IRA question

You are not required to start withdrawing money until you are 70 1/2. At that point you are required to take at least a minimum annual withdrawal amount actuarially based on your age - the formula is aimed at making your funds last as long as you do.

Is that an answer to your question? I'm not really sure what your question is.

Thank you for your reply.

My questions are around the fact that I am 59 1/2 years and if the situation changes because of that. Please see below my questions:

1. If I contribute to a SEP IRA (and get the tax break), since I am already 59 1/2 years old, is there a waiting period to withdraw the funds? and
2. Is there any tax advantage to doing so?

You can withdraw the money without penalty, but that doesn't mean without taxes. You would pay income tax on the withdrawn amounts, just not the 10% additional penalty.

Why do you want to withdraw all of the money at once?

I don't actually know the answer to this particular question.

But assuming you could withdraw immediately, I'm not sure what the point of contributing to the SEP IRA and then immediately withdrawing the funds would be. You would still need to pay income tax on the withdrawal.

What are you trying to accomplish?

There is no mandatory minimum waiting period before you withdraw the SEP-IRA funds once you are 59 1/2. The only tax advantage would be if your tax bracket drops in a later year and you delay withdrawing the SEP-IRA until your tax bracket drops. Of course, you will be betting that Congress doesn't increase the tax rates in the interim.

Ira Smilovitz