Assuming your income is such that you qualify for a Roth IRA and your company makes some kind of matching contribution to a portion of your 401K contributions, the order of contribution should be as follows: a. Contribute enough to your 401K so you take advantage of the company match – this is found money and should always be taken advantage of. b. Contribute the maximum amount you can to your Roth IRA. Different calculations have pretty much shown that if you have a 10-15 year time horizon a Roth is better than contributions to a deferred vehicle like a 401K because you forgo the tax deduction upfront to be able to take all account balances out tax free (if you have held it the longer of five years or when you turn 59 1/2). Since tax rates in the future will only go up, having tax free income is definitely an advantage. c. If you still want to contribute more to retirement, go ahead and max out your 401K contributions. This is the best way to maximize what you will receive from your retirement plans. Call or email if you have questions. For financial, accounting and tax musings, You can count on [...]
Last Day To File Taxes On Time
Remember if you are on extension to file your personal income taxes you have to file October 15. It will be best if you efile to make sure it gets accepted on time. If you owe taxes, don’t blow this! Depending on what forms are in your return you may only owe interest until October 15, but if you don’t at least file, the IRS will tack an additional 25% late filing penalty on your return! Unless you have money to burn, get this done. If your efiled return was rejected by the IRS but you filed by October 15, you have 5 business days to re – efile your return and 10 business days if you refile on paper. For financial, accounting and tax musings, You can count on us to count for you! email: bstonercpa@sbcglobal.net phone: 818-317-6035 Website: www.briantstonercpa.com https://twitter.com/bstonercpa
Traditional and Roth IRA Contribution and Income Limits for 2013
If you are planning on contributing to a traditional or Roth IRA in 2013, you need to know about the contribution and income limits, first to see if you can contribute, then to see how much. First of all, you need to have earned income of at least 100% of your IRA contribution. If single, you have to have $5500 in earned income, if married you need $11000 to make maximum IRA contributions, both for traditional and Roth. If you are over 50, you need another $1000 in earned income if single, $2000 if married to qualify for the catch up contribution. If you are planning to contribute to a Roth IRA, you can contribute $5500 if single and $11000 if you are married. Plus you can each contribute another $1000 if you are over 50 (the ’catchup contribution’.) The only requirement for a Roth IRA is your Modified Adjusted Gross Income – if single, head of household or married filing separately (and you didn’t live with your spouse) you must have MAGI under $127,000, if married filing joint your MAGI must be under $188,000 to qualify for any type of Roth IRA contribution. If you are married filing separately and you live with your spouse, your MAGI needs to [...]