topic I lost $30,000 in my brokerage account on stocks if I cash out my IRA account for $30,000 will that reduce my tax costs in Retirement tax questions

I lost $30,000 in my brokerage account on stocks if I cash out my IRA account for $30,000 will that reduce my tax costs

patras1952 — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 01:59:06 GMT

Re: I lost $30,000 in my brokerage account on stocks if I cash out my IRA account for $30,000 will that reduce my tax costs

xmasbaby0 — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 02:30:20 GMT

If you cash out your IRA you will pay tax on that money. If you are under 59 1/2 you will pay a 10% early withdrawal penalty. Even if you are over 59 1/2, you will pay ordinary tax on the IRA money you take out--at whatever your own tax rate is.

Re: I lost $30,000 in my brokerage account on stocks if I cash out my IRA account for $30,000 will that reduce my tax costs

VolvoGirl — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 02:37:03 GMT

Did you Loss the 30,000 in personal brokerage accounts that aren't in IRA accounts? Did you actually realize the loss by selling stocks? Or did your account just go down on your statement?

Assuming you had sales,

If you have investment sale losses, after you subtract the losses from your gains you can only deduct up to 3,000 per year. So if you have a lot of current gains you can use up the loss. The rest you will have to carryover until it is used up.

But personal account losses won't offset any IRA distributions. IRA accounts are taxed as ordinary income not as investment capital gains.

Re: I lost $30,000 in my brokerage account on stocks if I cash out my IRA account for $30,000 will that reduce my tax costs

macuser_22 — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 02:37:39 GMT

A capital loss can offset capital gains and up to $3,000 of ordinary income if no capital gains to offset. IRA's distributions are ordinary income so the IRA distribution plus all other ordinary income can only be reduced by $3,000. The remaining capital loss ($27,000 assuming no capital gains to offset) will carry to next year to do the same.