Bought stock for retirement can i call it an ira and use it like deductible ira? I did not sell any of the stock.

[mrkylemrsrobbin]

I purchase stock from my company per paycheck - stock option purchase. I do get a 5% discount when I purchase. Just wondering it this qualifies for investment that is deductible yearly on my taxes?

[dmertz · Accepted solution]

No, stock purchased outside of an IRA is not an IRA.  You are also not permitted to contribution anything but cash to an IRA, so there is no way to get this stock into an IRA short of selling the stock, contributing cash to the IRA and repurchasing the stock in the IRA.  However, this risks creating a wash sale where any deduction for a loss would be disallowed, with no way to ever realize the loss on your tax return because stocks in an IRA do not carry a capital cost basis.

Further, only banks and IRS-approved non-bank entities can be IRA custodians.