Self-directed IRA and 401(k) articles by attorney Tim Berry.https://iraideas.com/en-ushttps://iraideas.com/coronavirus-related-distribution-certification/https://iraideas.com/coronavirus-related-distribution-certification/Looking for the form to certify that your distribution is a Coronavirus related distribution? Here it is. 401k PSP Corona Distribution Form v2…Mon, 13 Apr 2020 19:52:52 GMThttps://iraideas.com/can-self-directed-retirement-plans-buy-the-dip-in-stocks/https://iraideas.com/can-self-directed-retirement-plans-buy-the-dip-in-stocks/As I’m typing this the market is down well over 20% from the beginning of the year. A direct result of this market correction is that my phone and email…Mon, 23 Mar 2020 15:37:08 GMThttps://iraideas.com/took-longer-60-days-rollover-ira-new-court-case-help/https://iraideas.com/took-longer-60-days-rollover-ira-new-court-case-help/In 2001 Congress enacted a law allowing the IRS to waive the 60 day IRA rollover requirement, “where the failure to waive such requirement would be…Wed, 26 Apr 2017 17:13:51 GMT60 day rolloverira rolloverira waiverrollovertax attorneytax lawyerTim Berryhttps://iraideas.com/tax-time-investment-time-self-directed-ira-self-directed-401k/https://iraideas.com/tax-time-investment-time-self-directed-ira-self-directed-401k/Yesterday I had a client call me up and explain that she was frustrated as her self directed account was only earning 1.2% in interest. I suggested she…Mon, 17 Apr 2017 13:39:02 GMThttps://iraideas.com/really-owns-ira-llc-self-directed-ira/https://iraideas.com/really-owns-ira-llc-self-directed-ira/Tons of people have set up IRA LLCs. The theory is that since they are the beneficiaries of the IRA they are indirectly the owners of the IRA LLC and the…Fri, 14 Apr 2017 20:23:39 GMTcheckbook control iraira llcIRA owned real estateself directed custodianself directed IRAself directed ira attorneyTim Berryhttps://iraideas.com/state-retirement-fund-payments-cut-60/https://iraideas.com/state-retirement-fund-payments-cut-60/Its a tale as old as time. You’re fresh out of college and trying to figure out what to do with your life. There are a lot of opportunities, but you…Thu, 16 Mar 2017 16:00:57 GMTself directed IRAself directed retirementTaxTim Berryhttps://iraideas.com/can-irs-levy-irs-talk-take-away-garnish-retirement-plan/https://iraideas.com/can-irs-levy-irs-talk-take-away-garnish-retirement-plan/When you owe the IRS money they can pretty much come after any asset that you own. That includes your retirement plan assets. As verification of that…Wed, 25 Jan 2017 17:11:59 GMTasset protectionira levyirs garnishmentirs levyretirement planTim Berryhttps://iraideas.com/witholding-taxes-and-rollovers-from-retirement-plans/https://iraideas.com/witholding-taxes-and-rollovers-from-retirement-plans/When you request a distribution from your qualified retirement plan such as a profit sharing plan or 401k, the tax code requires that your plan withhold…Wed, 14 Oct 2015 06:17:22 GMThttps://iraideas.com/are-401ks-protected-in-bankruptcy/https://iraideas.com/are-401ks-protected-in-bankruptcy/Can your 401k be taken away if you file bankruptcy? As a general rule, 401ks are protected in bankruptcy. The bankruptcy code has 2 different key sections…Sun, 27 Sep 2015 22:35:35 GMT401kasset protectionbankruptcyiraself directed 401kTim Berryhttps://iraideas.com/could-you-owe-taxes-because-you-dont-charge-enough-one-harvard-professor-seems-to-think-so/https://iraideas.com/could-you-owe-taxes-because-you-dont-charge-enough-one-harvard-professor-seems-to-think-so/Want to get rich quick? I mean really, really rich. . . billions. All you need to do is turn in someone who is doing something to pay less taxes to the…Thu, 24 Sep 2015 17:13:12 GMThttps://iraideas.com/does-the-irs-approve-of-roth-ira-llcs/https://iraideas.com/does-the-irs-approve-of-roth-ira-llcs/Did you know that if you mess up your IRA rollover the IRS has a process where you request a second chance? The great part is they typically grant the 2nd…Mon, 14 Sep 2015 19:54:40 GMTfailed rolloverfix IRA rolloversprohibited transaction rulesRoth 401k conversionRoth IRAself directed IRATim Berryhttps://iraideas.com/irs-wait-times/https://iraideas.com/irs-wait-times/Have a slight problem with your self directed IRA? Self directed 401k? Think you can call the IRS and get a quick answer to your problem? Think again…Tue, 19 May 2015 15:14:42 GMTdetermination letterretirement planTim Berryhttps://iraideas.com/prediction-irs-will-launch-a-full-scale-audit-attack-on-self-directed-iras/https://iraideas.com/prediction-irs-will-launch-a-full-scale-audit-attack-on-self-directed-iras/Today was a big day in the IRA world. First off the Department of Labor came out with their proposal for fiduciary standards. In theory the proposal is…Thu, 16 Apr 2015 13:51:54 GMThttps://iraideas.com/privacy-of-self-directed-ira-investments-is-disappearing/https://iraideas.com/privacy-of-self-directed-ira-investments-is-disappearing/One of the dirty little secrets about self directed IRAs is that most of their owners have made a mistake or two with the investments. The only real…Tue, 27 Aug 2013 14:06:17 GMThttps://iraideas.com/guarantees-and-prohibited-transactions-for-iras/https://iraideas.com/guarantees-and-prohibited-transactions-for-iras/Tax Court released a new ruling saying the mere act of guaranteeing the assets of an IRA is a prohibited transaction. Nothing really new here but just…Fri, 10 May 2013 16:05:18 GMTdaleyguaranteeprohibited transaction rulesTim Berryhttps://iraideas.com/gao-to-audit-ira-valuations/https://iraideas.com/gao-to-audit-ira-valuations/Tax Notes Today is reporting that the director of tax issues for the GAO announced on C Span that the GAO has accepted a formal request to look at how…Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:28:46 GMThttps://iraideas.com/limit-audits-on-your-5500-filings/https://iraideas.com/limit-audits-on-your-5500-filings/At a recent conference an IRS employee talked about what are some of the triggers for an audit of a form 5500. The various triggers were: 1. Line items…Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:54:28 GMThttps://iraideas.com/irs-75-error-rate-on-w2s/https://iraideas.com/irs-75-error-rate-on-w2s/What do you think would be a major warning that something is too complex? How about if you told people how to do something, offered instructions and all…Sun, 31 Mar 2013 14:10:01 GMThttps://iraideas.com/self-directed-ira-prohibited-transaction-rule-gotchyas/https://iraideas.com/self-directed-ira-prohibited-transaction-rule-gotchyas/Was reading a case today where the Department of Labor was saying an individual violated his fiduciary responsibilities by amongst other things, loaning…Tue, 29 Jan 2013 21:47:30 GMTerisaprohibited transaction rulesprohibited transactionsself directed 401kself directed IRAself directed SEPhttps://iraideas.com/thrift-savings-plans-are-subject-to-irs-levy/https://iraideas.com/thrift-savings-plans-are-subject-to-irs-levy/Have a thrift savings plan with the government? Running behind on your taxes? Bad news, President Obama just signed a bill that specifically allows the…Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:33:09 GMThttps://iraideas.com/merrill-lynch-iras-are-invalid-and-distributed/https://iraideas.com/merrill-lynch-iras-are-invalid-and-distributed/On October 17th, a district court affirmed a bankruptcy decision that said the mere act of signing the Merrill Lynch IRA account app caused the IRA to be…Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:55:40 GMThttps://iraideas.com/has-the-irs-determined-that-the-rollover-as-business-startups-robs-isnt-valid/https://iraideas.com/has-the-irs-determined-that-the-rollover-as-business-startups-robs-isnt-valid/Way back in 2008, the IRS issued some guidelines to a strategy they called the Rollover as Business Startup (ROBS). Reading between the guidelines (sorry…Mon, 10 Sep 2012 23:35:57 GMThttps://iraideas.com/self-directed-ira-valuations/https://iraideas.com/self-directed-ira-valuations/Are self directed IRAs about to be trampled due to the fight between the presidential candidates? Some Democrats in the house just wrote a letter about…Sun, 05 Aug 2012 15:05:58 GMThttps://iraideas.com/self-directed-iras-the-future-holds-even-less-supervision/https://iraideas.com/self-directed-iras-the-future-holds-even-less-supervision/One of the cardinal rules of IRAs is that they have to be “administered” by a bank, trust company, or something called a non-bank custodian. Apparently in…Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:58:55 GMThttps://iraideas.com/avoiding-a-10-early-withdrawal-penalty/https://iraideas.com/avoiding-a-10-early-withdrawal-penalty/There is a common misconception that you have to be over 59.5 before you can take a distribution from your retirement plan and not be hit with a 10% early…Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:19:06 GMThttps://iraideas.com/is-your-self-directed-ira-a-fraud/https://iraideas.com/is-your-self-directed-ira-a-fraud/The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) recently issued a notice…Mon, 26 Sep 2011 17:09:02 GMThttps://iraideas.com/what-is-an-ira/https://iraideas.com/what-is-an-ira/I’m of the opinion that there is going to be a lot of litigation in the coming years with self directed IRAs. Investors jumped onto the self directed band…Thu, 07 Oct 2010 21:00:57 GMThttps://iraideas.com/401k-roth-conversions/https://iraideas.com/401k-roth-conversions/Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m a broken record at this point. I can only discuss 401k Roth conversions. The reason is the payoff is simply too big to ignore, tax…Tue, 05 Oct 2010 23:21:16 GMThttps://iraideas.com/roth-401k-conversions-pt-iii/https://iraideas.com/roth-401k-conversions-pt-iii/For the last 2 years the big news trumpeted by the financial planning community was the ability to convert your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. A concept I…Mon, 04 Oct 2010 19:32:58 GMThttps://iraideas.com/trusts-as-ira-beneficiaries/https://iraideas.com/trusts-as-ira-beneficiaries/The laws regarding IRAs are very complex. Even more complex are the laws dealing with trusts as beneficiaries of IRA accounts. The rules are so…Mon, 27 Sep 2010 18:47:50 GMThttps://iraideas.com/can-the-irs-take-away-your-ira-pt-ii/https://iraideas.com/can-the-irs-take-away-your-ira-pt-ii/Earlier in the month I pointed out an article on the subject of if the IRS can take away your IRA. For some reason people seem to be astounded and…Fri, 24 Sep 2010 17:00:33 GMTira levyIRS levy irahttps://iraideas.com/inherited-iras-and-bankruptcy-what-is-the-law/https://iraideas.com/inherited-iras-and-bankruptcy-what-is-the-law/The other day I was talking with a friend, and they told me they were a bit irritated at their CPA. It seems my friend asked the CPA a “basic” tax…Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:22:15 GMTbankruptcyinherited ira bankruptcyira 522ira bankruptcyIRA exemptira exempt statushttps://iraideas.com/supercharge-your-roth-ira/https://iraideas.com/supercharge-your-roth-ira/When you start talking about Roth IRAs, people start salivatating. The reason is earnings grow in a completely tax free environment within the Roth…Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:55:34 GMTRoth 401kRoth IRAhttps://iraideas.com/ira-rollover-fixes-ii/https://iraideas.com/ira-rollover-fixes-ii/Every morning I get updates on the latest rulings and changes to the tax code. More and more it seems that requests to fix failed IRA rollovers are taking…Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:35:29 GMTfailed rolloverfix IRA rolloversira rolloversrollover waiverhttps://iraideas.com/roth-401k-conversions-pt-ii/https://iraideas.com/roth-401k-conversions-pt-ii/Yesterday I talked about how Roth conversion features are considered a revenue raiser by Congress. Today the Joint Committee on Taxation, the…Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:50:07 GMTRoth 401k conversionhttps://iraideas.com/roth-401k-conversions-2/https://iraideas.com/roth-401k-conversions-2/Today The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 was passed by the Senate. Its virtually assured to pass the house next week. One of the provisions of the Act is…Thu, 16 Sep 2010 20:51:12 GMTRoth 401k conversionroth conversionhttps://iraideas.com/does-wall-street-own-the-senate/https://iraideas.com/does-wall-street-own-the-senate/Captain Obvious here. Yesterday it was announced that Elizabeth Warren would be appointed as a “special advisor” to the President. This was an interesting…Thu, 16 Sep 2010 19:55:08 GMTfiduciary statushttps://iraideas.com/which-is-better-a-roth-ira-or-muni-bonds/https://iraideas.com/which-is-better-a-roth-ira-or-muni-bonds/Back in my stockbroker days, I had a client come in for financial advice for her IRA. When I asked her what the IRA was invested in, she told me the…Wed, 15 Sep 2010 21:40:36 GMTbankruptcyself directed IRAhttps://iraideas.com/why-arent-annuities-in-pension-plans/https://iraideas.com/why-arent-annuities-in-pension-plans/In my previous posts I commented how in a recent survey, people said they liked the benefits of an annuity, but if you used the word, annuity, people…Wed, 15 Sep 2010 21:24:34 GMThttps://iraideas.com/who-are-you-listening-to-why/https://iraideas.com/who-are-you-listening-to-why/A number of great articles that have implications for retirement planning came out this week. The first was pretty much a mind expander. Its a post from…Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:47:13 GMThttps://iraideas.com/beware-of-fancy-talkers/https://iraideas.com/beware-of-fancy-talkers/There is a lot of buying coming from the middle east. Way back when I was both a commodities and stock broker. The standard joke/statement in our office…Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:42:08 GMThttps://iraideas.com/ira-rollover-fixes/https://iraideas.com/ira-rollover-fixes/Back in 2001 a new provision was added to the tax code that allows IRA owners to fix a problems with their rollovers. Yeah, the basic rollover rules are…Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:02:53 GMThttps://iraideas.com/are-inherited-iras-asset-protected/https://iraideas.com/are-inherited-iras-asset-protected/Just today a bankruptcy court in Florida reached the same conclusion; inherited IRAs do not have asset protection, inherited IRAs are not exempt assets…Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:44:53 GMThttps://iraideas.com/can-the-irs-take-your-ira/https://iraideas.com/can-the-irs-take-your-ira/As the economy sputters and falters even more it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that more people are going to start running behind on their taxes. A…Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:22:07 GMThttps://iraideas.com/412i-lawsuits-cant-sue-the-insurance-company/https://iraideas.com/412i-lawsuits-cant-sue-the-insurance-company/A few years back the financial community, in particular insurance agents, really pushed the concept of a 412i plan as a way to save money. Basically a…Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:28:32 GMThttps://iraideas.com/irs-rollover-waive/https://iraideas.com/irs-rollover-waive/A bunch of us know that we are allowed to take our IRA money out, and as long as we put it back in within 60 days there is no taxable event. Unfortunately…Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:50:36 GMThttps://iraideas.com/cost-of-forgotten-required-minimum-distributions/https://iraideas.com/cost-of-forgotten-required-minimum-distributions/A recent survey found that most IRA owners had no intentions of taking money out of their IRA. Instead the IRA was seen as an emergency fund that the IRA…Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:24:23 GMThttps://iraideas.com/prohibited-transaction-exemptions-modified/https://iraideas.com/prohibited-transaction-exemptions-modified/There is a set of laws lurking out in the shadows that very few IRA owners are aware of, the prohibited transaction rules. Under the tax code, if an IRA…Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:00:52 GMThttps://iraideas.com/saving-for-retirement/https://iraideas.com/saving-for-retirement/A lot of people talk about saving for retirement, but are they? Sure, they don’t spend the money, but what do they do with? Invest in the stock market?…Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:05:21 GMThttps://iraideas.com/roth-401k-conversions/https://iraideas.com/roth-401k-conversions/When the new Roth 401ks (fancy name is designated Roth account) came out, a lot of people thought they would be able to convert their 401ks into Roth…Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:40:08 GMThttps://iraideas.com/want-to-use-ira-funds-to-start-a-business/https://iraideas.com/want-to-use-ira-funds-to-start-a-business/A lot of people are promoting the idea that you can use IRA or 401k money to start up a new business. The IRS calls these particular strategies, ROBs…Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:57:13 GMT