Roth Rollover question

[SumDay]

I'm considering rolling my 401(k) over to Vanguard as my prior employer's recordkeeper is awful, and I'll be forced to move it anyway when I turn 70.5.

We were able to make Roth contributions, in addition to any pre-tax contributions. I'm assuming those Roth funds and a small after-tax chunk I have can roll into a Roth IRA, separate from the rest of the rollover?

Has anyone done this? Obviously I'll be asking Vanguard for the specifics, but just wondering if it's possible, and if there are any pitfalls.

 

[SecondCor521]

I haven't, but I believe current law says you can do exactly as you describe. You may have to have your 401(k) custodian send two separate checks. Note that your custodian will probably send the two checks to you to endorse over to Vanguard.

No pitfalls I know of. Make sure of course that the check amounts line up with your understanding of your account balances and that Vanguard deposits the correct amounts into the correct accounts. If you wanted to be super careful, you could do them one at a time: open a Vanguard traditional IRA and send in your traditional 401(k) balance check, then when that's done open a Vanguard Roth IRA and send in your Roth 401(k) balance check.

 

[deserat]

I just did this - I had several employer Vanguard accounts and had one of them rolled over to my personal account. It was a 401A which had both tax deferred and after-tax components. The tax deferred portion I had rolled into my SEP IRA and then the after-tax I had rolled into my Roth. Vangaurd made me open a 'transitional' Money Market IRA ?!? but int he end, everything came out just the way I wanted.

I still have an employer 403B at Vanguard and will probably back-door Roth those contributions to my personal Roth over the years. My other large tax deferred is at TSP - will probably have to roll that one totally over to the SEP IRA and then back door Roth those over time. Kind of bummed on that as I like the fee structure at TSP for plan administration.....