Is There a Way to Avoid Tax on IRA Withdrawal?
At times, expenses such as buying your first home or health insurance may require you to withdraw early funds from your IRA account. Any such withdrawals would be taxed, so make sure it only happens as necessary!
However, there are strategies you can employ to avoid the 10% early withdrawal penalty and here are five of them: 1. Automate your RMDs
1. Look for a Low-Fee IRA Provider
When selecting an IRA provider, many factors must be taken into consideration. You should investigate trading costs, fees and features.
Your top priority should be finding a company that provides a range of investment options. Make sure they can accommodate your preferred investments such as stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.
SoFi Wealth is an excellent example of such an affordable service; their customizable portfolios and comprehensive investing help are tailored specifically for each user, with benefits like tax loss harvesting and automatic rebalancing included as standard features.
2. Automate Your RMDs
IRS rules stipulate RMDs for most IRA and tax-deferred account holders who turn 70 1/2. Their amount is calculated using your account balance at year-end divided by an appropriate life expectancy factor for your age.
Miss an RMD payment or withdraw less than required and penalties can be steep. Therefore, it is wise to consult a financial professional in order to develop a plan for meeting RMD obligations and avoiding penalties.
Your financial institution or professional may also want to review your RMD calculation, especially if you’ve recently relocated your accounts or switched custodians midyear – as their calculation might not reflect your Dec. 31 account value and thus result in an incorrect RMD amount.
3. Transfer Your Old IRA to a New Provider
Once you’ve taken your RMDs, it’s important to determine where your IRA money should go next. Consider either moving it from an older IRA into your employer-sponsored 401(k), which offers tax advantages; or setting up a self-directed IRA with options such as real estate and precious metal investments.
If you plan on switching providers for your IRA, be sure to do it within 60 days or you risk having 20% withheld as abandonment fees. Your new provider often works directly with the original account to complete a trustee-to-trustee transfer for quicker, simpler transfers without as many errors compared to handling it all yourself.
4. Transfer Your Old IRA to a Charitable Account
As soon as you withdraw from an IRA, its administrator is legally obliged to withhold 20% for taxes. Therefore, it’s wise to move any leftover funds into another account before taking out a distribution.
Making a qualified charitable donation (QCD) with your IRA allows you to evade taxes and deduct the donation from taxable income – this option is especially advantageous for retirees who do not itemize deductions.
To initiate a QCD, the best approach is to speak to your IRA custodian about the procedure. Most will send the funds directly to charity on your behalf before providing confirmation for tax purposes – making this method faster than traditional rollover processes and satisfying RMD obligations while avoiding tax-exposed events altogether.
5. Take a Charitable Distribution
As you near retirement age, you may qualify to make tax-free contributions from your IRA to qualified charities through Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs), with up to $100,000 being made per taxpayer (indexed for inflation).
Quantitative Change Differencing Distributions, or QCDs, can fulfill or count towards your RMD while simultaneously lowering your taxable income – potentially lowering Social Security taxes or improving eligibility for tax credits or deductions. In addition, QCDs don’t require itemizing – providing another benefit if deductions have been diminished under new tax legislation.
Those considering a Qualified Consideration Distribution should work with their IRA custodian to ensure it’s completed smoothly. A tool such as FreeWill can assist in helping navigate you through all the processes that each financial institution may require for completion.
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