IRA Contribution Deadline

Make Sure You Meet Your IRA Contribution Deadline

Unlike many deadlines, you actually have until April 15th of each tax year to make contributions to your IRA accounts to have them counted for the previous year. This means that you have until April 15, 2011 to make your contributions for 2010. However, you don't want to leave things till the very last minute because it can take some time to get everything set up if you are opening a new IRA. You also want to make sure that you clearly mark on your check which tax year you want your contribution to go toward, otherwise it might automatically be included in the current year. 

Of course in order to be able to make tax deductible contributions to an IRA you have to meet the eligibility requirements as well as the IRA contribution deadline. These requirements vary based on whether or not you have access to a 401K account through your employer, as well as how much money you make and how you file your taxes. 

Those who have Traditional IRAs might want to look into conversion to Roth IRAs to see if this would be more advantageous. However, if you convert your IRA in this manner you have to keep in mind that there are taxes and fees that need to be paid at the time of conversion since the tax rules of these two types of IRAs are so different. Comparing the pros and cons of the two different types can help you to determine which one would be better for you. 

It is important that you also keep track of what types of investments are in your portfolio for your retirement account. You want to make sure that you purchase a variety of different types of investments in order to minimize your risk and maximize your potential profits. 

Once you reach a certain age, you will have to begin taking distributions from your IRA. There are minimum amounts that you need to take each year. If you speak with a professional familiar with these retirement accounts you can find out how to set up your accounts so you have the smallest required distributions possible, although you can always take out more if you want.