Craig B. wrote:

- quote -

The "I" in IRA stands for "Individual". There's no such thing
as a joint IRA.

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"Craig B." <cbrenner[at]tbcg.com> wrote:

- quote -

Craig,

While you may have both contributed to the one IRA, the I in
IRA stands for INDIVIDUAL. That means the account is in
only one of your names.

The $10,000 limit is per person; each person can withdraw
only from their own IRA. In your case, if only one of you
has an IRA, your limit is $10,000. You cannot withdraw
$20,000 from one IRA.

Barry Picker, CPA/PFS, CFP

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Craig B. wrote:

- quote -

To cut to the chase, if there is only ONE IRA, whose is it?
No such thing as a joint IRA. Thus the limit is indeed
10,000$.

Cheer$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA in LA

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- quote -

Whoops! An IRA is an INDIVIDUAL Retirement Account. So
there is no married type IRA. You would each have had to
contribute to a separate IRA. If you have over contributed
to your individual IRA then you have a different problem
which you need to correct.

Mary Ann Thomas, EA in AZ

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cbrenner[at]tbcg.com (Craig B.) wrote:

- quote -

How can you have joint IRA? I'm pretty sure that you have
to maintain separate IRA's by SSN.

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Craig B. wrote:

- quote -

Your confusion appears to stem from a misunderstanding of
what an IRA is. IRA stands for INDIVIDUAL Retirement Account
(emphasis is mine). A taxpayer may contribute to his/her own
IRA if that individual has earned income. The maximum
contribution is the lesser of $3000 ($3500 if age 50) or
earned income. The law allows a married couple to use each
other's earned income for purposes of making a contribution
to either of their individual accounts. In other words, one
spouse can have earned income of $6000 and each spouse could
then contribute $3000 to their individual accounts. One
spouse could not contribute $6000 to their own account. If
the latter is what you have been doing, then you have been
making excess contributions and are subject to penalties.
If this is the case, you need to correct this as soon as
possible.

The rules for the exceptions to the 10% penalty are for a
taxpayer's individual account. Therefore, if a married
couple both buy a home together and they both meet the
definition of a first time buyer, they both could withdraw
$10,000 from their individual accounts and avoid the 10%
additional tax.

--

Alan
http://taxtopics.net

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cbrenner[at]tbcg.com (Craig B.) wrote:

- quote -

There is NO SUCH animal as a "joint IRA", it either belongs
to you OR your spouse. The "I" in IRA means INDIVIDUAL.
There also is no "maximum for a married couple", it is
$3,000 per individual account ($3,500 each if you are 50 or
over). If you have somehow managed to get the custodian to
accept $6,000 for one account, that will have to be
corrected quickly or suffer penalties. Before you go any
further, you SHOULD read the qualifications and limits for
traditional IRAs, as discussed in IRS Pub 590. You have some
major misunderstandings to overcome.

Assuming you each, separately meet the qualifications for
"first time homebuyer" and have separate IRA accounts, you
each can withdraw up to $10,000 penalty-free for your home
purchase. This is a lifetime limit and cannot be withdrawn
from only one account.

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Craig B. <cbrenner[at]tbcg.com> wrote:

- quote -

An IRA is an INDIVIDUAL Retirement Arrangement, and not a
joint entity.

First thing you need to do is see who contributed to it and
make sure it is in one name only. Second, make sure no
more than the maximum annual contribution was made and no
more than one of you rolled over 401k, IRA or other deferred
accounts into this IRA.

If not, you may need to take a corrective distribution from
the account as penalties build up each year you don't
correct this.

As to your question, assuming each of you have an INDIVIDUAL
Retirement Arrangement, 10,000 is the most one individual
can use to purchase a first home without paying the
additional 10% tax for early distribution. The other can
also take up to 10,000 for a total of 20,000.

__
Art Kamlet ArtKamlet [at] AOL.com Columbus OH K2PZH

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Newsgroups: misc.taxes.moderated,misc.invest.financial-plan
Moderator: NOT CROSS-POSTED

I'm not 100% clear on the "First time buyer" provision for the $10,000
withdrawal from a traditional IRA. It states that a married couple can
each withdraw (penalty free but not tax-free) up to $10,000 each from
their IRA.

Here's my point of confusion. If a married couple wanted to withdraw
the maximum combined amount of $20,000, must they draw the funds from
two separate IRA's (each under the own name) or can they withdraw the
$20,000 from their single IRA?

In our case, we only have one IRA, which we jointly contribute to
(under the maximum for a married couple) so any "first time home
buyer" withdrawal would need to come from this account. I was hoping
we could take the maximum of $20,000 from this one account.

Thanks,

Craig

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