Possible DQOTD: Vanguard Traditional IRA Capital Gains

[Trooper]

I was logged into our account on Vanguard's website today, and nearly soiled myself.

I was checking my YTD capital gains in our taxable brokerage account and happened to look at the same in my traditional IRA account. Due to exchanging some funds in January of this year in order to rebalance, I see a large unexpected capital gain. I started worrying and wondering "did I screw up and accidentally withdraw the funds out of the IRA instead of moving them"?

I then looked at the activity in the account and saw that the January transactions were labeled as either "Sell (exchange)" or "Buy (exchange)".

This means that the gain will not be taxable, correct? If not Vanguard sure scared me!

 

[MarieIG]

I was logged into our account on Vanguard's website today, and nearly soiled myself.

I was checking my YTD capital gains in our taxable brokerage account and happened to look at the same in my traditional IRA account. Due to exchanging some funds in January of this year in order to rebalance, I see a large unexpected capital gain. I started worrying and wondering "did I screw up and accidentally withdraw the funds out of the IRA instead of moving them"?

I then looked at the activity in the account and saw that the January transactions were labeled as either "Sell (exchange)" or "Buy (exchange)".

This means that the gain will not be taxable, correct? If not Vanguard sure scared me!

Do not worry. You are correct.

The funds in the IRA will not be taxed until withdrawn from the IRA.

 

[Trooper]

Do not worry. You are correct.

The funds in the IRA will not be taxed until withdrawn from the IRA.

Thanks. I just wish Vanguard would display the CGs differently (or not at all) to avoid confusion.

 

[SecondCor521]

If you go to the upper right search bar and type in "YTD tax" you should find a link to:

Vanguard

taxcenter.cdn.web.vanguard.com

which will, as it's name implies, show you your YTD tax activity. For me, it only shows my taxable account and does not show IRA activity. The plus is that it will also show you dividends and CGDs in addition to capital gains.

 

[MarieIG]

When I log into Vanguard, I see the capital gains and losses on all of my holdings (also daily gains and losses) - with the exception of the long-term capital gain of VTSAX which I hold in my Roth, also the largest holding in the account. (I actually would like to see that one.)

 

[COcheesehead]

Fidelity does the same. You can see cap gains in all your accounts, but if you go to YTD tax info, you’ll see only what could be taxed.

 

[orbops]

The unfortunate part of capital gains in a tIRA is that when the money is taken, it is all ordinary income. So no 15% capital gain tax.

 

[imnontrad]

All money in a traditional IRA (HSA, 401K, etc) is not taxable until withdrawn - and at your regular income tax rate, not capital gains rate.