1999 Tax Help Archives  

Pub. 17, Chapter 18 - Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)

Introduction

This is archived information that pertains only to the 1999 Tax Year. If you
are looking for information for the current tax year, go to the Tax Prep Help Area.

Download: Form 1040 • 1040 Instructions PDF or HTML
Schedule A & BForm 1040AForm 1040EZTax Tables

An individual retirement arrangement (IRA) is a personal savings plan that offers you tax advantages to set aside money for your retirement or, in some plans, for certain education expenses. Two advantages of an IRA are:

  1. You may be able to deduct your contributions in whole or in part, depending on the type of IRA and your circumstances, and
  2. Generally, amounts in your IRA, including earnings and gains are not taxed until distributed, or, in some cases, are not taxed at all if distributed according to the rules.

This chapter discusses:

  1. The rules for a traditional IRA (those that are not Roth, SIMPLE, or education IRAs),
  2. The Roth IRA, which features nondeductible contributions and tax-free withdrawals, and
  3. The education IRA, which can be set up to finance higher education expenses.

Simplified Employee Pensions (SEPs) and Savings Incentive Match Plans for Employees (SIMPLE) are not discussed in this chapter. For more information on these plans and employees' SEP-IRAs and SIMPLE IRAs that are part of these plans, see Publication 590.

Previous | Next

Publication 17 | 1999 Tax Year Archives | Tax Help Archives | Home