I am looking to rollover money from an employee sponsored trust (old employer) to my new retirement fund. I am also looking to withdraw a portion. how can this be done?

[storer-29-gmail-]

My previous employer sent my 401 to a JP Morgan Chase trust. I am looking to rollover the funds into my existing 401k with Transamerica with my new employer. I am also looking to withdraw a portion of these funds for personal use. Any tips on how to begin this process and what tax issues I may encounter?

[VolvoGirl]

What kind of account is the trust?  Is it still in the 401K?  Did you get any 1099R tax forms when they sent the 401K to the Chase trust?  You have to ask the Trust account how to move it if it is possible and how to take a withdrawal.  And ask your new employer if they will accept the funds.  

If you take a withdrawal it will be taxable and may push you into a higher tax bracket.  And a 10% early withdrawal penalty if you are under 59 1/2.  

You will get a 1099R if you rollover and maybe a separate 1099R for a withdrawal.  

[dmertz]

Although funds in an IRA or a qualified retirement plan are held in trust, referring to these types of accounts as simply trusts obfuscates the nature of the accounts.  The "trust" now holding the funds might be a traditional  (rollover)  IRA (a type of nontaxable trust), in which case the IRA could be rolled over to the new employer's 401(k).  Any other type of qualified retirement account would have to be either a Roth IRA (which is not eligible for rollover to an employer plan) or some kind of employer plan (but this doesn't sound like an employer plan).  If the money was distributed from the original 401(k) and put into any kind of nonqualified account, an indirect rollover to the new 401(k) would have to be completed by the 60th day following receipt of the distribution from the original 401(k).

[Opus 17]

If your 401k was pre-tax. the JPM account should be a traditional IRA.  If your 401k was an after-tax (designated Roth option) account, then the JPM account should be a Roth IRA.

In either case, you can ask JPM to do a rollover from the JPM IRA to the new 401k (assuming the new 401k plan accepts IRA rollovers).  You want to do this directly, electronically, from one to the other, so the money never passes through your bank account.  You may also be able to initiate the transaction by starting with the 401k provider and giving them instructions and the JPM account number.   If you want to withdraw money from the IRA first, just tell JPM you want a withdrawal.  They will be required to withhold 20% for income taxes, but you should expect your actual tax to be 22%-32% or higher, once you include the 10% penalty if you are under age 59-1/2.  You will get a 1099-R from JPM and the withdrawal will be added to your next tax return as taxable income.

If you want to do a partial withdrawal, do the withdrawal first, then do a direct rollover of the rest of the money.  You want to tell JPM to transfer 100% of the balance to the 401k.  If you tell them to transfer a dollar amount, funny things can happen.  (Such as, if the balance today is $10,000, and you ask to transfer $10,000, but the transfer takes 2 days and by tomorrow the account is worth $10,003 due to stock market changes, you will be left with a JPM IRA with $3 in it.)

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If the JPM account is not an IRA, then that means the 401k was transferred into a non-qualified account.  You have 60 days to move the funds to a qualified account (a rollover).  After 60 days, the transfer is taxable income to you (plus a 10% penalty if under age 59-1/2, unless you were 55 or older in the year you separated from service).  Once you've paid the initial tax, you can withdraw money from a non-qualified account any time you want, and you will only pay income tax on any gain since the transfer occurred.  Then, if the JPM account is not a qualified retirement account and it is more than 60 days, you can't roll it over into a 401k or any other kind of retirement account. 

[dmertz]

"In either case, you can ask JPM to do a rollover from the JPM IRA to the new 401k"

If the JPM account is a Roth IRA, rollover to the new 401(k) is not permitted.  A rollover of a Roth IRA can only be to another Roth IRA.  Further, after-tax funds in any kind of IRA are never permitted to be rolled over to a 401(k).  Even if these types of rollovers to a 401(k) were permitted, it would almost never make sense to do so.