You can only rollover IRA to IRA once a year?

Whoa whoa whoa...did you see this? This little IRS ditty caught me off-guard...

From our ERISA team at the Retirement Learning Center:

Beginning in 2015, IRA owners will no longer be able to complete more than one 60-day rollover in a 12-month period, regardless of the number of IRAs they own. The one-rollover-per-12-month rule does not apply to rollovers between an IRA and a qualified retirement plan (e.g., 401(k), profit sharing, defined benefit, 403(b) plan, etc.) or vice versa.

Hang on there, pal. What? I panicked for a minute, until I reread that last part about not applying to 401k to IRA rollovers.

Here are highlights from the discussion that you should know about:

• The one-rollover-per-12-month rule does not apply to rollovers between an IRA and a qualified retirement plan (e.g., 401(k), profit sharing, defined benefit, 403(b) plan, etc.) or vice versa (Announcement 2014-32).

• Beginning January 1, 2015, an IRA owner may only make one 60-day rollover from a traditional IRA to another (or the same) traditional IRA in any 12-month period, regardless of the number of traditional IRAs the individual may own.

• This same limitation also applies to Roth IRA-to-Roth IRA 60-day rollovers.

• An IRA owner who completes a second 60-day rollover during the same 12-month period creates an excess contribution, which is potentially subject to taxation and penalization if not corrected.

• IRA-to-IRA transfers will remain unlimited. An owner of a traditional IRA may continue to make multiple trustee-to-trustee transfers between IRAs, penalty-free.

• Likewise, owners of traditional IRAs may continue to make unlimited traditional IRA-to-Roth IRA conversions without penalty.

This is strictly for your awareness. For any other questions or questions specific to your situation, please ask your tax advisor. We don't do tax stuff!

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