topic I accidentally deposited post tax contributions from my 401k into my regular brokerage account. Can I simply transfer them into my Roth IRA as I intended? in Retirement tax questions

I accidentally deposited post tax contributions from my 401k into my regular brokerage account. Can I simply transfer them into my Roth IRA as I intended?

rmcfarlin001 — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 07:01:07 GMT

Both the accidental and the correction transactions would be occurring in the same tax year.

Re: I accidentally deposited post tax contributions from my 401k into my regular brokerage account. Can I simply transfer them into my Roth IRA as I intended?

dmertz — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 21:15:39 GMT

Yes, if done within 60 days of receiving the distribution. This will be in indirect rollover.

Re: I accidentally deposited post tax contributions from my 401k into my regular brokerage account. Can I simply transfer them into my Roth IRA as I intended?

fanfare — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 22:24:58 GMT

"simply transfer"

It's not so simple; you have 60 days to correct your mistake.

@rmcfarlin001

Re: I accidentally deposited post tax contributions from my 401k into my regular brokerage account. Can I simply transfer them into my Roth IRA as I intended?

Opus 17 — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 22:45:07 GMT

An IRA is not a 401k, even though they have a similar purpose. I think you meant, you were doing a rollover from a Roth designated 401k to a Roth IRA. If you withdrew money from your 401k, you have 60 days to deposit that money into an IRA, for it to count as a rollover. You can only do one indirect rollover per year.

Re: I accidentally deposited post tax contributions from my 401k into my regular brokerage account. Can I simply transfer them into my Roth IRA as I intended?

dmertz — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 03:51:33 GMT

@Opus 17 , this appears to involve the after-tax portion of a distribution from the traditional 401(k) account, nothing from a designated Roth account.

Also, there is no limitation on rollovers from a 401(k).