Pages 31-32 of Pub 590-B say that there's a separate 5-year period
for each conversion from traditional to Roth IRA, and early
distributions "may" have to pay a 10% additional tax. Page 32 says
"you may not have to pay the 10% additional tax in the following
situations," and the first one listed is "You have reached age 50½."
Those "may"s make me nervous.
I'm over 72, and I established my Roth in the 2015 tax year. On the
flowchart on page 34, I can answer Yes to the first two boxes "Has it
been at least 5 years from the beginning of the year for which you
first set up and contributed to a Roth IRA?" and "Were you at least
59½ years old at the time of the distribution?". Therefore, according
to the flowchart, _every_ distribution from my Roth will be a
qualified distribution.
If I do a Roth conversion but then need the money only a couple of
years later, can I rely on the flowchart, with no need to worry about
the "may"s on pages 31-32?
On the flowchart on page 34, I can answer Yes to the first two
boxes "Has it been at least 5 years from the beginning of the year
for which you first set up and contributed to a Roth IRA?" and
"Were you at least 59½ years old at the time of the distribution?". Therefore, according to the flowchart, _every_ distribution from my
Roth will be a qualified distribution.
If I do a Roth conversion but then need the money only a couple of
years later, can I rely on the flowchart, with no need to worry about
the "may"s on pages 31-32?
"If you receive a distribution that isn't a qualified distribution, you may
have to pay the 10% additional tax on early distributions as explained
in the following paragraphs."
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