Self Directed IRA

Gregory J. Cook, EA, CPA+ Accredited Tax Advisor Past President Alabama Society of Enrolled Agents Past President Alabama Association of Accountants

Control the Path of Your Retirement with a Self-Directed IRA


If you’re like most working Americans, you’ve probably changed jobs at least once. When you changed jobs, did you leave your retirement assets in your former employer’s plan? If you’ve changed jobs several times, you may have retirement accounts in several different plans by now. Some may be in employer-sponsored plans, others may be in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). Having smaller pots of retirement assets spread over several plans may not be the best course for your retirement savings.

When you maintain multiple accounts with different providers, you have the responsibility to keep all of your accounts up to date. If you plan to change your beneficiary designation, you must do so on each account. When reviewing your asset allocation, you must look at all of your accounts together. When the time comes for you to make withdrawals, you must be sure to consider all accounts when figuring the total amount required to be distributed annually under the Minimum Required Distribution regulations. You may also be paying an annual custodial fee for each retirement account you own. By consolidating your assets into fewer accounts, you may save considerable time and money.



Recent changes to tax laws permit most types of employer-sponsored retirement accounts to be rolled over into an IRA. You can use these changes to your advantage by consolidating all of your retirement assets into one Rollover IRA account. A single Rollover IRA account can make following and updating your retirement investments easier, by reducing the number of accounts you must oversee.

While you may be tempted to completely simplify matters by combining your Rollover IRA with your contributory IRA, you might want to postpone that move for a time. While the legislative changes have made this combination possible, not many employers have yet modified their qualified retirement plans to accept any IRA assets other than assets rolled over from other qualified plans.

Therefore, for the immediate future it may be wise to continue to avoid commingling rollovers from qualified plans with any annual IRA contributions.

Investments available through self-directed IRAs vary by provider. Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, certificates of deposit, annuities and limited partnerships are all investments that are capable of being held in an IRA account. Make sure you choose a provider who is capable of holding any investment you believe you may want to include in your investment portfolio now or in the future.

Consolidating your employer-sponsored retirement plan assets into a single, self-directed rollover IRA is a straightforward process. You must complete the distribution paperwork provided by your former employer(s). In order to avoid the mandatory 20% tax withholding, be sure to elect a direct transfer to your Rollover IRA. You may be able to maintain your current investment holdings if your former plan(s) permits a distribution of securities.

By cleaning up your retirement plan loose ends now, you will benefit in a number of different ways. You will reduce the amount of paperwork, possibly benefit from better economies of scale in your investments and have a clearer view to the successful attainment of your retirement goals. Whenever you make important financial decisions regarding your investments, you should consult a qualified financial professional.

Can I rollover the pre-tax part of my 401k to a Traditional IRA and the after-tax dollars to a Roth IRA?

Yes, but you will have to be very careful. You would take a complete distribution from your company 401-k and the company will be required to withhold 20% (of the pre-tax dollar amount) for taxes. You would then deposit an amount equal to the pre-tax dollars in a Traditional IRA as a "rollover contribution". Then you deposit an amount equal to the after-tax dollars to a Roth IRA as a "rollover contribution". The two IRA deposits must take place within 60 days after the company 401k distribution to you. Note: The deposit to the Roth must occur after the deposit to the Traditional.

The problem with this strategy is, you must come up with the 20% amount that was withheld for taxes in order to be able to completely fund the rollover. Of course at filing time you will get the 20% withholding back in the form of an income tax refund (or it will reduce your tax liability by an equal amount).

Traditional IRA

Question: I want to establish a traditional individual retirement arrangement (IRA) for my spouse, and I need additional information. What is the most I can contribute to a spousal IRA during the tax year?

Answer:
If both you and your spouse work and both have taxable compensation, each of you can generally contribute to a separate traditional IRA. In addition, subject to certain limitations, if you file a joint return and the amount of your taxable compensation is less than your spouse’s taxable compensation, each of you can contribute to a separate traditional IRA based on your combined compensation, even if one of you has little or no compensation
The amount that you can contribute to each IRA is subject to a limit that can be found in Publication 590.
 
Your total contribution to both your IRA and the spousal IRA for this year is limited by certain factors such as your taxable compensation, contributions to a traditional and Roth IRA and your age.


Roth IRA

Question: Can a person make a contribution to a SEP-IRA and a Roth IRA, too?

Answer:

You can make a contribution to a SEP-IRA and a Roth IRA.
However, neither a SEP IRA or a SIMPLE IRA can be designated as a Roth IRA.
Your SEP IRA contribution and Roth IRA contribution can not be made to the same IRA.
If you contribute to both a Roth IRA and a SEP IRA, it can affect the contribution limits.