Merging IRAs

[Retireby45ish]

I have a few little IRAs in a bank and wanted to move them all to fidelity. But I googled qnd read that you can’t move more than one IRA in a year. The language is vague, or I am dense. But is the following ok? Wanted to double check.

IRA 1 at bank A
IRA 2 at bank B
IRA 3 at fidelity.

Move 1 to 3 (directly bank to bank) Move 2 to 3 (issue a check in the name of fidelity) and then I deposit in 60 days. These would occur in the same year. It seems strange that they would keep people from consolidating...here is what I’m reading/referencing.

“You generally can not make more than 1 rollover from the same IRA in within a 1 year period. You also cannot make a rollover during this 1 year from the IrA to which the distribution was rolled over. “

 

[Lewis Clark]

I have a few little IRAs in a bank and wanted to move them all to fidelity. But I googled qnd read that you can’t move more than one IRA in a year. The language is vague, or I am dense. But is the following ok? Wanted to double check.

IRA 1 at bank A
IRA 2 at bank B
IRA 3 at fidelity.

Move 1 to 3 (directly bank to bank) Move 2 to 3 (issue a check in the name of fidelity) and then I deposit in 60 days. These would occur in the same year. It seems strange that they would keep people from consolidating...here is what I’m reading/referencing.

“You generally can not make more than 1 rollover from the same IRA in within a 1 year period. You also cannot make a rollover during this 1 year from the IrA to which the distribution was rolled over. “

I would interpret this as prohibiting a rollover from 1 to 3, and then a second rollover from 1 to 3 in the same year.

Seems to also prohibit a rollover from 3 to 4 in the same year.

But I could be wrong.

 

[pb4uski]

Check with Fidelity, but I see nothing wrong with what you want to do. You can't do more than one rollover contribution (withdrawal and then redeposit within 60 days) every 12 months, but I think there is no limit on trustee-to-trustee transfers.

 

[OldShooter]

... and if your're really worried remember that you can do one in the next couple weeks and one in the new year. I wouldn't dilly-dally, though, as both brokerages have hoops to jump through. Just fill out the form at Fido, specify an in kind transfer (faster), and get the form to them as quickly as possible.

 

[cathy63]

You can do both consolidations at once if you do them as trustee-to-trustee transfers.

See this IRS page: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plan...vers-of-retirement-plan-and-ira-distributions

...
Trustee-to-trustee transfer – If you’re getting a distribution from an IRA, you can ask the financial institution holding your IRA to make the payment directly from your IRA to another IRA or to a retirement plan. No taxes will be withheld from your transfer amount.
...
The one-per year limit does not apply to:

- rollovers from traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs (conversions)
- trustee-to-trustee transfers to another IRA
- IRA-to-plan rollovers
- plan-to-IRA rollovers
- plan-to-plan rollovers

 

[jazz4cash]

... and if your're really worried remember that you can do one in the next couple weeks and one in the new year. I wouldn't dilly-dally, though, as both brokerages have hoops to jump through. Just fill out the form at Fido, specify an in kind transfer (faster), and get the form to them as quickly as possible.

The limit is once in 12 months, not per calendar year so that won't work.

Edit:... or maybe you meant waiting 12 months before doing the other rollover in the new year.

 

[OldShooter]

The limit is once in 12 months, not per calendar year so that won't work.

Edit:... or maybe you meant waiting 12 months before doing the other rollover in the new year.

You're kind but nope. I just didn't read carefully enough to understand the problem/assumed it was a calendar year rule like most of the IRS stuff.