Rollover Question

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Topic Author
bogledesk
Posts: 32
Joined: Mon Jun 19, 2017 11:55 pm

Rollover Question

Post by bogledesk »

This is a little confusing, so please bear with me.

Several years ago I rolled over an "old 401k" from a previous employer into my current employer's 401k.

Earlier this year, I rolled those "old 401k" funds out of my current employer's 401k into my Traditional IRA (because I wanted to invest in some funds not offered in my current employer's 401k).

I recently became aware of the "Backdoor Roth", so now I want to roll my entire Traditional IRA (which includes the "old 401k" funds and previous contributions from many years ago) into my current employer's 401k.

Obviously, I wish I had never rolled those "old 401k" funds out of my current employer's 401k only to put them right back into my current employer's 401k only a few months later. But we live and learn.

So my question this: Does anyone see any problems with doing this? Is it OK to do two rollovers within 12 months? Or within the same calendar year? Any other issues I should be aware of?

Thanks for you help with this.
Alan S.
Posts: 12629
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 6:07 pm
Location: Prescott, AZ

Re: Rollover Question

Post by Alan S. »

There are no problems in doing this as long as the new plan accepts IRA rollovers from non rollover IRA accounts.

The one roll over per 12 month period limit only applies to IRA to IRA rollovers. Not only would the proposed rollover not be between two IRA accounts, the prior rollover to the IRA was probably a direct rollover rather than a 60 day rollover.
veyron
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2017 11:28 am

Re: Rollover Question

Post by veyron »

If your goal is to just get this money into a Roth account, why wouldn't you just do a Roth conversion from your traditional IRA into a Roth IRA instead of rolling it back into a Traditional 401K?
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Earl Lemongrab
Posts: 7270
Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2014 1:14 am

Re: Rollover Question

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

veyron wrote:If your goal is to just get this money into a Roth account, why wouldn't you just do a Roth conversion from your traditional IRA into a Roth IRA instead of rolling it back into a Traditional 401K?
The OP would owe taxes on the pretax amount. Rolling that into the plan defers the taxes and allows tax-free Backdoor Roth.
Topic Author
bogledesk
Posts: 32
Joined: Mon Jun 19, 2017 11:55 pm

Re: Rollover Question

Post by bogledesk »

Thanks for your help, everyone. Much appreciated.
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