401K Withdrawal Penalty and Its Solutions
S.
C § 401.
These types of accounts are provided by employers to their employees to save money for securing their finances post retirement from the job.
Withdrawal of funds from this account is allowed only after retirement from the job.
Penalty condition But as it should be, there are certain legal regulations surrounding the withdrawal of such accounts as it is treated specially by the employer as well as internal revenue department.
They allow tax exempted sum to be deposited in this account till the distribution from 401K happens.
The clause of 401K withdrawal penalty is defined under a single condition.
That is, in case the employee withdraws the funds at a time when his age at that instant is either equal to or lesser than 59&1/2 years, he's liable to deposit 10% more as tax returns to the internal revenue department.
The decimal amount of this 10% will depend on the amount of money withdrawn from the 401K at that instant.
But there are certain exception conditions which may waive the tax penalty for the person concerned.
401K withdrawal penalty can be waived only if: - The employee is older than 55years & has already taken retirement from the job.
- He has acquired some permanent physical or mental disability.
- The motive of his withdrawal is found to be in some relation to qualified domestic relations order which is part of a divorce agreement.
- The employee dies & accordingly the amount is to be rolled over to the beneficiary as agreed upon or the spouse.
- The medical expenses incurred by the employee are somewhat in excess of 7.
5% of his adjusted gross income.
What to do if you're bound to withdraw irrespective of penalty The first thing that has to be done is to calculate an appropriate amount to withdraw.
This is in order to avoid getting into excess tax bracket of the internal revenue system.
The general federal tax on American citizens is found to be fluctuating between 15 to 35 percent of their income.
Your withdrawal amount should be such that you can take the maximum benefit of minimal tax penalty of 10%.
Moreover, you must exclude the previous year's tax returns so that the penalty tax amount & general withdrawal amount tax don't get jumbled up.
Next precautionary step should be to check whether you qualify under any exemption condition if that has got overlooked in the process.
When can you withdraw from 401K without penalty? This condition can be a reality only under one situation.
If you're taking a loan against the 401K deposits for certain legitimate purposes, you would be lucky enough not to be taxed as you're paying back yourself, as simple as that.
But the loan amount is limited to half the sum accumulated in 401K up to the mark of $50,000 with repayment period being 5years post granting of the loan.