Individual Retirement Account Archives

Tax Carnival Ecstasy – November 5, 2013

Welcome to the November 5, 2013 edition of Tax Carnival Ecstasy. In this edition we start with an article on The Government Shutdown delaying The Start Of The January Tax Season by Bill Smith. Lee Hadnum has a nice article onNon-Resident & Offshore Tax Planning that you should take a look at. Hope you enjoy all the material and follow the carnival to it’s next destination.

filing

Bill Smith presents The IRS Publication 17 And You posted at 2009 Tax, saying, “IRS publication 17 deals with general instructions and guidance for people using form 1040. Paying income tax can be daunting but reading this publication will aid you in this process.”

Punch cartoon (1907); illustrates the unpopula... — Punch cartoon (1907); illustrates the unpopularity amongst Punch readers of a proposed 1907 income tax by the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bill Smith presents The Government Shutdown Will Delay The Start Of The January Tax Season posted at 2011 Taxes, saying, “There could be a one to two week delay on filling your 2013 tax return forms as a direct result of the government shut down in 2013.”

retirement

John Schmoll presents Putting Time on Your Side: How to Start Investing in Your 20s posted at Frugal Rules, saying, “A common excuse given by those in their 20s as to why they can’t invest is because they can’t afford to. However, there are ways to get started investing when you’re young and doing so will do wonders for your wealth building and giving yourself more time to grow your retirement portfolio.”

taxes

Justin @ Root of Good presents $150,000 Income, $150 Income Tax posted at Root of Good, saying, “Justin at Root of Good reveals how his household made $150,000 and paid only $150 in income taxes through a combination of contributions to workplace savings plans and IRA‘s. Tax efficient investing and tax loss harvesting also played a key role in keeping his income taxes at 0.1%.”

tips

Lee Hadnum presents Non-Resident & Offshore Tax Planning posted at UK Tax Planning Blog, saying, “This is a complete tax guide published online that looks at offshore tax planning for UK residents.”

Abdulrasool presents 5 Tricks to Successful Dividend Investing posted at Top Dividend Stocks, saying, “The board of directors sit down before quarter-end to decide whether a company can afford to pay out cash dividends. Thus, not all dividends are guaranteed. Keep this in mind before you start buying companies that pay dividends. Look at the balance sheet to determine how much cash & short term investments the company has, how much long term debt, how long the company has been paying dividends and how many years it has been able to increase dividends.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of tax carnival ecstasy using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

IRA Tax Penalty For Withdrawing Early

IRA Tax Penalty

If you are wondering if there is an IRA tax penalty for withdrawing money from an IRA early, the answer is yes.

It is best if you do not touch your money and let it accumulate as long as you can. If you decide to withdraw any money before the age of 59 and a half, the money will be subject to an early withdrawal penalty of 10% of the amount of distribution. By withdrawing your money early, you are losing tax free compounding which can cost you lots of money by the time you retire.

The early withdrawal does not apply to distributions that happen because of the IRA owner’s disability, the IRA’s death, that are used to pay for reimbursed medical expenses that are more than 7 1/2% of adjusted gross income, and are used to pay the costs of a first home. Also, when they are used to pay for the qualified expenses of higher education for the owner of the IRA or eligible family members and more.

Once you have turned 59 and a half, you can withdraw the money from your IRA whenever you like without receiving a penalty. This money can be used to live off of or whatever you wish to do with it.

So if you have an IRA, it is better to wait until you are old enough to withdraw money from it so you do not get a tax penalty on it.

Rules For Roth IRA Withdrawals

If I make a partial Roth IRA withdrawal from a converted Roth IRA, will I have to pay taxes on it? That is a question that is often asked by tax payers.

My spouse and I converted most of our Roth IRA a couple years ago, and taxes were paid on it. If we have to, is it possible to withdraw that portion without paying any taxes or penalties? Just a slight technical issue here-any IRAs cannot be owned by two people, even married couples. It belongs to one of you two, and the person with their name on the account will have to follow the rules.

If you opt for a withdrawal, more taxes should not have to be paid. You opted for the ROTH conversion deal in 2010, so half of the taxes should have been paid in 2011. The last half will be due on your 2012 taxes.

You however, may incur a penalty of 10 percent for an early withdrawal. If you are not at least 59.5 years when the year ends, you will have to pay this. Or you can have had the conversion amount in your Roth IRA for at least 5 years. However, you can get around this if you are using up to $10,000 of the money to buy your first house.

IRS Distribution Penalty

This IRA distribution penalty is important to remember, and could save you some money, or let you access some much needed cash if buying a home. If you want, using something like TurboTax can often make the process easier, because it will run you through all the rules and summarize everything.

Pros and Cons of IRA Conversions

IRA conversions are basically where you change the classification of your account from an IRA classification as a Traditional Individual Retirement Account over to a Roth IRA. Back in 2010 the government changed the rules to allow investors to move over to Roth IRA’s from their Traditional IRA’s irrespective of the amount of money that they earned. Before 2010 people were only able to invest in Roth IRA’s if their MAGI (modified adjusted gross income) went below a certain level. One example was married couples whose combined income exceeded $179,000 – previously they would not have been allowed to invest in Roth IRA’s whereas now they can.

The next question of course is should they? What are the advantages of IRA conversions? The main one is the chance to pay less tax. By converting to Roth IRA’s you will probably end up paying less tax over the years than if you stay with Traditional IRA’s. Normally, people pay more tax as they get older and begin to earn more and more money. If you change over to a Roth IRA while you are still young and in a lower tax bracket you will have more money when you retire and are in the higher tax bracket. It will also be of benefit if the government puts tax rates up at a later date.

At the same time there are some negatives too. The main one is the question of how you’ll pay your taxes if you convert. As an example if people currently have $100,000 sat in Traditional IRA’s and they want to change over to Roth IRA’s they would end up having to pay taxes of $28000 for the privilege of doing so. Would you be able to pay that and would it be worth your while to do so? If you do have some savings set aside then that is the best way to convert. Another way is to take the money from the retirement fund that you intend to convert but this needs to be thought through carefully. That’s because if you have $100,ooo in your Traditional IRA and then lose $28000 of it to tax you will miss out on a great deal of interest on that money, interest which could grow to up to $140000 over the next twenty five years. That is a large sum to pay for the privilege of converting. Also, bear in mind that if taxes were to drop then your money would not be as beneficial in a Roth IRA conversion.

Ultimately, converting over to Roth can be an exceptionally useful and profitable tool towards your retirement. If taxes go up or your earnings go up then it will end up saving you a lot of money. But if you think neither of those are likely to happen then think carefully before converting.

Alex is a freelance journalist and financial blogger. He loves to write about football and jazz but spends most of his days writing about mortgages, credit cards and payday loans.

IRA Investing and Mortgage (2008taxes.org)
IRA Investments:Planning Life After Retirement (2009taxes.org)

Preparing for the Future Today

Preparing for your retirement years can be a frustrating task if you consider how mediocre the returns are of your retirement investments can be. If that’s the case with you right now, it’s time for you to look for ways how to generate the best Roth IRA rates of return that can ensure well-off retirement years for you.

One basic thing to consider is that the better your assets are performing in the market, the higher the returns are, the more beneficial for your IRA account. To make it easier for you, seek the advice of an expert who will guide you in investing in assets allowed under the tax code. Also ask help in looking for money-making turnkey investments. You less experience you have in investing the more help you should seek.

But while your retirement is still many long years away, you can help ensure a better future for you and your family by keeping a healthy lifestyle today. You are a consumer and you have the right to benefit from the products that you consume today. These products range from food to clothing, and even toiletries.

Take your shampoo, for example. The wrong choice of shampoo will soon have its toll on your health, thus, endangering your future. If you are using shampoo with harmful chemicals, instead of sulfate free shampoo brands, you may have to spend much on treatment for hair loss, scalp irritation and other skin problems.

Or if you keep an unhealthy diet of nothing but processed foods now, or you smoke like a chimney, your body will soon have to react to the abuse in the form of various kinds of illnesses.

The money spent on treatment could have been used to augment your Roth IRA account. You can start preparing for the future by keeping a healthy lifestyle today. That’s more than any form of monetary investments that you can have in the market.

Last Ditch Retirement Plans When You Are Close to Retirement Age

You are in a position right now where you simply did not plan in advance soon enough. You want to retire, and soon, but you do not have the money in the bank to do so. If you have waited until the last minute to plan for retirement, there is good news. There are options that can help you, but you will need to take steps to plan now.

Waiting until the last minute is a big risk for several reasons. The biggest reason is that there is little time to take advantage of compounding interest. In other words, you cannot count on interest to boost your retirement income. However, there are other solutions to consider.

Get money into savings. Savings is the best route to building your fortune at this point. You do not want to take on any type of risky investment because it will be hard for you actually to build enough wealth in the process. In other words, you cannot overcome a downturn in a risky investment at this point, so save money instead.
Tap out your IRA or Roth IRA every year to the highest level that you can. If you are over the age of 50, you do have the ability to add an extra $1000 into these accounts each year, for a total investment amount of $6000 annually. Watch for these numbers to change, too.
If you have a 401k, you have an added benefit of being able to put away an extra $5000 a year into these accounts if you are over the age of 50. However, contribution limits will change yearly so do check to find out what the current year’s contribution level is before putting too much into these accounts.

Talk to your financial planner about your decision to retire. The key may be to find new ways to save that work for your situation, or investments that are better for you.

Delay Retiring

Another option to consider is a delay of your retirement. While this may or may not be the route you take, it is an option in situations where you do not have a long time until retirement. If you do delay your retirement, you may be able to take on more risky investments, which could inevitably help you to build your wealth faster. However, going back to work may not be what you want to do. In all cases, it is a good idea to determine how much money you will need to have in your retirement accounts prior to making the decision to retire. Estimate your costs after retirement to determine if you should wait or if you have enough to retire.

At the last minute, it can be hard to build enough wealth to retire on. However, there are options for most people. The key is to take advantage of any time that you do have to build wealth so that you can, ultimately achieve more in the long term. Retiring a little later may be necessary in some cases.

George Gallagher is a personal finance writer. He is currently working with parents to find Nevada student loans for their children.

Retirement Advice For Which Plan To Use (2010tax.org)
Rolling Over Your IRA (2011taxes.org)

filing

retirement

taxes

tips

Related articles

IRA Tax Penalty

Related articles

Related articles

Related articles

Related articles