Can you be taxed for changing retirement funds?
Q. I recently changed my IRA from Ameriprise to Vanguard. If I sell the mutual funds, which are in American Funds, and put all of the money into a Vanguard target retirement fund, will that cause me to owe taxes on the sale amount? I’m 73, retired, and have been taking required minimum distributions.—Linda Phillips, via e-mail
A. If you did a trustee-to-trustee transfer from Ameriprise to Vanguard—or from any one financial company to another—there are no tax consequences. Now that your IRA is at Vanguard but invested in the American Funds portfolio, you can move the assets into a Vanguard target retirement fund or any other Vanguard fund, again without tax consequences. Required minimum distributions have no bearing on the IRA transfer to a new custodian, or on the movement of IRA assets from one fund to another.
For related information check or Retirement Planning Guide and Investing Center.
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This article also appeared in the January 2015 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.
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