What is the IRA Tax Trap?
IRAs provide retirees a way to protect investment income from taxes; however, it’s easy to fall foul of IRS rules that could have unintended repercussions and cause unwanted consequences.
One of the more pressing problems relates to required minimum distributions (RMDs) which must begin being taken starting at age 70 1/2 and may be subject to income and excise taxes; exceptions may exist in some instances.
1. Rolling Over Funds from a Company Plan
Once you leave a company, it can often be beneficial to transfer any remaining retirement savings into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). This way you’ll retain control of those funds while continuing to defer taxes.
But if you fail to properly arrange a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer, it could incur IRS sanctions. As per their rules, if your former employer provides pretax assets that must be redeposited within 60 days or they become taxable assets.
And Tina cannot complete more than one tax-free rollover per year due to earnings contained in her distribution, which will be subject to income tax and an early withdrawal penalty tax unless an exception applies – because under current rules a distribution counts as both an asset transfer and contribution.
2. Failing to Name a Beneficiary
When opening an IRA account, individuals often focus on saving for retirement rather than planning who should inherit their assets after death. Failure to have up-to-date beneficiary assignments on file could create hours of extra work and may put financial organizations at risk of liability claims.
In particular, if an IRA owner dies without designating a beneficiary and filling out the appropriate forms, their distributions will be taxed as regular income and could pose particular difficulty if one of their beneficiaries falls within the scope of the Kiddie Tax.
To avoid falling into this trap, IRA providers should offer an easy-to-complete online form that allows account holders to name beneficiaries quickly and efficiently, while simultaneously monitoring if any changes need to be made. Electronic forms may help ensure accuracy as misplaced paper documents may lead to serious errors that could not only create tax issues for the heirs but could render the IRA ineligible for rollovers in the future.
3. Not Accounting for Capital Gains Taxes
With IRA balances rising rapidly due to stock market gains and more people turning over their retirement accounts to self-directed options that allow them to invest in alternative assets, tax professionals and financial advisers must help their clients avoid tax traps that can occur when individuals transfer part of their IRA funds into self-directed accounts and use that money for purchasing collectibles like artwork, rugs, antiques metals stamps coins or alcohol beverages from these accounts – as investments made using distributions from a self-directed IRA count as distributions that must pay taxes when made as distributions subject to taxes in the year invested.
Non-spouse beneficiaries can fall prey to another tax trap when withdrawing funds from an inherited IRA and fail to report after-tax contributions accurately on IRS Form 8606. Not reporting after-tax contributions results in paying taxes twice: once on initial contribution and again upon withdrawals. To avoid this scenario, review and update beneficiary designations early and often; additionally beneficiaries can spread out withdrawals over 10 years for optimal tax efficiency.
4. Failing to Take Required Minimum Distributions
Failing to take required minimum distributions (RMDs) on time can be one of the biggest retirement tax traps, but financial planners and investors can help their clients avoid it by actively managing RMDs in advance.
As of age 70 1/2, IRA account owners must start taking Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), otherwise face a 50% excise tax penalty for not dispersing funds as per IRS rules. Failure to do so could incur one of the harshest penalties under IRS code.
Solution to this dilemma is straightforward: IRA owners can circumvent the one-IRA-rollover-per-year rule by moving funds directly between trustees. This ensures no check or electronic transfer passes through them and makes transfers nontaxable; individuals may only use this strategy once every year; this option does not apply to Roth IRAs.
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