recording an IRA Maintenance Fee?

"D T W .../\..." wrote

Sell .5 units of the fund for $10. Remove the resulting $10 cash from the account with a MiscExp transaction for $10, categorized to "IRA Maintenance Fee" (or whatever category you choose for that purpose).

Thanks for the reply John. I assumed that would be the way to do it - But, the radio button "record the proceeds", won't allow : To this accounts cash balance. It will allow to the same or some other account on the drop down. I have a cash account. Would you transact it there?

thanks again

To maintain the value of your IRA you should be paying from outside of the IRA and not selling IRA assets to pay fees.

I wasn't given the option. It was an auto deduction from my account which I access by website only.

"D T W .../\..." wrote

Are you saying you have a "linked cash account" for the IRA investment account? Or did you originally setup the account as a Single Mutual Fund account then "convert" it to an IRA account? Personally, I would not want either arrangement for a retirement account.

In any event, I think you could probably remove the cash from the cash account with a withdrawal paid to the mutual fund company and categorized to your "IRA fee" category.

Hi, John.

I agree, too. As you know, I've often disclaimed much expertise in IRAs and other retirement funds because so much has changed since I retired about 15 years ago. But the rule then was that fee payments made from the fund were not currently deductible; the only tax "benefit" was that the eventual retirement payout would be smaller, reducing the post-retirement tax bill a little. Plan expenses paid from "outside" funds could be deducted on Schedule A of the taxpayer's Form 1040 for the year of the payment.

I haven't heard of any change in this rule, but the taxpayer should always check to be sure it is still current.

RC

Subject to the 2% limitation, however, right?! Not deductible per se until you hit the 2%.

Hi, Andrew.

Yes, subject to all the usual limits, including the fact that the standard deduction may make the deduction worthless to some taxpayers in some years.

RC

As well as it's unusual (at least for most of the working stiffs I know that work for someone else!) to ever hit the 2% limit for these things!

John - Thanks for this information. That is the way that I completed the transaction for the IRA fee that I received last week.

Thanks, Jim L.