I left my company & want to roll the pension lump sum to an IRA. Part is “Non-taxable Amount of Benefit”. Can this be taken in cash or rolled separately to a Roth?

[dmertz]

Yes, but you can't take is out without taking out the taxable portion at the same time.  The pre-tax portion can be rolled over to a traditional IRA to continue to defer taxes on that portion with the first amounts of the distribution rolled over deemed to come from the taxable portion of the distribution.  The remainder of the distribution can be taken in cash or rolled over to a Roth IRA . Be aware that if you roll the entire distribution (both the pre-tax and after tax portions) over to a traditional IRA, the after-tax basis generally becomes inseparable from the pre-tax portion and any distribution from the traditional IRA would be a proportionate mix of pre-tax money and after-tax basis.

Your plan is required to provide you with details of you rollover options at least 30 days prior to the date of the distribution unless you waive that requirement.  Also see IRS Notice 2014-54:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-14-54.pdf

[socobert]

Great info.  I almost rolled 100% into a Trad IRA.  If I take the post tax portion in cash is there any tax penalty (ie. 10%)?

[dmertz · Accepted solution]

Only taxable amounts distributed from the traditional IRA and not converted to Roth or rolled over are potentially subject to early-distribution penalty.