In the rush to get your taxes done by April 17, don’t forget to do one more thing: Make your contributions to your individual retirement account for 2017.
April 17 marks the final deadline for IRA contributions for tax year 2017. You can contribute as much as $5,500 total to a pre-tax IRA or a post-tax Roth IRA for the year. If you’re 50 or older, you can contribute an additional $1,000.
Even if you get a tax extension, you still need to fund those retirement accounts by April 17 for it to count for last year, according to Ed Slott, an IRA expert and founder of Ed Slott & Co.
“That’s probably the No. 1 mistake people make, thinking, ‘I’m on an extension. Everything else goes with it,’” Slott said. “But not this one.”
That deadline for IRA contributions also comes at a time when stock market fluctuations have been high.
That could leave you with questions on if — and how — to best invest in an IRA.
“It’s understandable that people have their eyes on the red and the green and become a bit sensitized to the idea of: Is this a good time?” said Ken Hevert, senior vice president of retirement and retirement income solutions at Fidelity Investments.
Here are the four things you need to do as Tax Day approaches with this deadline in mind.
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