Seven Unfixable IRA Mistakes: EDU #2644

If you would prefer to skip Jim and Chris chatting about Jim’s end-of-season garden update and what home-grown produce he's going to try to get through TSA (and why), you can skip to 7:45.

Chris’s Summary
Jim and I continue our run of IRA topics with seven IRA mistakes that cannot be fixed once they are made. The list spans inherited IRA transfers, rollover limits and requirements, Roth conversions, net unrealized appreciation, and 72(t) distributions. In at least one case, nothing improper occurred at the time. We also distinguish these seven from errors that may still be corrected, such as certain missed 60-day rollovers.

Jim’s “Pithy” Summary
Chris and I keep the IRA conversation going this week. With all the rules attached to these accounts, I like to picture the Peanuts character Pigpen, with a cloud of rules, regulations, taxes, and penalties following the IRA from custodian to custodian and owner to beneficiary until it is finally closed. Plenty of slip-ups, like a missed RMD or an excess contribution, can be fixed. But some IRA mistakes, once made, you are stuck with. Their simplicity is sometimes their downfall, because people think they understand the rule and don’t quite.

Spouses and non-spouses do not get the same options for moving inherited dollars, and using the wrong method may create two problems at once. I put your feet in the shoes of a 40-year-old surviving spouse who makes a perfectly legal move that cannot be taken back. Chris tackles the one-rollover-per-year rule, earns a grade for it, and we discuss the 2014 tax court case that changed how that rule is counted. I also worked hard to come up with a realistic way someone could violate the same property rule, and it involves fat fingers.

We get into Roth conversion regrets and why I am still irked about losing my old cup of flour and butter knife approach. We touch on net unrealized appreciation and the moves that can wipe it out, along with the 72(t) payment schedule and the single word in its rules that people tend to miss. Chris also explains why he thinks a 72(t) calls for a compelling reason and careful precautions.