Can I Transfer a 457b to an IRA?
457(b) plans have special withdrawal rules that permit penalty-free early distributions for unforeseeable financial hardships or major life events, like buying your first home or paying college tuition fees. Unfortunately, these benefits would be lost by rolling over funds into an IRA account.
Rollovers don’t count towards annual retirement-plan contribution limits and could thus jeopardise your investment strategy.
Tax-deferred status retention
When physicians decide to convert their 457(b) account to an IRA, they must carefully consider its tax consequences. While converting may save on investment management fees and increase withdrawal flexibility and consolidation of retirement assets, converting can also have downsides such as lost withdrawal rules from 457(b), additional rollover-associated fees, or restrictions on specific asset types.
Planning and timing are keys to mitigating the tax-related impact of a 457(b) rollover, including aligning it with in-service distributions or regularly reviewing retirement plan strategies. Furthermore, rollover contributions do not count towards meeting annual retirement-plan contribution limits, while withdrawals of pretax dollars from rollover accounts do not incur an early withdrawal penalty of 10% early withdrawal penalty (exceptions apply if funds transferred from another employer-sponsored plan).
Withdrawals are penalty-free
Converting from 457(b) to an IRA offers several advantages. First, it preserves tax-deferred status while consolidating retirement savings. Furthermore, the IRS will report this transfer through Form 1099-R or 5498 and report any payments you don’t deposit within 60 days as distributions liable for income taxes and early withdrawal penalties.
Withdrawals from a 457(b) plan are usually free from penalty when leaving or retiring from employment, although early withdrawal fees of 10% apply otherwise (although there may be exceptions such as paying medical expenses or purchasing your first home).
An additional downside of rolling over a 457(b) into a traditional IRA could be losing specific assets that make your plan unique, prompting a review of your investment strategy every so often to ensure it fits with overall retirement goals and provide more informed decision making when selecting an investment vehicle for retirement savings.
Consolidation of retirement savings
A governmental 457(b) can be an ideal retirement savings vehicle for state and local government employees, police officers, fire fighters and other civil servants as well as high paid employees of nonprofit organizations such as hospitals, charities or unions. Contributions are taken out pre-tax in a 403(b), meaning only taxes will be due when withdrawing them in retirement; some plans also offer Roth versions that allow people to contribute after-tax money into an account.
However, governmental 403(b)s may provide less investment options than traditional IRAs and may therefore be less appealing. Furthermore, once you reach age 72 you are required to take required minimum distributions (RMDs). As these RMDs could place you into higher tax brackets it might be wiser to convert to an IRA instead; just ensure it happens before its deadline otherwise the IRS will withhold 20% from withdrawals made before then.
Tax-free distributions
A 457(b) plan is a defined contribution retirement account that allows workers to save tax-deferred. Additionally, some of these plans offer investment options. These accounts resemble 401(k)s but differ significantly in that governmental plans are supported by government while non-governmental plans depend on your employer – both types can be beneficial, but each should be carefully considered before making an investment decision.
A 457(b) plan provides employees the chance to save for retirement pre-tax up to $22,500 annually with an age 50 catch-up contribution of $7,500. Once funds remain in an account and any future investment earnings continue to accrue tax-free.
Some employers also provide Roth 457(b) accounts that allow participants to save after-tax funds; these plans do require employer sponsorship and may not be available to all employees; should you wish to move, consult with an independent financial advisor first.
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