401K and taxes

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2006
401K and taxes
5
Sun, 02-01-2009 - 11:15am

I have a 401K and and an IRA account ....I have contributed to them throughout the year and (for the 401K) my employer has contributed.


Does anyone know .... if I have not bought or sold any of the stocks....do I have to claim anything on my taxes? I.E. do I need to be waiting for a form from them before

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-20-2005
In reply to: smoochdog
Sun, 02-01-2009 - 12:47pm

For the 401(k) the amount should already be deducted from your gross pay on your W-2 since it's not taxable income.

Wedding
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-12-2007
In reply to: smoochdog
Sun, 02-01-2009 - 5:46pm

If I understand your question correctly, the answer is no, you don't need any paperwork to file your taxes.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-23-2007
In reply to: smoochdog
Sun, 02-01-2009 - 7:44pm

Michelle:

It sounds as though your 401K deductions are listed on your W-2. Are your IRA deductions listed there as well? If not, you should have something to verify these deductions as well as any courses you've taken this year and mortgage interest from your new home. I think places have until 1/31 to get things out, which is probably why so many of my missing documents came just yesterday. You definitely want to list those deductions!

Dee









iVillage Member
Registered: 08-04-2008
In reply to: smoochdog
Mon, 02-02-2009 - 3:21am

Michelle -

Both the 401k and the IRA are retirement accounts and classified as such by the IRS. Any money you put into either of these defined retirement tax programs is not to be taxed until you take it out = presumably upon retirement when your income would be lower. The gains and losses based upon the investment choices you have made, also are postponed until retirement.

Good thing about these vehicles is that they reduce your taxes today, because the amounts you set aside in them does not count as income today, but when you actually remove them, hopefully in retirement. Gains and losses are also not taxed until then as well.

Bad thing is that we probably all face much higher taxes in retirement based on the wonderful govermment spending that is going on today.

Your employer should have deducted your 401k contributions and it would show on the boxes in your W2.

If you self-funded your IRA, you should have paperwork from the place you made your investment and add that to your tax files you must save for 7 years. You would then enter that amount in your IRA reductions on tax forms.




iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2003
In reply to: smoochdog
Thu, 02-05-2009 - 4:42pm

Hi there,
I just wanted to let you know that Carmen Wong Ulrich from CNBC has answered your question in her latest iVillage Video.
I hope this helps answer your question.


http://video.ivillage.com/player/?id=993521