Capital gains in a roth account taxable?

[Tomzee]

selling stock in a roth account

[macuser_22]

Gains and losses within an IRA are not reportable.     Only distributions from the IRA are reportable.   Removing your own contributions are always tax free - gains removed are taxed as ordinary income if removed before age 59 1/2 - after 59 1/2 there is generally no tax.

[Tomzee]

Many thanks for your rapid reply Macuser🙂

Since what you say is true I just find it hard to believe that 

the government would allow capital gains to go untaxed!

That is really awesome I simply hope that they continue to 

do so.

Thanks Again

[macuser_22]

That is the whole point for IRA's - they grow tax free until you withdraw the funds.   For Roth, after age 59 1/2 then there is never any tax but the money you contribute to the Roth was already taxes with earned.    Traditional IRA's distributions are taxed at any age but you can deduct your contributions in the year made so you have more money to invest.  And after age 72 you MUST take yearly distributions (RMD's) - Roth's do not have RMD's.

Which is better - Roth or Traditional?   It's a trade off, but for young people a Roth usually wins out in the long term.

[Bsch4477]

The downside is that when you eventually withdraw from your account you will be taxed at your marginal tax rate instead of the capital gains rate. Of course if you are a lower tax bracket when you withdraw that isn’t a problem.