Define Roth IRA - An Indepth Look @ Roth IRA, Roth IRA After-Tax Contributions, Limits, IRA Rollovers, Conversions & Distributions and more.

Tax Saving Tips for IRA Investors - After Tax Contributions (Basis), Income in Respect of Descendent, 10% Excess Tax & Substantially Equal Periodic Payments (SEPPs)

Thousands of IRA investors miss out on important tax benefits each year because they are not familiar with the Tax Act and laws. Others make crucial errors when filing their tax returns. For instance, IRA investors may pay taxes on monies that should have been tax free or pay excise taxes on IRA distributions when these distributions should be free of tax. Our aim in this article is to highlight some IRA tax laws and how you can benefit from them.

After-tax IRA balances (also known as 'basis') grow in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) from non deductible contributions and IRA rollovers of after-tax amounts. By saying non deductible contributions, we mean you pay taxes on all your earnings now, and will not be taxed when you withdraw them upon retirement, at 65. This is how a Roth IRA works. It is essential we clarify this point, so read this example below:

Consider Jackson who earns a $65,000 annual salary. Jackson is currently in the 25% tax bracket and contributes $3500 a month to his Roth IRA. Jackson would therefore pay income taxes of $3500 x 25% = $875 and would contribute $3500 - $875 = $2625 to his Roth IRA. If Jackson expects to be in a 33% tax bracket upon retirement, he will have to pay $3500 x 33% = $1155 upon his retirement. Therefore by making after-tax Roth IRA contributions now and getting taxed at the lower 25%, Jackson avoids having to pay taxes @ 33% when he hits retirement.

Distributions of after-tax balances (basis) is supposed to be tax-free. However, if you fail to keep track of these amounts that you have contributed, any distributions you take will result in you having to pay taxes to the IRS resulting in double taxation. Also, if you do not file IRS Form 8606 (Nondeductible IRAs) to the IRS, you will owe them a penalty of $50 unless you show a valid reason why you didn't file that form. Consider this example.

John made a rollover contribution of $50,000 from his 401k plan to a Traditional IRA out of which $15,000 was contributed on an after-tax basis. This means distributions of this $15,000 should be tax free because John already paid taxes on them. John, busy as he is, failed to file Form 8606 to the IRS and did not keep track of the amount. John withdrew his entire $50,000 balance from his IRA due to some emergency and included the entire amount as taxable income. This means John paid taxes on his $15,000 contributions that should have been tax-free. Had John filed IRS Form 8606 in the year the rollover occured, he would not have got double taxed on the $15,000 distribution.

Once you make a nondeductible contribution to a Traditional IRA or rollover after-tax amounts, any distributions taken from the IRA will include a prorated amount of pre-tax and post-tax assets. These assets will be broken down into pre-tax and post-tax amounts just like how John has $35,000 pre-tax assets and $15,000 of post-tax assets in his Traditional IRA. Another important point to remember is that if you have multiple traditional, SEP or Simple IRAs with different beneficiaries, you might want to maintain a separate Form 8606 for each type of IRA. Then, each beneficiary will be able to determine their basis (after-tax balances) in their inherited IRAs and file any IRS Form 8606.

Pre-tax IRA assets or balances that are not distributed before the IRA investor's death are not taxable to the deceased IRA owner. Instead, they will be added to taxable income of the beneficiary for current tax year. However, these assets may be included in the deceased IRA investor's estate and subject to estate tax. However, if the deceased IRA owner filed IRS Form 706 (United States Estate and Generation-Skipping Transfer form), the beneficiary might be eligible for a federal tax deduction for the total amount of estate taxes listed on form 706. This deduction is known as Income in Respect of Decedent (IRD) and is one of the most important deductions that a beneficiary could get with inherited assets or monies. Unfortunately, it is a deduction least aware of by IRA investors and owners.

Tax experts estimate that failure to claim the Income in Respect of Decedent (IRD) deduction can result in a tax rate of 80% or more on the inherited amount, broken down to a combination of estate taxes paid by the deceased IRA owner and federal/local state taxes paid by the beneficiary who inherits the assets after the death of the IRA owner. Income in Respect of Decedent (IRD) is claimed as an itemized tax deduction on IRS Schedule A and is not subject to the 2% of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) limit that applies to miscellaneous deductions. If you don't itemize your IRD deduction, your deduction will not be valid.

It makes sense when we say that greater risk has the potential of yielding greater returns. If you do not want to take risk, you would invest your money in certificates of deposit or money market funds that provide a risk-free interest rate upon maturity. However, these interest rates are lower than the percentage returns provided by riskier stocks. If you make losses on your IRA (Individual Retirement Account) investments, you can deduct them from your tax return ONLY if certain conditions are fulfilled. We look at these conditions next:

1) Withdraw Full Balance to Claim Losses

In order to be eligible to claim losses on your tax return from your IRA investments, you MUST withdraw the entire balance from that account. For example, if you faced a loss of $5000 this year on your Roth IRA account, you must withdraw the full balance from your Roth IRA in order to be eligible to deduct this $5000 allowable capital loss from your tax return. On the other hand, if you faced a similar loss from your SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA or Traditional IRA, you must withdraw the entire balances from all these Traditional IRAs in order to deduct any losses.

2) Losses on your Traditional IRA

You can deduct losses made on your Traditional IRA only if:

the total balance you withdraw is LESS than the after-tax amounts (basis amounts) remaining in your Traditional IRA.
the IRA basis is any non-deductible contributions + after-tax IRA rollovers from 403b plans, 457 plans or other qualified retirement plans.
you fill out IRS Form 8606 which is used to determine the basis of your withdrawal amounts from your Traditional IRA. IRS Form 8606 is also used to calculate your actual IRA loss to be included in your income tax return, and the total amount of your IRA withdrawal.

Example of a Traditional IRA Investment Loss

Beginning January 1st, 2004, John had a Traditional IRA balance of $30,000.
$20,000 is the After-Tax balance
On December 31st, 2004, John's IRA lost $13000 in value. This means his Traditional IRA balance is now: $30,000 - $13000 = $17,000
This $17000 is now less than the after-tax balance of $20,000.
This means John can claim a loss on his income tax return if he withdraws his total balance from his Traditional IRA.
His income tax loss deduction would be calculated as follows:

$30,000 January 1st, 2004 Balance
- $13000 IRA Investment Loss for the year 2004
$17,000 Value of his Traditional IRA at Dec 31st, 2004

$20,000 After-Tax Basis Amount
- $17,000 Value of his Traditional IRA at Dec 31st, 2004
$3,000 His Income Tax Deduction from IRA Investment Losses - 2004

Real Estate is not prohibited, but certain rules and pitfalls can easily make your IRA Real Estate Investment into a prohibited transaction.

Beware, some companies promote real estate investments for IRAs by not properly disclosing all the related rules and prohibitions as stated by the law. This is because they do not want to lose business and you as a client/customer.

For example, imagine your IRA purchases a broken-down house that needs lots of repair work and remodelling. You use funds from your IRA to do the remodelling and add value to the house. Later, you sell it at a profit. That is NOT a prohibited transaction yet. However, if the remodelling is done by yourself, or your relative's local shop, this means you are providing "services" to your IRA. Now THIS is a prohibited transaction.

Another example of a prohibited transaction is when you buy a rental property and also do the work of finding tenants, collecting rent and property management. If you or your relatives do this, you are providing services to your IRA.

An IRA Transfer is when the retirement assets of an individual are transferred from one financial institution (IRA Management & Investment Firms) to another, without the IRA owner taking ownership and risk of the assets. By Transferring their IRA Assets, IRA owners do NOT have to pay tax on these withdrawals and do not risk loss of investments if anything happens along the way. Furthermore, unlike IRA Rollovers, you can carry as many IRA transfers during the taxation year as you'd like, there's no maximum limit.

An IRA Rollover occurs when a retirement saver rolls over his assets from a Qualified Retirement Plan (example 401k plans) into an Individual Retirement Asset (IRA). Unlike IRA Transfers though, an individual is limited to 1 IRA Rollover every 12 months. There are 3 types of IRA Rollovers, we summarize them below:

An IRA Rollover occurs when an individual has personally withdrawn money from his IRA Assets for personal use. If this is the case, the individual has 60 days to rollover this distribution to another IRA. If the distribution is not rolled over to another IRA within 60 days, the individual will have to pay the local state & federal taxes as well as a 10% Early Withdrawal Penalty Fee.

A Qualified Retirement Plan Rollover occurs when an individual takes personal possession and responsibility of his IRA assets and does NOT do an IRA Transfer within 60 days. Once the IRA assets are distributed, the plan administrator will withhold 20% of the amount for tax purposes and 80% of the assets will be distributed to the IRA account owner. This complication makes Qualified Retirement Plan Rollovers a less attractive choice.

The Direct Qualified Plan Rollover is probably your best bet. Similar to the IRA Transfer, the IRA Asset owner can rollover his assets directly from one financial institution to another without having to pay any taxes, and the 10% early withdrawal penalty fee. The only exception is that you are allowed to do a Direct IRA Rollover once every 12 months.

The Fair Market Value Statement, as the name implies, will tell you the fair market value balance of your IRA assets as of December 31st, of the previous year. The Fair Market Value Statement will also calculate your Minimum Required IRA Distributions (RMD) that you must take out. This statement will also include a note that the fair market value of your investments will be reported to the IRS for tax purposes.

If at any year you reach the age of 70 and 1/2 and above, you will receive a Minimum Required IRA Distributions notice from your IRA Administrator. For example, if you turned 70 and 1/2 in the year 2004, you will receive this notice by a maximum date of January 31st, 2004. This notice will tell you exactly how much of required distributions you must take out.

IRS Form 1099-R reports any distributions over $10 from any pension plans, Individual Retirement Account (IRAs), 403b plans, annuities, etc. Any IRA Re-Characterizations (change from a Roth IRA back to a Traditional IRA) will also be reported on this form.

* For example, when Roth IRA assets are converted, the taxable amount of the conversion is the initial value when the assets are converted, even if these assets have declined in value. For instance, if a taxpayer converted his IRA assets worth $120,000 in April of 2004, and these assets have since decreased in value to $40,000, the individual will still have to pay taxes on the initial $120,000 he deposited in April of 2004. Who said tax rules are fair!?

A taxpayer can choose to recharacterize his IRA Contribution for reasons such as:

In order to recharacterize your IRA, you must move all the retirement savings and assets from the original IRA into your new IRA plan. Your financial institution can simply do this move by changing the type of IRA, for example from a Traditional IRA into a Roth IRA. Check with your financial institution as to their requirements, plus all the documentation you will need to successfully recharacterize your IRA.

Interestingly, there are 11 different types of IRAs ranging from Individual Retirement Accounts, Employer and Employee Association Trust Account, Spousal IRAs, Rollover Conduit IRA, etc. The most common are the traditional IRAs and the Roth IRA. In this article, we will explain the differences & similarities between the two.

In Traditional IRA, the contributions you make towards the account are not taxed. Whatever capital gains & earnings you make on your IRA are also not taxed up until retirement, when you withdraw money from your account. For example, imagine you made $50,000 this year and contributed $5000 to a traditional IRA. You will be taxed on $50,000 - $5000 = $45,000. Furthermore, your $5000 contribution will grow tax-deferred for many years, until you retire and decide to withdraw it. The setback with this is that your $5000 (which would have probably grown to $50,000 upon retirement) will then be taxed at your ordinary income tax rate.
Note: You can only withdraw this money after you turn 59 and 1/2 years or older. Any withdrawals made before this age will be subject to income taxes as well as a 10% early withdrawal penalty. However if you use the withdrawn funds to finance higher education expenses or for the below list of 8 exceptions, you will not have to pay the 10% early withdrawal penalty.

There are 8 exceptions to the 10% early withdrawal penalty (i.e. withdrawals that are taken before the age of 59 and 1/2). They are for distributions that:

iii) Are a series of loan repayments made over the life expectancy of the IRA investor

iv) Are used to pay for unreimbursed medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of the adjusted gross income of the IRA owner

v) Are used to pay for medical insurance premiums if the IRA investor has been unemployed for more than 12 weeks

vi) Are used to pay for the purchase of a principal residence (maximum of $10,000 can be withdrawn). Also, the IRA investor must not have previously owned a home within the last 24 months.

vii) Are used to pay for higher education expenses of the IRA owner or eligible dependants/family

Traditional IRAs are commonly associated with the old way of investing: certificates of deposits. This stereotype is because most banks sell CDs and they are the ones that offer Traditional IRA accounts for investors. But remember, you are not limited to investing Certificates of Deposit or bonds only, you can make higher risk investments such as cyclical stocks, commodities, futures, ETFs, etc.

Also known as an Individual Retirement Arrangement, an IRA is a retirement savings plan available to anyone who receives taxable employment income or compensation in a given year. Examples of taxable income include wages, salaries, bonuses, taxable alimony, commissions, fees & tips. An individual can have multiple IRA accounts but the total contribution limits are outlined in the table below.
Note: An individual's IRA contribution is limited to the lesser of total taxable compensation, or the normal annual contribution limits, whichever is lower.

Beginning in 2009, annual IRA contribution limits will increase by $500 adjusted for inflation. All contributions to an IRA are tax-free until withdrawn at the age of 59 and 1/2. Any withdrawals made prior to that are subject to a 10% early withdrawal penalty as well as income taxes owing. There are 8 exceptions to this, see the 8 exceptions below.

Traditional IRA contributions may or may not be tax deductible depending on the tax filing status of the investor. This also depends on the adjusted gross income (AGI) and eligibility to participate in a qualifed IRA retirement plan. Deductibility of contributions becomes zero if the IRA investor's income falls in between these adjusted gross incomes (AGIs).

A working spouse who is not enrolled in employer sponsored IRA can make a tax-deductible contribution of a maximum of $2000 to an IRA each year, even if the other spouse is enrolled in an employer sponsored IRA. When the couple's combined adjusted gross income reaches $150,000, tax deductibility for such contributions lowers. At an AGI of $160,000, it becomes $0!

Making Roth IRA contributions has gotten ever more complex with increased rules & regulations that control your contribution limits, eligibility, modified adjusted gross income, etc. In this article, we will explore Roth IRA contributions in greater detail and compare them with making contributions to other IRAs.

A Roth IRA investor can make an annual non tax-deductible contribution to a Roth IRA that may not exceed

iii) the sum of all contributions to all other individual retirement plans for that year (other than an Education IRA).

Do you see how a simple Roth IRA concept can get so complicated? Let's explain these clauses. This means that the total contributions you make towards both a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA cannot exceed the defined contribution limit for that year. It is therefore better to pick only 1 out of the two options; traditional IRA or Roth IRA and make the total allowable contribution to it. For example if John has $5000 to contribute towards his IRAs, he would be better off putting all the $5000 to a Roth IRA, as opposed to contributiong $1500 to a traditional IRA and $3500 to a Roth IRA. This eliminates the administrative costs of maintaining & signing up for two different retirement programs, as well as broker fees, etc.

i) You can contribute to a Roth IRA and a Simple/SEP/Education IRA at the same time. The annual contribution limit to IRAs is applicable only to traditional & Roth IRAs; not the Simple/SEP/Education IRAs. Therefore if you have the money to make 100% of allowable contributions to a Roth IRA as well as a Simple or SEP or Education IRA, then by all means you can do so!

ii) You can contribute to a Roth IRA even if you are already enrolled in a company sponsored 401k/profit sharing plan.

Consider Mohammed who is a programmer and earns $60,000 a year. Mohammed contributes to his employer sponsored 401k plan as well as the company's pension plan. In his spare time, Mohammed runs an auto detailing shop from his basement that nets him an extra $10,000 a year. Mohammed will therefore make an SEP IRA contribution based on his net business income. Mohammed also contributes to an Education IRA for the benefit of his son, Ahmed. The beauty of Roth IRAs is that despite of all these contributions to a 401k, SEP IRA and an Education IRA, Mohammed can contribute a further $5000 to a Roth IRA for the year 2008. This is because $5000 is the total allowable contribution that can be made to a Roth IRA in 2008.

Note: A qualified rollover contribution to a Roth IRA does not count in the maximum annual contribution limit. In the example above, Mohammed could make a qualified rollover contribution from his SEP IRA to his Roth IRA and that amount would not count as part of the $5000 contribution limit; meaning MOhammed could contribute an additional $5000 on top of his qualified rollover contribution. Beauty!

The Roth IRA is a better choice than traditional IRA because contributions are made after-tax adding greater tax leverage to your retirement savings allowing you to grow your savings tax-free and withdraw them tax-free! What happens if you already have a traditional IRA and would like to convert it to a Roth IRA? This is where Roth IRA conversions come into play!

In order to successfully convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, the conversion must be 'qualified.' Roth IRA conversions are treated as rollovers at all times, regardless of the method used. There are 3 of these methods, discussed below:

i) Rollover - You can take a distribution from a traditional IRA and roll it over to a Roth IRA within 60 days. To meet the 60 day rule, count the day you receive the check and include the day when you deposit the money into your Roth IRA. For example if you get the check on April 1st, 2008, you must have it deposited by May 30th, 2008. There is no extension granted for holidays and weekends.

ii) Trustee-to-trustee transfer - You can instruct the trustee of your traditional IRA to make a direct payment to the trustee of your Roth IRA. This is also considered a qualified rollover.

iii) Same-trustee transfer - If you have only 1 trustee for both your traditional IRA and your Roth IRA, you should instruct the trustee to transfer directly from traditional to Roth IRA.

The law states that if your adjusted gross income (AGI) is greater than $100,000, you cannot convert from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. This law applies to both singles, married filing joint & head of household filers. Note that if you are filing a married-filing-separate tax return, you are not eligible to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA at all, no matter what your adjusted gross income is.

An interesting question asked is, what if you made a Roth conversion last January and find out that your adjusted gross income will exceed $100,000? If this happens, there is nothing to worry about. You can convert your Roth IRA back to a traditional IRA via a few simple procedures known as IRA Recharacterizations.

John has an AGI of $85,000. He also has a traditional IRA of $55,000 that he would like to convert to a Roth IRA. John's official adjusted gross limit (AGI) threshold for the year would be $85,000. Note we do not include the $55,000 conversion in the AGI limit because the law forbids that.

Any 'qualified distributions' you take from a Roth IRA will NOT be included in your taxable income, hence making you exempt from paying taxes. You won't have to pay taxes on the original principal you contributed nor any taxes on capital gains & earnings you have accumulated. Pretty sweet you think for Roth IRAs, eh? In order for the distribution to be classified as 'qualified', it must be taken under 1 of the following circumstances:

- the Roth IRA investor must be 59 and 1/2 years or older at the time of the distribution
- the Roth IRA investor becomes disabled at the time of taking the distributions
- the Roth IRA investor dies and his/her beneficiary receives the assets contained in the plan
- the distributions taken from the Roth IRA will be used in the purchase or building of a new home for the Roth IRA holder or qualified family member. This is limited to $10,000 per person per lifetime. Qualified family members include:
--> the Roth IRA investor
--> the Roth IRA investor's spouse
--> children of the Roth IRA investor
--> grandchildren of the Roth IRA investor
--> parent or ancestor of the Roth IRA investor

Note: Even if one of the above prerequisites is met, the Roth IRA must be atleast 5 years old before any distributions can be taken. This is a very important point to consider. For example if you set up your Roth IRA in March 22nd, 2003, you cannot take any distributions, even if they are qualified, until March 22nd, 2008. If you do, this distribution will not be qualified and you will have to pay the 10% early withdrawal penalty as well as income taxes. A few examples to illustrate these concepts would be useful. Here they are.

Jim makes Roth IRA contribution on March 1st, 2002 for $3000. 6 years later on March 1st, 2008, Jim withdraws $5500 from his account (the principal $3000 + $2500 earnings). Jim's withdrawal is not qualified because he does not plan to purchase a home for the first time, nor is he disabled, plus Jim is not 59 and 1/2 years old or more. Jim will face a 10% early withdrawal penalty + have to pay income taxes on his withdrawal. If Jim had withdrawn only $3000 from his Roth IRA which equals the total contributions he made, he would not be subject to income taxes nor the 10% early withdrawal penalty. This is because Roth IRAs allow you to withdraw up to the maximum contributions you have made and not any earnings on those contributions. Since withdrew the whole $5500 consisting of $3000 principal + $2500 earnings, he will be penalized.

Rishi who is 58 years old makes a $3500 contribution to his Roth IRA on April 12th, 1999 for the tax year 1998. On February 5th, 2003, Rishi withdraws $6000 from his Roth IRA consisting of $3500 original principal + $2500 earnings. At this time, Rishi is 62 years old. Will this distribution be treated as 'qualified'? You bet it is! This is because the 5 year waiting rule has passed. Even though Rishi made his contribution on April 12th, 1999, this contribution was designated for the tax year 1998. Thus from 1998 - February 5th, 2003, the 5 year waiting rule is met. As you can see from here, it is not necessarily the calender years that count; it is when the first contribution was made and for what year it was designated. Also, Rishi is 62 years old which meets the 59 and 1/2 year old requirement. Thus this distribution of $6000 will not be included in Rishi's taxable income.


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