Benefit of the Roth IRA, Tax Savings Benfits
A Roth IRA account can help you to manage your income taxes in a variety of ways. This article explores a number of these tax-savings benefits.
First, qualified distributions from a Roth IRA are paid free of federal income taxes. Reducing your federal income taxes in retirement can potentially free up a greater portion of your retirement income for your living expenses, as well as other discretionary spending such as travel or leisure activities. This preferred tax treatment also extends to the distributions that are paid to your beneficiaries as well.
Additionally, a Roth IRA comes with no minimum distribution requirements. Unlike a traditional IRA, a Roth IRA can give you greater control over withdrawals from your retirement savings. You can direct exactly when you want to take money out of a Roth IRA and how much you want to withdraw. In fact, you may never have to take a distribution from a Roth IRA, if you have alternate sources for your retirement income needs.
A Roth IRA can also lower the taxes you pay on your Social Security benefits. Because money you take out of a Roth IRA does not count as income when you figure the taxable portion of your Social Security income. However, withdrawals from a traditional IRA count as income, and can potentially increase the portion of your Social Security benefits that are subject to federal income taxes.
There a few additional things to consider. To receive to future tax-free treatment on distributions, you must have reached the age of 59½. Additionally, you are required to satisfy a 5-year holding period requirement that is imposed upon each contribution of assets to the Roth account. Even though the withdrawals for Roth accounts can come out tax-free to you at retirement (and to your beneficiaries), your contributions to the account are paid with after-tax money. Granted qualified withdrawals come out free of federal income taxes, state income taxes may apply depending upon the tax rules of the state where you reside.
As previously mentioned, you are required to pay federal income taxes on amounts converted from a traditional IRA to a Roth account. However, the federal tax rules do allow you to spread out your conversion over multiple years through partial account conversions. This can help you to spread out your income taxes on the conversion over multiple years.
The Roth IRA can be an effective wealth-building tool and can also be a tax-efficient strategy for retirees. A brochure outlining the benefits of the Roth IRA can tell you more.
