This information is for general educational purposes only.  Individuals should consult with their financial adviser or legal counsel to determine how rollover regulations affect their unique situations.

Generally, an IRA rollover is a tax-free distribution to you of cash or other assets from one retirement plan that you contribute to another retirement plan.  The contribution to the second retirement plan is called a rollover contribution.

This article outlines the types of IRA rollover transactions, rules and conditions, IB's Rollover Certification form, and rollover transaction details.  Select from list below for details:

Rules & Conditions

Rollover Certification

Eligible Rollover Transactions

Ineligible Transactions

Rules & Conditions

Prior to completing an IRA Rollover transaction, we recommend that you review the rules and conditions surrounding eligibility.  Interactive Brokers can accept as a tax-free transaction an eligible rollover distribution as defined under the Internal Revenue Code.  Included in this article is information about eligible transactions, as well as the Interactive Brokers  IRA Rollover Certification form.

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IRA Rollover Certification

Before accepting an IRA rollover transaction into an Interactive Brokers LLC IRA, we require that you review your eligibility for the rollover and certify your understanding of the rollover rules and conditions.  The IRA Rollover Form includes the IRA Rollover Certification. 

The Fund Transfers page within the Account Management lets you notify IB of an IRA Rollover deposit of funds into your account.  Select the Funding tab in the header link and choose Deposit Funds in the Transaction list.   In the Method list, select Direct Rollover.  Complete, sign, and return both forms to the Interactive Brokers address listed on the form.

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Rollover Transactions

Two types of IRA rollover transactions exist with different guidelines and delivery methods:

1. Direct Rollover - a transfer of assets from an employer-sponsored retirement plan directly to an eligible IRA.  If you choose to receive the distribution first, then you may roll over the funds to the IRA within 60 days.
2. Indirect Rollover - a distribution from an IRA paid to you, followed by a rollover into another IRA within 60 days.  The IRS allows an indirect rollover of each IRA's funds once during a twelve-month period.

(Note:  A distributions directly from one IRA trustee to another IRA trustee is a Trustee-to-Trustee transfer.  It is not affected by the twelve-month waiting period.)

For additional information about rollovers, visit Understanding Rollovers.  See also IRS Publication 590, Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), pages 18-26 for more specific guidelines on moving retirement plan assets.

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Eligible Rollover Transactions

Almost any distribution from a qualified plan can be rolled over to an IRA.  Your retirement account may be eligible for one of the following eligible rollover transactions.

Traditional IRA or SIMPLE IRA to Traditional IRA Rollover

• Funds or property deposited less than 60 days of receipt by the IRA owner from the previous IRA
• During the preceding 12 months, no other distributions from the distributing IRA were rolled over
• The assets involved in the transaction have not been rolled over in the past 12 months
• Required Minimum Distribution satisfied (if over 70 1/2)
• For SIMPLE IRAs, after two years from the first contribution

Roth IRA to Roth IRA Rollover

• Funds or property deposited less than 60 days of receipt by the IRA owner from the previous IRA
• During the preceding 12 months, no other distributions from the distributing IRA were rolled over
• The assets involved in the transaction have not been rolled over in the past 12 months

Rollover or Direct Rollover from Qualified Plan into a Traditional IRA

• Eligible participant (participant, spouse beneficiary, or former spouse due to divorce)
• Funds or property deposited less than 60 days of receipt by the participant from the previous plan
• Funds received from an eligible qualified retirement plan
• Required Minimum Distribution satisfied (if over 70 1/2)
• Consists of funds, property, or proceeds from the sale of property distributed from the qualified plan
• All of the funds are eligible to be rolled over

Roth IRA to Roth IRA Rollover

• Funds or property deposited less than 60 days of receipt by the IRA owner from the previous IRA
• Required Minimum Distribution satisfied (if over 70 1/2)

Ineligible Rollover Transactions

Some funds distributed from a retirement plan are not eligible for rollover into an IRA.  The following transactions are not eligible rollover transactions.

• Any portion of a distribution from a retirement plan not rolled over
• Required Minimum Distributions
• Distribution of excess contributions and related earnings
• Retirement plan loan treated as a distribution
• Hardship distributions
• Distributions part of substantially equal payments (72-t)
• Dividends on employer securities
• Non-spousal death benefit distributions
• The cost of life insurance coverage

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Disclaimer:  IB does not provide tax advice. These statements are provided for information purposes only, are not intended to constitute tax advice which may be relied upon to avoid penalties under any international, federal, state, local or other tax statutes or regulations, and do not resolve any tax issues in your favor. We recommend that you consult a qualified tax adviser or refer to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

1. Accessing the Tool

To access the Voluntary Corporate Action Election Tool, log into Account Management and click on the Tools icon located in the upper left hand corner of the screen. From the list of available tools, select Corp Actions. Then select the tab titled Sub Account Choice CA as depicted in the exhibit below.

2. Selecting an Event

An event list window will appear detailing, by row, those voluntary corporate actions associated with positions maintained in a sub-account where the deadline for provided election instructions has not yet expired. Each event will reflect the deadline, eligible position and the state of election actions, if any, taken to-date (i.e., No Allocations, Partly Allocated, Allocated). To change an existing election action or to provide allocation instructions to an event not previously acted upon, click on the Change or Allocate link located in the Action column as displayed below

3. Submitting Instructions

Once an action has been specified the election screen will appear, providing summary information regarding the nature of the event, the method for submitting elections and detail as to the effective date and deadline. Located below the event information is the position detail aggregated across all sub-accounts, including the following:

• Total position eligible for allocation
• Current unallocated position
• Revised unallocated position

The Voluntary Corporate Action Election Tool offers two methods for submitting election instructions:

• Submit a quantity of shares per specified account
• Submit a percentage of shares to allocate accross all accounts

Examples for each of these methods are provided below:

A. To submit shares or value for a specific account

Select the account from the drop-down selector located to the left of the Total eligible position detail

Under the column titled New, submit the specific number of shares you wish to submit to the given election for the selected account.
 

Submit Save 

B. To submit a percentage of shares to allocate across all accounts

Select ALL from the drop-down selector located to the left of the Total eligible position detail

Under the column titled %, submit the percentage of shares you wish to submit to the given election

All new percentage allocations will be applied to the Revised Unallocated portion of the shares and will be added to any previous allocation.

Submit Save

IMPORTANT NOTE: If one submits shares using a combination of share quantity and then percentage, any accounts designated for allocation on a per share quantity will also then have their unallocated shares submitted on the same percentage basis as the remaining accounts. If this is not your intent you will need to revisit those accoutns and adjust their share allocations accordingly.

To reduce a previously submitted percentage allocation

1. Select "Remove All Allocations"
2. Enter a new % allocation for All accounts

Note: If elections have been made on a per-account basis, selecting "Remove All Allocations" will remove all account-specific allocations as well.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if the election has been accepted by IB?

After an election has been submitted and the user selects "SAVE" from the election screen, IB will create a new ticket, available in the Message Center. This ticket will detail whether IB has accepted and acknowledged a submitted election. The ticket will also detail the election which has been made for each sub-account. In the event the election is incorrect, a user may re-enter the election screen prior to the IB deadline in order to update the elections.

Sample unread ticket - the Summary will display as Voluntary CA Election

Sample ticket detail reflecting the elections which were submitted

Sample ticket detailing that IB has acknowledged receipt and will submit elections to the depository or agent

How is the percentage allocation processed?

Each account will have the entered allocation applied to the eligible, unallocated shares.

Assume there are 4 sub-accounts with the following holdings:

 An election for 50% of the shares is submitted to tender shares to an offer. The allocation will be applied as follows:

Can both methods be used on the same voluntary offer?

Yes. Both allocation methods may be used on the same offer. This will allow a user to easily allocate a percentage of all shares plus all eligible shares for a specific account.

If I submit an account specific election and a percentage allocation for all accounts, how will the election be made?

Percentage allocations are posted only to the eligible, unallocated share quantities. Therefore both the specific and percentage allocations will be allocated.

Assume there are four sub-accounts with the following holdings:

If an election is made to tender 50 shares in Account A the elections will be as follows:

If an election is then made to allocate 50% of ALL remaining shares, the elections will be as follows:

How will IB treat fractional shares as a result of using a percentage allocation?

If the election quantity is a fractional share as a result of the percentage allocation, IB will truncate the resultant quantity and submit the remaining share to the default allocation.

Assume there are 3 sub-accounts with the following holdings

If an election of 50% is submitted, each account will have 50% of the eligible, unallocated shares elected on.

Does it matter the order in which I allocate to the accounts?

If a user first allocates positions as a percentage using the All Accounts function and then selects an individual account, the user may override the percentage allocation for the individual account. In this manner, a user may elect 50% of all unallocated eligible shares to be allocated and subsequently reduce the election in Account A to fewer than 50% by making a change in the account specific allocation.

Corporate Actions

For each of the transactions labeled corporate actions, adjustments under to the Worksheet in formation may be required.  The IB Worksheet does not make those adjustments.  Activity classified by the issuer as a sale may be included on the Worksheet, the 1099-B's box 2, and under the Annual Statement’s Corporate Actions section. 

Transactions designated as corporate actions include those processes that impact shareholders by Publicly Traded Companies and result in a material change.  Over 50 voluntary or mandatory actions fall in this category.  Some of the most common processes which may be reported include:   

► Acquisition                              ► Merger

► Captial Reduction                   ► Reverse Split

► Conversion                             ► Rights Issue

► Dividends or Interest              ► Stock Split

Option Assignments/Exchanges/Expirations

Options not considered to be Section 1256 contracts appear.  Special rules apply for assignments and exchanges.  The IB Worksheet makes adjustments.  The option transaction’s proceeds do NOT get included on the Worksheet next to the actual trade.  In accordance with IRS guidelines, IB includes the proceeds with the assigned stock.  The IRS Publication 550 on page 57 describes in detail the adjustments required for both the option writer and holder. 

If an option expires during the year, IB enters the expiration date under column (c), Date Sold, 0.00 under column (d), Sales price, and assigns “Ep” under the Codes column.  The gain or loss treatment differs for the option writer and holder.  See IRS Publication 550 for details.

Short Sales

Securities sold during the year that you do not own are short sales.  The sale proceeds are included in the 1099-B, box 2, and on the Worksheet, regardless of the year in which the sale is covered or closed.  This may cause a difference in the figure reported for your tax purposes versus the IB Worksheet and the 1099. 

Determination of gain or loss takes place when the security covered is purchased at a later date.  The IB Worksheet makes adjustments for current and prior year sales.  See IRS Publication 550, page 55 for details.

Tax Basis Declaration

The default tax basis method for IB accounts is First In, First Out (FIFO).  This matches the the first assets purchased with most recently sold assets for gain and loss tax purposes.  In January 2009, we added an option to allow modification of the tax basis method.  Customers may elect two additional methods, Last In, First Out (LIFO) or Maximize Losses (ML).

On the Worksheet, trades using the default FIFO method do not have an identification code.  For trades using the methods LIFO or Maximize Losses, the following codes apply: 

First In, First Out (FIFO), code = no code appears

Last In, First Out (LIFO), code = LI

Maximize Losses, code = ML

Note:  The tax basis method may be changed for trades going forward through Account Management.  Select Report Management and choose Tax Basis Declaration.

Transferred Accounts

The cost of a transferred security reflects the closing price value and date acquired "as of" the transfer settlement date.  An exception applies for cost and date acquired details manually entered by you within Account Management before January 1.  The IB Worksheet makes adjustments for these entries.

If you were unable to complete the online adjustment, then contact your former financial firm for the original cost basis. 

Note:  IB provides the ability through Account Management to update the basis by December 31.  Updates reflect on all future statement records.  Select Report Management and choose Position Transfer Basis.

Wash Sales

Stock or security trades sold at a loss, but purchased again within 30 days may be considered wash sales.  The IB Worksheet does identify wash sale trades, beginning in tax year 2009.  Trades considered wash sales are identified by the code “WS” (disallowed loss form wash sales). For more details on trades considered wash sales or the adjustments, see IRS Publication 550, page 56.

 Click here to go back to the main 2009 Worksheet article.

 For information about when all tax forms are made available, go to our Tax Information and Reporting page, then click the Reporting Dates tab.

IRS Circular 230 Notice: These statements are provided for information purposes only, are not intended to constitute tax advice which may be relied upon to avoid penalties under any federal, state, local or other tax statutes or regulations, and do not resolve any tax issues in your favor.

Question # 1:      Are you a U.S. Person or a U.S. Entity?

If the answer is YES, complete Form W-9

If the answer is NO, go to # 2.

Question # 2:      Do you have a U.S. Visa?

If the answer is YES, find your status by the "substantial presence test." See More U.S. Legal Resident Info 

If the answer is NO, go to # 3.

Question # 3:      Are you a Legal Resident or Entity of another country?

                                      *Question does Not apply to U.S. Citizens/Entities or Green Card Holders

If the answer is YES, complete Form W-8  (U.S. Citizens, Green Card Holders, and Entities still complete the W-9.)

NOT SURE because you work, live, or study in the U.S. then, see More U.S. Legal Resident Info 

Disclaimer:  IB does not provide tax advice. These statements are provided for information purposes only, are not intended to constitute tax advice which may be relied upon to avoid penalties under any international, federal, state, local or other tax statutes or regulations, and do not resolve any tax issues in your favor. We recommend that you consult a qualified tax adviser or refer to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.