Can I Do an IRA Rollover from One Account to Another?

Learn how to do an IRA rollover from one account to another with this guide on IRS rules and regulations.

Can I Do an IRA Rollover from One Account to Another?

Most pre-retirement payments you receive from a retirement plan or IRA can be “reinvested” by depositing the payment into another retirement plan or IRA within 60 days. You can also have your financial institution or plan transfer the payment directly to another plan or IRA. An IRA transfer can be made directly to another account, and transfers from an IRA can also involve the liquidation of funds to deposit capital into a new account. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has established the IRA transfer rules, which are described below.If you withdraw funds from an IRA and then deposit them back into your IRA within 60 days, the transaction will not be taxable.

You can only make this type of IRA transfer once in a 12-month period. This once-a-year provision does not apply to trustee-to-trustee transfers where money is sent directly from one institution to another. As an IRA owner, you can only make an indirect 60-day rollover per one-year period.The IRS generally defines a reinvestment as the movement of funds from a qualifying plan that is not an IRA, such as a 401 (k), directly to an IRA. There are subtle differences between what is considered a reinvestment of an IRA and what is considered a transfer of an IRA.

To make it easier to manage your retirement savings, consider transferring your IRAs from other institutions to an IRA. If you inherit a traditional IRA from someone other than your spouse, you can't transfer it or allow them to receive a cumulative contribution.If the conversion tax seems too high to collect all at once, you can transfer your IRA balance to a Roth IRA in parts every year. If you inherit a traditional IRA from your spouse, you can transfer the funds to your own IRA, or you can choose to title it as an inherited IRA. With an IRA rollover, the original depositary sends you a check for the full amount that you are going to withdraw from your IRA.

When you renew the distribution of a retirement plan, you generally don't pay taxes for it until you withdraw money from your new plan, although it's best to familiarize yourself with all of the IRA's reinvestment tax rules to be on the safe side.Amounts that must be distributed over a given year under the required minimum distribution rules are not eligible for IRA reinvestment treatment. You can do this by contacting the administrator of your 401 (k) plan and requesting a direct transfer from your 401 (k) plan to the IRA of your choice. Here are the things you should know about how these IRA reinvestments and transfers work and what you can and can't do. To avoid withholding taxes, you'll want to choose what's called a direct reinvestment from an IRA, in which the check is made payable to your new financial institution as a new trustee or depositary.Investing through these two IRAs involves different tax implications that can be an important consideration if an investor decides to make an IRA transfer.

An IRA transfer (or IRA reinvestment) refers to transferring money from an individual retirement account (IRA) to a different account. If you have small IRAs in a lot of places and your employer's plan offers good funding options with low fees, using this reverse reinvestment option can be a way to consolidate everything in one place.

Hilary Oullette
Hilary Oullette

Award-winning creator. Zombie ninja. Total bacon lover. Avid tv nerd. Travel practitioner. Hardcore web nerd.