Can I deduct the losses on the sale of an IRA that is rolled over into an tax deferred annuity?

[cjmann1805]

I had incurred a large basis reduction due to stock losses in my portfolio in the years before rolling this IRA into a tax deferred annuity in January 2017..  

[Coleen3 · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately no, unless it is a Roth or a Nondeductible IRA

Reporting your deduction

The deduction for Roth IRA losses is an itemized deduction, which means you must itemize on your tax return and cannot claim the standard deduction. If you are already itemizing, this is not significant. However, if you were not planning to itemize, make sure that the total amount of your itemized deductions is greater than your standard deduction.

To claim the deduction, you must file your taxes using Form 1040 and report the deduction on Schedule A. Report the amount of your Roth IRA loss as a miscellaneous deduction. This amount is added to your other miscellaneous deductions and then you must subtract 2 percent of your adjusted gross income to ascertain your deduction value.

For example, if your Roth IRA loss is the only miscellaneous deduction, you claim a $5,000 loss and your adjusted gross income is $50,000, you would subtract $1,000 (2 percent of $50,000) from $5,000 to find that your deduction would be $4,000.

*This option is no longer available with TCJA. That was eliminated in the 2018 tax law changes. https://www.kiplinger.com/article/taxes/T046-C000-S001-last-call-for-deducting-roth-ira-losses.html

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[Hal_Al]

No, unless you made some non deductible contributions to your IRA, and even then there are severe limitations to what and when you can deduct the loss.

Essentially, a Traditional IRA has a zero cost basis for tax purposes. This is because you already deducted the money when you put it in.  You will not have to pay tax on those losses, because the money is no longer there to be withdrawn