tax bleg

[gusl]

I think I haven't been claiming my 401(k) contributions for the past several years. Every year, my employer sends me a W2 and my bank sends me a 1099, but my IRAs never send me anything. Am I supposed to keep track of my yearly contributions by myself? How many years can I put this off, before I can claim them all at once?

Comments

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

by IRA, I mean the 401(k) for my old job. I haven't been putting money there anymore, but I am getting dividends (or losses, depending on the year).

[gwillen.livejournal.com]

Interesting. And you don't get 1099s for that? Are the dividends/interest in excess of $10/yr?

[gwillen.livejournal.com]

Note that I don't really know what I'm talking about, and am guesstimating based on limited knowledge. But if you do figure this out I'd be curious to know the official answer.

[xuande.livejournal.com]

I'm no tax professional, but I was under the impression IRAs that aren't Roth IRAs are tax-deferred, so you don't pay any taxes on dividends until you start withdrawing, at which point the whole withdrawal counts as taxable income.

[bhudson.livejournal.com]

That's a traditional IRA; Roth IRAs you pay the tax up-front and no tax upon withdrawal. 401(k) is for all practical purposes a traditional IRA.

In all cases, you pay taxes either as the money goes in or as the money comes out, but not while the money sits in the account.