[Jillian]

I understand I can withdrawal Roth IRA contributions before 59.5 years old as long as I’ve had the Roth for 5 years.

I’d like to understand how this works in more detail from people familiar with this process.

I’ve had a Roth IRA for almost 20 years now.

That said, I move brokerages every few years for bonuses and just moved my retirement accounts (traditional and roth) to Robinhood earlier this year.

Would this disqualify me since the account itself is only a few months old?

The other question I have is in regards to figuring out my original contributions.

all of my contributions were early in my career (over 15 years ago).

For several years I maxed the contribution limit out (it was maybe around $4-5K/year back then if my memory serves me correctly?) and then was no longer eligible so it’s just been growing since then.

I have all of my old tax returns, is there a box I can check on my returns from the time period in question?

Or another way to figure this out given I don’t have brokerage account statements handy from 2008-2012ish.

Is proving your contribution amount only an issue if you are audited by the IRS or will I need to prove the initial contributions evidence in order to do the withdrawal to begin with?

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.

[Adam]

Why are you trying to pull out contributions from the Roth in the first place?

[Juliana]

Not to worry! The financial institutions you have had your Roth IRA accounts with over the years should have been reporting your contribution amounts directly to the IRS each year when they submit Form 5498.

So the IRS will have your contribution amount on file without your having to do anything.

If you log into your account on irs.gov, you can download your Wage & Income Transcripts going back about 10 years.

(If you haven’t created an account yet, just be forewarned that the ID.me verification process is a bit of a slog!) And yes, the 5-year clock doesn’t reset if you roll a Roth IRA from one institution to another.

[Philip]

You can withdraw Roth contributions 5 minutes after you put them in, if you want to.

Earnings have the 5 year waiting period.

All withdrawals are considered contributions until they are all gone, then what is left is earnings.

That’s why you are required to keep track of your contributions…

[Rick]

The all roth all the time mantra glosses right by this one – how do you prove you have completed (long ago) the first of the 5 year rules.

Good news is the irs requires nearly zero proof on this.

And yes you may have to over verify this one day, like a pita mortgage lender makes you do to get a mortgage, but as you describe it, you are just fine.

Don’t stress get back to saving and investing.

[Lexi]

Robinhood might claw back the bonus if you withdraw before 5 years depending on what were the terms of whatever you signed up for..

The 5 year period for ROTH IRA I think carries forward to the new brokerage from the date you first opened that type of account..

[Author]

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