Are transactions within an IRA the same as normal transactions of buying and selling stock.

[Mike9241]

yes and no.   from a practical standpoint yes. you buy you sell from a tax standpoint usually no.  however,  buying and holding certain securities can result in the IRA having unrelated business income which would require the trustee to file a tax form (990-T) and pay taxes if the amount is over $1000.  this happens most often with partnership investments like MLP's.  from a tax standpoint, any gain or loss on the sale of a security inside an IRA generally has no effect on an individual's tax return.  There is an exception. if you sell a security outside an IRA at a loss and inside the IRA you acquire substantially identical securities within 30 days before or after the loss sale, you have a personal wash sale.  this is the worse kind because the loss is disallowed on your 1040 and there is no increase in basis for the wash sale loss. 

[VolvoGirl]

How do you mean?  No.  You do not report any transactions in a IRA or 401K accounts.  Not buys or sells, interest or dividends, etc.  You only report distributions, withdrawals, Transfers, rollovers, conversions.  You will get a 1099R for those.  You only report 1099R.  

The transactions inside a IRA are tax free or deferred.  You don't report capital gains.  You don't get the capital gains tax benefit.  Any taxable distributions you take out are taxed at your normal income tax bracket as ordinary income.

[fanfare]

@VolvoGirl  You don't report transfers.

@jpszoe  Aren't you glad you asked ?

[VolvoGirl]

Yes if you transfer from one IRA Account to another IRA, unless it was a direct trustee to trustee transfer.  Or from a 401K to a IRA.