Talk:TSP withdrawals

Reader feedback: I am confused by the TSP's e...
66.68.60.202 posted this comment on 4 December 2013 (view all feedback).

"I am confused by the TSP's explanation on how to take MRD's in a Non Roth IRA. The Wiki in its current form does not address this."

Any thoughts?

Blbarnitz 02:19, 4 December 2013 (CST)

I suspect the poster is confused about whether RMD can be satisfied by withdrawing from any account type. For example, suppose one has $200,000 in the traditional (non-Roth) TSP and $50,000 in a traditional IRA, for a total of $250,000. If age 70, the distribution factor is 27.4, so divide $250,000 by 27.4, you get $9,124 total. Can you withdraw all of this from traditional IRA, or all from TSP, or a blend? Or must you withdraw from each account type independently and separately, e.g. from IRA ($50,000/27.4 = $1,824) and TSP ($200,000/27.4 = $7,299)?

I've googled this and get the impression that the TSP will distribute RMD to you no matter what, meaning you cannot take your all of your RMD from your IRA (e.g. in the example above, take $9,124 from the IRA and $0 from TSP).

The following posts suggest you must take RMD from the TSP, even if you also have IRAs:
 * http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=126145 (see 2nd post in this thread from manwithnoname)
 * http://blogs.federaltimes.com/federal-money/2013/08/08/rmd-and-iras/
 * http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-smarter-mutual-fund-investor/2011/12/08/unraveling-required-minimum-distributions
 * https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1913615-how-to-take-minimum-required-distribution-where-one-holds-both-ira-and-federal-tsp-accounts).

I believe where the confusion starts on this topic is that within one's traditional IRAs, one must calculate RMD across all of one's IRAs, but you can take the RMD from any or all IRAs in any combination you choose. It appears that this principle does not, however, reach across to the TSP as well.

Also, there are a few posts on the internet that seem to be wrong, or confusing, and suggest you might be able to take all RMDs from IRAs: --Hoppy08520 08:30, 9 December 2013 (CST)
 * http://blogs.federaltimes.com/federal-money/2013/10/22/tsp-and-iras/
 * https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/ret_minimum_distributions

Partial Withdrawal of Roth TSP only
I added the section "Partial Withdrawal of Roth TSP only" on the main page. I'm looking for someone to verify that this maneuver would work. If anyone thinks this technique would work, then please remove the Template:Refimprove section. I put the "Refimprove" out of a sense of caution -- I don't want to make a bad recommendation. Thanks.

--Hoppy08520 09:41, 17 February 2015 (CST)


 * The section was deleted by Grabiner on 23 October 2022‎ (Updated because TSP Modernization Act is now effective; deleted section on Partial Withdrawal of Roth TSP only). See: Difference between revisions of "TSP withdrawals" --LadyGeek 20:08, 23 October 2022 (EDT)