Some Retirement Plan Benefits Will Increase for 2025
With the 2025 tax year almost here, there's news from the IRS about retirement savings. According to a recent announcement from the tax agency (Notice 2024-80), there will be [...]
Senior Tax-Saving Alert: Make Charitable Donations From Your IRA
If you’ve reached age 70½, you can make cash donations directly from your IRA to IRS-approved charities. These qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) may help you gain tax advantages. QCD [...]
11 Exceptions to the 10% Penalty Tax on Early IRA Withdrawals
If you’re facing a serious cash shortfall, one possible solution is to take an early withdrawal from your traditional IRA. That means one before you’ve reached age 59½. For this [...]
Retirement Account Catch-up Contributions Can Add Up
If you’re age 50 or older, you can probably make extra “catch-up” contributions to your tax-favored retirement account(s). Is it worth the trouble? Yes! Here are the rules of [...]
Are you married and not earning compensation? You may be able to put money in an IRA
When one spouse in a married couple is not earning compensation, the couple may not be able to save as much as they need for a comfortable retirement. In [...]
Retirement plan early withdrawals: Make sure you meet the requirements to avoid a penalty
Most retirement plan distributions are subject to income tax and may be subject to an additional penalty if you take an early withdrawal. What’s considered early? In general, it’s [...]
Avoiding the 10% Penalty On Early IRA Withdrawals
For one reason or another, you may need to take some money out of an IRA before reaching retirement.* You can withdraw money from an IRA at any time and [...]
IRA Charitable Donations: An Alternative to Taxable Required Distributions
Are you a charitably minded individual who is also taking distributions from a traditional IRA? You may want to consider the tax advantages of making a cash donation to an [...]
Tax Consequences of Borrowing From a Retirement Plan
If your company has a qualified retirement plan or you have set one up in self-employment -- such as a 401(k), profit-sharing, or Keogh plan -- the participants might be allowed to borrow from their [...]
Should You Consider an Employer Roth 401(k) Account?
Nowadays, many employer retirement plans give employees the option of contributing to designated Roth accounts (DRAs). According to a 2020 survey, 75% of employer plans now offer DRAs, which are also [...]
A Nonworking Spouse Can Still Have An IRA
It is often difficult for married couples to save as much as they need for retirement when one spouse does not work outside the home — perhaps so that spouse [...]
Congress Raises 401(k) Hardship Withdrawal Limits
Most 401(k) plans permit hardship withdrawals, though plan sponsors aren't required to allow them. As it stands today, employees seeking to take money out of their 401(k) accounts are limited [...]
There’s Still Time to Make a 2017 IRA contributions
Tax-advantaged retirement plans like IRAs allow your money to grow tax-deferred — or, in the case of Roth accounts, tax-free. The deadline for 2017 contributions is April 17, 2018. Deductible [...]
Early Withdrawals from Retirement Plans
At some point, there may be a need to take out money early from a Individual Retirement Account or retirement plan. Doing so, however, can trigger an additional tax on [...]
The TCJA temporarily expands bonus depreciation
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) enhances some tax breaks for businesses while reducing or eliminating others. One break it enhances — temporarily — is bonus depreciation. While most [...]