IRA distribution rules are a mine field. One wrong move and you could find yourself faced with high taxes and penalties that may wipe out years of savings and investment. Complicating issues is the Darwinian evolution of IRAs which have taken place since the pioneer IRA was introduced in 1974 with the enactment of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA ). Since 1974, IRA regulations have changed dramatically and legislation was enacted to rigorously punish those who don't follow the regulations, to the letter of the rule. IRAs come in a lot of flavors but, for purposes of this article we will focus on the 2 main kinds of IRAs: Traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs.

Methods for Minimizing Penalties on Early Distributions

Normally, any distribution from an IRA before you reach age 59 1/2 is considered as an early distribution and is subject to a ten percent penalty on the taxable amount received in a distribution. There are certain IRA distribution rules that can be used to avoid the imposition of this early withdrawal penalty.

1. Using IRA Funds to Purchase or Construct Your First Home - Up to $10,000 may be withdrawn from an IRA as an early distribution penalty-free, as long as the distribution is used to purchase, build or repair a first house for yourself, your partner, you or your spouse's kid, you or your spouse's grandchild or you or your spouse's parent or ancestor.

2. Using IRA Money for Medical Expenses - Penalty-free early distributions could be made if the funds are used to pay unreimbursed medical costs which exceed 7.5 % of your adjusted total income. There is no requirement to itemize deductions in order to be eligible for this exception.

3. Using IRA Money for School Expenses - Conventional IRAs can be also tapped to help fund school costs; however, the taxable amount of the distributions from these IRAs will be matter of income tax in the year of the distribution.

Roth IRA distribution rules

Roth IRAs have unique rules with respect to distributions. Contributions withdrawn are not matter of the 10% penalty and there's no RMD with Roth IRAs. In order for Roth IRA earnings distributions to be tax-free, the account must have been opened for five years and the distributions must be made after reaching age 59 1/2. If you fullfil the five-year rule but not the 59 1/2 year rule, distributions in excess of your contributions might be taxable and matter of a 10% penalty.

1. No RMD - With Roth IRAs, there is no RMD at age 70 1/2. This means a Roth IRA owner is never required to make a distribution out of their Roth IRA. As a result, Roth IRAs can grow, untaxed, throughout the lifetime of the owner, permitting a larger legacy for their beneficiaries.

2. Zero Percent Effective Tax Rate - Qualified distributions from Roth IRAs aren't matter of income tax...ever. This means you're unaffected by future tax increases as your effective tax rate is always the same...zero.

3. Conversion Opportunities - Beginning after January 1, 2010 anyone, irrespective of their income level, may convert conventional IRAs into Roth IRAs. The tax on the taxable income for 2010 conversions can be deferred into 2011 and 2012. If you do not have sufficient money set aside to do a 100% conversion you can do partial conversions.

4. University Expenses - Because Roth IRA contributions may be withdrawn, tax-free, penalty-free, at any time, such contributions can be a tax-free future funding source for your child's college expenses.

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