Retirement tax questions

You will owe whatever tax and penalties you owe regardless of the amount. However, it is possible the amount is so small that the bank will not send a statement to the IRS in which case the IRS won’t find out about it. It’s up to you what to do in that situation.

 

If you had a traditional tax-free IRA and you deducted the contributions when you made them, then withdrawing them early is subject to income tax plus a 10% penalty. If this was a Roth IRA account you are allowed to withdraw the original contributions at any time because they were made after tax, and that is not subject to tax or penalty. But if you have income in the Roth IRA and you withdraw that before your retirement, you will owe income tax in a penalty on the income part of the withdrawal.