Q: I have a question concerning the following paragraph from your Feb. 20 column in Federal Times: I find it disappointing that it appears that you will not be able to manage, or withdraw, money selectively between the two options. Your contribution allocation and any interfund transfers you direct will apply to both options. Any withdrawals will be taken, pro rata, from both options. You may, however, split a rollover distribution between traditional and Roth IRA accounts. Specifically, I am puzzled by the statement in the second sentence. As I understand the general concept with “tax deferred” individual retirement accounts…
Author Mike Miles
Mike Miles
Mike Miles is a Certified Financial Planner licensee and principal adviser for Variplan LLC, an independent fiduciary in Vienna, Virginia. Email your financial questions to fedexperts@federaltimes.com and view his blog at money.federaltimes.com.
Q: I have looked all over the Thrift Savings Plan website and cannot find the button to push that says I am retiring and want to start collecting my money. I am almost 62 and intend to retire in 191 days. I have figured out that I want to begin receiving my money on a monthly basis and can only change that election once a year. The online calculator tells me that amount is good for 60 years and four months. It does not tell me how far off the minimum distribution I am. But where is the button? A:…
Q: I have two Roth questions. First, I max out my TSP contributions and would contribute more if allowed. Am I right to view Roth contributions as a good means of essentially increasing my retirement contributions by pre-paying the taxes I’ll pay in retirement? Second, after I retire, will I be allowed to transfer the Roth balance of my TSP account to an existing Roth IRA and leave my non-Roth balance in the TSP? A: “Yes” to the first question and “It appears so” to the second.
Q: I work for the postal service. If there is an early out I would jump at the chance. I would like to use the funds in my TSP to pay off our house and all our other bills. I am 53, my husband is 57. If I transfer the funds to an IRA in his name, when could they be withdrawn without paying a 10-percent penalty. Is this even possible? A: You can’t transfer or roll over your TSP funds to another person’s IRA.
Q: Monthly payments are considered a full withdrawal, but are they still in TSP and eligible to be invested in any of the accounts that are offered where interest can be accrued from them? A: Monthly payments are taken, pro-rata, from your invested TSP funds each month. Money in your TSP account remains invested, according to your direction, until it is distributed.
Q: I’m curious as to why you are unconvinced that paying tax on Roth TSP contributions now and then withdrawing your balance tax-free is not necessarily a better option than deferring tax payments on traditional TSP contributions and then withdrawing the balance at a lower tax rate. I used the following assumptions: Annual contributions – $17,000 Tax rate – working 18 percent Tax rate – retirement 14 percent Interest rate (all years) 6 percent Compounding periods 26 Years of service 25 I show identical balances after 25 years. I then assume 35 years of equal monthly withdrawals (6 percent annual…
Q: I will retire at 48 with 25 years in law enforcement. I will also want to start receiving monthly checks from my TSP. I know I will have to pay the 10-percent penalty because of my age. Is this a one-time penalty or do I have to pay this every year until I reach age 56? A: You’ll be subject to the early withdrawal penalty until you reach age 59 1/2 unless you qualify for one of the exceptions listed on Page 4 of the notice at https://www.tsp.gov/PDF/formspubs/octax92-32.pdf.
Q: I plan to take the required minimum distribution from my Thrift Savings Plan each year starting the year after I turn 70 1/2. What forms do I submit and to whom? A: You submit Form TSP-70 according to the instructions on the form.
Q: I’m currently contributing to the 2050L fund of the Thrift Savings Plan. Is it possible to transfer my TSP funds to a Roth individual retirement account without getting penalized? I don’t want to touch the money, I just want to invest in precious metals instead of Fortune 500 companies and small businesses. A: If you are age 59 1/2 or older, you may take one age-based in-service withdrawal from your TSP account. Check with a CPA (ideally, the one who will be preparing your tax return for the year) for advice on converting it to a Roth IRA.
Q: Both my wife and I contributed to a Thrift Savings Plan and an individual retirement account for the 2011 tax year. We filed jointly. My wife maxed out her TSP contributions, but I did not because I was hired midyear. We both maxed out our IRA contributions at $6,000: her to a Roth, me to a traditional. When using an electronic filing program, the software would not include our IRA, but it did so when I ran a fictitious sample filed as a single. Why did the program not deduct the IRA? Is a simultaneous deduction for TSP and…