2015 IRA Rollover Rules

 NEW IRA ROLLOVER RULES!

The IRS recently announced that beginning as early as January 1, 2015, taxpayers can make only one rollover from an IRA to another (or the same) IRA in any 12-month period, regardless of the number of IRAs they own.

If a taxpayer takes any distribution from their traditional IRA, they generally have 60 days to deposit the funds back into the same or another traditional IRA to avoid having to treat the distribution as gross income. This is commonly known as a rollover. The current "waiting period between rollovers" rule applies to a single IRA; account; however the new rule will apply on a taxpayer basis, regardless of the number of IRA accounts held by the taxpayer.

Under current rollover rules, the 1-year period begins on the date you receive the IRA distribution, not on the date you roll it over into an IRA. We do not yet know if the "12-month period" mentioned in the IRS announcement will be measured the same way.

No limit on transfers: There are no limits on the number of direct trustee-to-trustee transfers that may be executed in any particular time period. A direct transfer from one custodian/trustee to another is not a rollover and does not violate the one-rollover-per-year rule.