An individual retirement arrangement, or IRA, is a personal savings plan which allows you to set aside money for retirement, while offering you tax advantages. You may be able to deduct some or all of your contributions to your IRA. You may also be eligible for a tax credit equal to a percentage of your contribution. Amounts in your IRA, including earnings, generally are not taxed until distributed to you. IRA’s cannot be owned jointly. However, any amounts remaining in your IRA upon your death can be paid to your beneficiary or beneficiaries.
To contribute to a traditional IRA, you must be under age 70 1/2 at the end of the tax year. You, and/or your spouse if you file a joint return, must have taxable compensation, such as wages, salaries, commissions, tips, bonuses, or net income from self–employment. Taxable alimony and separate maintenance payments received by an individual are treated as compensation for IRA purposes.
The deadline for contributions to a traditional IRA for the year is the due date of your return, not including any extensions of time to file. Amounts you withdraw from your IRA are fully or partially taxable in the year you withdraw them. If you made only deductible contributions, withdrawals are fully taxable. Withdrawals made prior to age 59 1/2 may be subject to a 10% additional tax. You also may owe an excise tax if you do not begin to withdraw minimum distributions by April 1st of the year after you reach age 70 1/2.
-IRS website
For more information from the Internal Revenue Service regarding traditional IRA’s visit the IRS website at www.irs.gov and look for Publication 590.