Can a custodian refuse prior-year IRA/HSA deposit postmarked April 15?
"The ""must be postmarked"" language might be just from the old bank itself, not from the IRS.  The language I see in Publication 969 only says ""You can make contributions to your HSA for 2014 until April 15, 2015."" In this case, it is understandable that the credit union you have the new account with does not want to accept the contribution for tax year 2014.  You didn't have an account with them in 2014.  You didn't even send out the paperwork to them to open the account until last week, and they didn't open your account until this week, after the deadline. It is unfortunate, but I don't think you'll be able to force them to do anything differently here.  It is just too late. I do know how that feels.  I had a somewhat similar circumstance with my HSA, the first year I had the account.  I contributed money to the HSA using my credit union's website, transferring money from my checking account into my HSA, as I was told to do.  In January and February of the following year, I made more contributions this way, thinking that I was making them for the previous tax year.  However, they never got coded correctly by the credit union, and I later found out that the credit union counted those as contributions for the current year.  As a result, I was essentially denied the full contribution limit for that year, and had a bit of a paperwork nightmare.  Now, if I have to make a prior year contribution, I only make it in person, and they have a form they have me fill out each time I do." The slips from your bank for your HSA account are for an account already established and thus the bank is willing to accept your deposits even if they arrive at the bank after the April 15 deadline, as long as the postmark  is April 15 or earlier. The account exists in the bank, they know who you are, and that the payment is received after April 15 is just due to the normal (or even abnormal) delays in postal delivery. For the new account that you tried to establish (with appropriate notarization and timely postmark etc), the credit union could not  have received the paperwork as of the close of business on April 15 (except in the very unlikely circumstance that a local letter deposited in the mailbox in the morning gets delivered the same day by USPS: don't extrapolate from stories of how mail was delivered in London in Victorian times). Ergo, you did not  have an HSA account in the credit union as of April 15, and they are perfectly correct in refusing to open an account with a April 15 date and put money into it for the previous tax year. To answer the question asked:  Are they allowed to ignore the postmark date? Yes, not only are they allowed to ignore the postmark date, the IRS insists that they ignore the postmark date. The credit union prefers to report only the truth: as of April 15, you had not established an HSA account as of April 15; to say otherwise would be making a false statement to the IRS. I had a situation like this also. A client deposited an IRA check to his local P.O. prior to collection p/up, thinking this meant it would be postmarked April 15. It may have been picked up, but wasn't postmarked until the next day, and my firm refused to consider it as timely. I do remember discussing it w/my Retirement Services Dept. Maybe they made an exception for me and my client, but maybe not. I don't remember. Good luck.
Don't panic this happens all the time. I looked online for a form that can be used to redeposit funds back into the HSA. This form can be used to redeposit funds withdrawn in error and cannot   be used to correct an Excess Contribution Return. Funds will be posted   as a correction and not as a contribution. The deposit will be entered   for the year the distribution occurred. It allows you to specify the year the incorrect distribution occurred. I authorize Optum Bank to make the withdrawal correction indicated   above. I have enclosed a check made payable to Optum Bank for the   amount I’d like redeposited to my account. I understand that this can   result in a possible corrected 1099-SA for the tax year indicated   above. Of course you need to get the forms for your account. "The interest rate is determined by your 401(k) provider and your plan document.  Of course you may be able to influence this, depending on your relationship with the provider.  I'm very certain that prime+1% is not the only rate that is possible.  However, your provider is constrained by IRC 4975(d), which states that the loan must be made ""at a reasonable rate of interest.""   The definition of ""reasonable rate of interest"" would probably need to go to court and I do not know if it has.  The IRS probably has internal guidelines that determine who gets thrown to the dogs but they would not make those public because it takes away their discretion.  Because of the threat of getting pounded by the IRS, I think you will have a hard time getting a provider to allow super high or super low interest rate loans. Note: I am not a lawyer." No that is not a rollover. Many employees have experienced a change of management companies. Sometimes these switches are due to a merger, an acquisition, or just to save money. It is understandable that the old employer would like to see you transfer your funds to either your new employer, or roll them over into a IRA/Roth IRA. So it is not unexpected that they will take this opportunity to nudge you.  The thing that congress was trying to prevent were serial rollovers of IRAs. These people would use the 60 day window to have in essence a loan. Some would do this multiple times a year; always making sure they replaced the money in time.  The IRA One-Rollover-Per-Year Rule Beginning in 2015, you can make only one rollover from an IRA to   another (or the same) IRA in any 12-month period, regardless of the   number of IRAs you own (Announcement  2014-15 and Announcement   2014-32). The limit will apply by aggregating all of an individual’s   IRAs, including SEP and SIMPLE IRAs as well as traditional and Roth   IRAs, effectively treating them as one IRA for purposes of the limit. Direct transfers of IRA money are not limited This change won’t affect your ability to transfer funds from one IRA   trustee directly to another, because this type of transfer isn’t a   rollover (Revenue Ruling 78-406, 1978-2 C.B. 157). The   one-rollover-per-year rule of Internal Revenue Code Section   408(d)(3)(B) applies only to rollovers. Note that the law doesn't mention 401K/403B or the federal TSP. When the 401K changes management companies that is not a rollover. Yes. Here is the chart:  This will tell you if the IRA is deductible. Above these numbers, and you might be able to deposit to Roth, or to an IRA but not take a deduction. "As long as you're willing to pay the taxes and the penalties, once you're no longer employed you're allowed to do whatever you want. You can always do an ""direct roll-over"" (See IRC Sec. 401(a)(31)(A) which mandates this) and then withdraw from another qualified account, thus creating a withdrawal, if they refuse to just mail you a check (Why would they care? Don't know). The match may have some vesting restrictions, though. Your own contributions - are yours to do with whatever you feel like. That said, just pointing out the obvious - it's a very bad idea. Unless you expect to die before you're 60 and don't want to leave a dime to your heirs, you would probably be better off leaving it in a tax-sheltered account. If the custodian is bad - just roll over elsewhere, there's tons of excellent IRA providers." "1) Indeed, if referring to a Roth as the question is, you are right on. But - You can deposit to an Traditional IRA (TIRA). You just can't deduct it. You are then permitted to convert that to a Roth any time. Now, this would appear to negate income issues, right? Not so fast. When you convert, all TIRA accounts must be considered. In other words, when it comes to the TIRA, you only have One TIRA, the ""A"" actually standing for Arrangement, not account. That TIRA may then be spread over as many accounts as you have time to set up. So, if there is any pretax money and/or untaxed gain, it will be prorated and taxed based on your conversion amount. If any of this is not 110% clear, please comment and I will update the answer.  No 401(k) at work?  Note: I edited as my original wording misunderstood the response, and in turn, appeared a bit unkind. Not my intention." No. Borrowing is not allowed, but if you take a withdrawal, you have 60 days to deposit into another IRA account. This effectively creates a 60 day loan. Not what you're really looking for.  If you take this withdrawal and re-deposit to new account within 60 days, no problem. If not, you owe tax on the untaxed amount as well as a 10% penalty. This comes from IRS' Publication 590, I have the document memorized by substance, not page number. Conversions must be done during the calendar year. This would apply to both IRA and 401(k) accounts.  For IRAs, deposits may be made until 4/15, and the same holds for Solo 401(k) accounts. For conversions, the IRA permits a recharacterization, basically, a do-over, which reverses the conversion, any or all, in case you have any reason it should not have been done. That has a deadline of 10/15, i.e. 4/15 plus 6 month extension. The 401(k) conversion has no such provision. Simple answer 12/31 of the given year. "It's not possible for them to be comingled. From the IRS FAQ: Does my employer need to establish a new account under its 401(k),   403(b) or governmental 457(b) plan to receive my designated Roth   contributions? Yes, your employer must establish a new separate account for each   participant making designated Roth contributions and must keep the   designated Roth contributions completely separate from your previous   and current traditional, pre-tax elective contributions. It doesn't have to be a separate ""account"" necessarily, but the amounts must be tracked separately as if they were in separate accounts: Does separate account refer to the actual funding vehicle or does it   refer to separate accounting within the plan's trust? Under IRC Section 402A, the separate account requirement can be   satisfied by any means by which an employer can separately and   accurately track a participant’s designated Roth contributions, along   with corresponding gains and losses." "I'd suggest you avoid the Roth for now and use pretax accounts to get the greatest return. I'd deposit to the 401(k), enough to get as much match as permitted, then use a traditional IRA. You should understand how tax brackets work, and aim to use pre-tax to the extent it helps you avoid the 25% rate. If any incremental deposit would be 15% money, use Roth for that. Most discussions of the pre-tax / post tax decision talk about 2 rates. That at the time of deposit and time of withdrawal. There are decades in between that shouldn't be ignored. If you have any life change, a marriage, child, home purchase, etc, there's a chance your marginal bracket drops back down to 15%. That's the time to convert to Roth, just enough to ""top off"" the 15% bracket.  Last, I wouldn't count on that pension, there's too much time until you retire to count on that income. Few people stay at one job long enough to collect on the promise of a pension that takes 30+ years to earn, and even if you did, there's the real chance the company cancels the plan long before you retire." "You withdrew the 'cash' portion, and will pay tax on it. How was the check ""another for move remaining to B"" issued? Was it payable to you? If so, it's too late, it's your money and the whole account was cashed out.  If it was payable to B, you should have had it sent directly to their custodian, are you saying you still have that check? You might need to ask A to reissue the check to you, since you are no longer in the US. I'm not sure if you can roll it to an IRA at this point." "First, the limit this year is $16,500, $22,000 for age 50 or older. Next, does the company give you any match? If so, how much? Some will match your deposits dollar for dollar up to a certain percent of your pay. If you make $50k and deposit say 6%, that's $3k matched by company, for example. This deposit/match is the first priority.  Next, you should understand the expenses in the account. A bad 401(k) with high cost quickly negates any tax deferral benefit. The 401(k) options also may be limited, what are the choices of investments?  Is your income high enough that you can save $21,500? One thought is to save enough to drop back out of the 25% bracket, and go Roth after that. This is a good balance for most. By the way, Fairmark is a great site to see what bracket you are in. If your return is simple, you can just find your standard deduction and exemption numbers and get to your taxable income very simply. The debate of of Roth vs Pretax (for both IRA and 401(k) accounts) can get pretty complex, but I found the majority of earners falling into the ""live in the 15% bracket, tops"" range." "Assuming nothing here helps, here are some thoughts. First, If Principal Financial knows the 401k was rolled over to an IRA, then it must have been a custodian-to-custodian transfer, which means they need to know who the recipient custodian was, so I'd call them back and push a little harder. Next, they couldn't have just created an IRA out of thin air and moved some money into it without some paperwork and signatures from you, so you should have copies of that paperwork. Principal may also still have archived copies of that paperwork, that they may be able to provide to you, although they'll probably charge for that service. Also, there would have been tax reporting around the rollover. For the year the rollover occurred in, you would have received a 1099-R and 5498. The 1099-R would have to have been reported on your federal (and possibly state) income tax for that year. It may be possible to obtain copies of old 1099-R's from the IRS, maybe call them and ask. In subsequent years, you should have received at least a year-end statement. If you don't have any of that, and contacting Principal and the IRS don't help, then I'm not sure there's much that anyone can do to help you. As far as I know, there's no ""universal clearinghouse"" for IRAs, and there are a lot of IRA custodians. I would expect you to receive a year-end statement from the custodian for 2015 sometime in early 2016, so maybe just wait for (and watch for) that. And take this as an object lesson that you need to keep better track of your finances. No one's going to do it for you (unless you pay them a bunch of money)." As others said, there is no recovery from that being late. However, to fix your situation: You can do a Rollover of Funds from HSA 1 to HSA 2. Both my HSAs have that option right on their website; I log on to HSA 2 (the target), and request a rollover from HSA 1 (the source), for the desired amount (3000 for you); I guess most HSAs offer that; if not you can call them to start it. This has no tax or limit implications; it just moves money between equally qualified HSAs. You could also consider - while you do that - to roll over the complete content of HSA 1 and get rid of it (as it is 'hard to access'). There is no limit (so you can move a million if you have it there), and as said above, no tax implication, no limit violations, as long as the money goes from one HSA into another HSA with the same ownership. Your strategy is well thought out. Others use it same as you, to fund an IRA in the prior tax year with that year's refund.  Gotcha? Forgetting to send in the money on time. Or not correctly identifying the tax year for the deposit.  I know st**f happens, but I'd try to not get such a large refund in the future, better the money be in your pocket/account than Uncle Sam's. But your question implied an unusual event, so this advice may be moot.  Per Brick's comment below - be sure your MAGI isn't above the level where you can deduct the IRA deposit. That would create an odd situation, but since you are doing the return first, it's a matter of just confirming this on the return.