I'm going through a financial hardship and would like to withdraw early from a Roth IRA.
My father originally set it up through Vanguard in the 1990s and ownership has transferred to me.
I believe I can withdraw early without taxes and fees (because it is roth) up to the the contribution amount, but not any of the gains (the gains would be normally taxed and 10% penalized). Please correct me if I'm wrong.
The total amount in the Roth is ~$77K.
With the help of a Vanguard rep, we were able to locate transactions for funding the account for $5,200 between 2008-2011, but we could not locate any other transactions. The rep said transaction history should go back to 1998. Going off of memory (which is rough after over 27 years), I believe the total contribution was somewhere around $20k, but I only have proof of transactions for the $5,200. I don't have the vanguard records history from the 1990s and my father unfortunately passed away.
How can I determine the basis of the fund (or the total contributions of the fund)? Is there a calculation the IRS would use, or am I stuck paying the entire withdraw amount with taxes and penalty since I only have transaction history of $5,200?
Any assistance is much appreciated.
