Contributing to a tax-advantaged retirement account comes with rules that make it difficult to get your hands on your cash should you suddenly need it. Understandably, these controls are one reason people can feel reluctant to fund an individual retirement account (IRA) or 401(k) plan to the max each year, even though they know that the earlier they invest, the greater the chance that their funds will have to grow at tax-free compounded rates.
The desire to save for retirement gets overruled by the need to maintain an emergency fund of easily accessible money, be it for car repairs, medical bills, a job loss, or an economic crisis; however, few people are aware that an often overlooked feature of the Roth IRA could solve this problem—allowing you to have your cake and invest it, too. It sounds unlikely, but it's actually true.
Key Takeaways
- Contributing to a tax-advantaged retirement account comes with rules that make it difficult to get your hands on your cash should you suddenly need it.
- A Roth IRA can double as an emergency savings account, which means you can withdraw contributed sums at any time without taxes or penalties.
- Roth funds should only be withdrawn as a last resort.
- Be sure to limit the sum to your contributions, which means don't dip into earnings or you will likely be penalized.
- You can redeposit earnings that you've withdrawn from a Roth within 60 days and avoid a potential tax or penalty.
Quick Recap: Roth IRA Rules
A Roth IRA is a retirement savings account that allows qualified distributions on a tax-free basis as long as certain conditions are met. Although Roth IRAs are similar to traditional IRAs, their tax treatment by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is quite different.
Unlike contributions to traditional IRAs, Roth IRA deposits don't get you a tax deduction when you make them. In IRS lingo, they're paid for with after-tax dollars. The money in the account grows tax-free until it's withdrawn. When you retire, you pay no taxes on withdrawals because you already paid income taxes on the money with which you made the deposits. With a traditional IRA, you pay income taxes on withdrawals in retirement.
Roth IRA account owners don't have to take required minimum distributions (RMDs). An RMD is a minimum amount, as established by the IRS, that must be withdrawn from a traditional IRA and a defined contribution plan each year once you reach a certain age. If you were born between 1951 and 1959, the age is 73. If you were born in 1960 or after, the age is 75. This is an increase from the previous age of 72.
Roth IRA Contribution Limits
A RothIRA allows you to contribute $6,500 for 2023 and $7,000 for 2024. If you’re married, you and your spouse can each contribute $7,000 for a total of $14,000 for 2024. Each individual is allowed to contribute an additional $1,000—called a catch-up contribution—if aged 50 or older.
Roth IRA Income Limits
There are alsolimitations on how much you can earn and still qualify for a Roth. The income limits are adjusted each year by the IRS. These are the limits for the 2023 and 2024 tax years based on your income and tax filing status:
- For the 2023 tax year, if you're married and file a joint tax return, the phaseout begins at a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) of $218,000. If you make more than $228,000, you aren't eligible for a Roth. Single filers hit the threshold at $138,000 and are disqualified if their incomes exceed $153,000.
- For the 2024 tax year, if you're married and file a joint tax return, the phaseout begins at a MAGI of $230,000. If you make more than $240,000, you aren't eligible for a Roth. Single filers hit the threshold at $146,000 and are disqualified if their incomes exceed $161,000.
You have 15½ months each tax year to accumulate emergency funds to place in a Roth. For example, you could have made contributions from Jan. 1, 2023, through April 15, 2024, for the 2023 tax year.
Roth IRA Withdrawals
You often hear that Roth IRA withdrawals are tax-free. Although that's true, it is complicated. Not all withdrawals are created equal in the eyes of the IRS.
When filing your tax returns, you don't include in your gross (taxable) income any distributions that are a return of your regular contributions from your Roth IRA(s). Because contributions to a Roth are made with funds on which you’ve already paid taxes, IRS rules allow you to withdraw that money (or strictly speaking, the same amount of money) without owing any more tax on it.
But any sums that accrued in the account above and beyond what you originally deposited are a different story. For those, you have to wait until after the five-year period beginning with the first tax year for which a contribution was made to the Roth IRA to begin making withdrawals. If you don't wait, such withdrawals are subject to taxes and a penalty if you're under the age of 59½.
In other words, the contributions can be withdrawn at any time without penalty or taxes; however, investment earnings generated from your deposits—interest income, dividends, capital gains—must remain in the account for at least five years, and ideally, until you’re at least 59½ to avoid incurring a 10% penalty and taxes.
The good news is, Roth withdrawals are made on a first-in, first-out (FIFO) basis. So any withdrawals are initially classified as coming from contributions. Earnings aren't considered touched until a sum equal to all the contributions you've made has been reached.
The Roth IRA as an Emergency Fund
The advantage of putting emergency savings into a Roth IRA is that you don’t miss the limited opportunity to make that year’s retirement contribution. You can only contribute a few thousand dollars to a Roth IRA each year, and once a year passes without a contribution, you lose the opportunity to make it forever; however, accessing these funds should be your last resort.
Matt Becker, a fee-only certified financial planner (CFP) who runs the site Mom and Dad Money, points out that you don’t want to withdraw Roth IRA contributions for minor emergencies, such as car repairs or small medical bills. You should keep enough savings for those events. Your Roth IRA emergency fund should be for larger emergencies, such as unemployment or a serious illness; however, for some, withdrawing Roth contributions might be a better option than racking up interest charges on credit card balances.
Structuring the Roth IRA for Emergencies
The key to using a Roth IRA as an emergency fund is to limit distributions to contributions. In other words, don't start dipping into investment earnings. It's important to note that IRA funds aren't labeled "contributions" and "earnings" on your statement. So, just follow this simple rule: Don't withdraw more than you have deposited.
The part of your Roth IRA contribution earmarked as your emergency funddoesn't belong in stocks, bonds, or mutual funds like a typical retirement contribution. It belongs in a liquid account (meaning cash or something that can easily be converted to cash and that earns interest) that can be withdrawn from at a moment's notice without losing principal.
"It is critical not to invest the portion of your Roth dedicated to your emergency fund," says Garrett M. Prom, founder of Prominent Financial Planning in Austin, Texas. "This money is for emergencies, which in most cases is job loss. If that job loss is part of a downturn in the economy, you will have to sell investments, usually at a loss."
While the IRS calls early emergency withdrawals unqualified, which makes it sound like you’re breaking a rule, qualified distributions are simply those that have been in your Roth for at least five years and that you withdraw after age 59½.
Gains to the Roth account will increase without you paying taxes on the earnings every year, as would be the case with a regular savings account. You also won't pay taxes on these earnings when you withdraw them as qualified distributionsonce you reach retirement age.
A so-called savings account within a Roth can earn at least as much interest as a regular savings account, if not more, depending on where you bank. If you already have a Roth IRA, but your financial institution doesn’t have any low-risk, interest-paying options for your money, open a second Roth IRA at an institution that does.
Once you have a large enough emergency fund, start moving some of those contributions into higher-earning investments. You don’t want all of your Roth contributions in cash forever. This process might take you a few months or a few years, depending on how quickly you accumulate additional savings.
Withdrawing Rolled-Over Roth Funds
If your Roth IRA contains contributions that you converted or rolled over from another retirement account, such as a 401(k) from a former employer, you’ll need to be careful about any withdrawals.
There are special rules about withdrawing rollover contributions. Unless they’ve been in your Roth for at least five years, you’ll incur a 10% penalty if you withdraw them. Each conversion or rollover has a separate five-year waiting period.
Withdrawing rollover contributions penalty-free can be tricky. It’s a good idea to consult a tax professional if you find yourself in this situation.
The good news is that if you have both regular contributions and rollover contributions, the IRS first categorizes withdrawals as withdrawals of regular contributions before it categorizes them as withdrawals of a rollover contribution.
How to Withdraw Roth Funds
The availability of funds may differ depending on the institution where you keep your Rothand the type of account in which you place the money. When you need money urgently, you don’t want to hear that it will take days to get a check or bank transfer. Before you make a contribution to your Roth IRA, find out how long distributions take.
Funds can typically be retrieved in fewer than three business days. If you wish to take funds out of a money market or mutual fund and you put in your withdrawal request before 4 p.m. ET, you may have the money by the next business day.
If the money is invested in stocks, you will typically need to wait two business days, although if you have a checking account with the same institution where you have your Roth IRA, you may be able to get it faster.
A wire transfer can also be a fast way to access funds, though you’ll have to pay a fee that typically runs from $25 to $30. “Most brokerage firms can wire funds directly from a Roth IRA to a checking or savings account in one business day, assuming stocks or bonds don’t have to be sold to generate cash,” says accredited asset management specialist Marcus Dickerson of Beaumont, Texas.
These potential delays in Roth IRA fundsavailability are another reason to keep some emergency cash outside of your Roth IRA in a checking or savings account for extremely urgent needs.
File the Correct Tax Forms
You don’t need to report Roth IRA contributions on your tax return as they don’t affect your taxable income; however, if you do need to withdraw contributions from your Roth IRA to use in an emergency, paperwork is involved. Even though they’re allowed, you still have to report your withdrawals on Part III of IRS Form 8606.
If you use tax preparation software, it will ask you if you made any withdrawals from a retirement account during the year and guide you through the paperwork. If you use a professional tax preparer, make sure Form 8606 is included in your return.
If you only put money in your Roth and don’t take anything out, you have nothing extra to do at tax time. Also, if you make your Roth contribution before the income tax filing deadline for the year and need to withdraw that money before the filing deadline, the IRS treats these contributions as if you had never made them. You won’t need to report them at tax time.
Return Withdrawn Funds
If you do have to withdraw contributions, you can pay yourself back and retain your Roth contribution for that year if you act fast. “If the emergency turns out to be a short-term cash-flow issue that gets resolved quickly, [you] can put the money back into the Roth IRA...to refund this account,” says certified financial planner Scott W. O’Brien, partner atWorthPointeWealth Management in Austin, Texas.
Do that and the most you’ll lose is a little bit of interest. You probably won’t even have to report the withdrawal.
The upshot is, that if you withdraw contributions made during the current tax year, you have until the tax deadline (April 15 of the following year) to redeposit the money in your Roth IRA.
But if you withdraw more than you can contribute in a year, you cannot re-contribute 100% of those funds during the same year. You can only put back your contribution limit every year. This is why it is a bad idea to rely on your Roth IRA for emergency funds. Unless you can pay back the whole amount within the year, you'll lose many years of compound interest on the funds you take out. Moreover, because of the contribution limits it may take you many years to rebuild your account balance.
Redeposit Scenarios
Let’s look at some examples for clarity. Check with a tax expert to be sure these apply to you and if there are any exceptions or changes to the rules.
Example 1
You’ve got $30,000 in a Roth IRA. You’ve contributed $20,000 in prior tax years and $6,500 in 2023. The remaining $3,500 has come from investment growth (earnings). If you withdraw $6,500 worth of contributions in 2023, you have until April 2024 to re-contribute those funds back into the Roth IRA.
By withdrawing your contributions from 2023, it is like your contribution never happened. Your Roth IRA contributions toward the limit are reset back to $0. If April 15, 2024 passes and you haven’t contributed $6,500 back into the Roth IRA, then you won’t get to make a 2023 contribution at all.
Example 2
Same situation: $30,000 in the Roth, $20,000 from the prior year's contributions, $6,500 contributed in 2023, and $3,500 in growth. You withdraw $2,000 of contributions. You have until April 2024 to contribute another $2,000 or your Roth IRA contribution for 2023 will only be $4,500.
Example 3
Same situation, but this time you withdraw $10,000. That means you’ve taken out your $6,500 in contributions from 2023, as well as $3,500 of prior contributions. You cannot re-contribute the full $10,000 in 2023. You can only contribute up to your annual maximum of $6,500.
You can then use the remaining withdrawal of $3,500 as a contribution to your Roth IRA in the next year, plus $3,500 more to bring it up to the $7,000 2024 contribution limit. That means you can't add another $7,000 for 2024 because you re-contributed the $3,500 that you withdrew in the prior year.
To borrow effectively from your Roth IRA, you would need to have already contributed earlier in the year, withdrawn that contribution, and paid it back before tax time the following year.
There is no formal loan program with a Roth IRA as there is with a 401(k) plan.
Can I Use My Roth IRA as an Emergency Fund?
Yes. A Roth IRA can double as an emergency savings account, which means you can withdraw contributed sums at any time without taxes or penalties. Just make sure to check the rules regarding the type of funds that you can withdraw tax-free and penalty-free (contributions only). And ideally, you should repay the money quickly, or you'll miss out on years of tax-free compound growth.
Should You Use a Roth IRA as a Savings Account?
It depends. Ideally, you should keep your emergency fund in a regular savings account (where it is easily accessible) and use your Roth IRA for long-term investments. But if the alternative is not contributing to an IRA at all, it's probably a smart move to keep your emergency money in a Roth IRA.
Can You Pay Back a Roth IRA Withdrawal?
You can put funds back into your Roth IRA after you have withdrawn them if you follow the rules. If you withdraw earnings, the 60-day rule allows for what is in essence a short-term, interest-free loan. If you miss the deadline, the withdrawal will be considered a distribution and you'll owe taxes and potentially a tax penalty.
If you withdraw contributions, you have until the tax-filing date for the year to return them to the account and have them applied. If you miss that deadline, you'll deplete your contribution for the year by the amount of the withdrawal.
The Bottom Line
Since a Roth account is one of the most flexible retirement accounts available, it can double as an emergency fund. It can give you a sense of security knowing that, if you need it, you have penalty-free access to any of the contributions that you made to the account over the years. And if you wait long enough, you'll get penalty-free and tax-free access to the account's earnings as well.
Just make sure you check the rules regarding what is available as tax-free and penalty-free withdrawals. Ideally, you should repay the money quickly or you'll miss out on years of tax-free compounding growth.
