dmertz
Level 15

Retirement tax questions

Note:  A 401(k) is not an IRA.  Your question title says it's and IRA but your question says it's a 401(k).

 

If it's an IRA, the money you take out of your IRA is not a loan from the IRA, it's a distribution from the IRA regardless of what you do with the money and putting the money back into an IRA within 60 days would be a rollover.  You are limited to one IRA-to-IRA distribution and rollover in any 12-month period; violation of this rule results in an excess contribution subject to penalty.  There is 10% default tax withholding on an IRA distribution unless you specify to the custodian that no taxes are to be withheld.

 

However, if it's actually a 401(k):

 

Even if the 401(k) plan permits loans, 401(k) loans are limited to $50,000 or 50% of the balance to your credit in the 401(k), whichever is less.  So to take $60,000 out of your 401(k) at least some of the distribution would have to be a regular distribution.  However, if you are still working for the company, you are not permitted to take a distribution of your elective deferrals before age 59½ (except as a hardship distribution, and using the money to fund an investment in a business would not qualify as a hardship) and the 401(k) plan might not allow any in-service distributions.

 

If you allowed to take a distribution and do so, there will be 20% mandatory tax withholding on the amount distributed.  To be able to complete a rollover of the entire distribution within 60 days and avoid a taxable distribution subject to penalty you'll have to replace the amount withheld for taxes with money from another source while the tax withholding is tied up with the IRS until you file your tax return and get a refund.  (Of course if you had another source of money you would probably not be contemplating a distribution fro the 401(k).)

 

The risk of not being able to complete a 401(k) or IRA rollover within 60 days is often rather high when the money is used as temporary funding for something.  Under these circumstances, the likelihood of ending up with some amount of taxable distribution that is also subject to the 10% early-distribution penalty is usually quite high.