread evenly over three years.

Question: My father passed away in 2019 and left me an IRA. Will the SECURE Act apply, or will it be grandfathered under the pre-2020 rules? Thank you. Aram