Yeah - cashing in your 401k should be considered an option of absolute last resort, even then you should think twice about it and find out exactly how much the penalty is going to be. You can actually roll that intop an IRA and can even borrwo money out or it to do certain things with it (I think buying a home and paying for college). But definitely check with a CPA before touching it at all. Even just rolling it over into an IRA improperly can trigger a penalty.
As for the stock gains - welcome to the Capital Gains Tax - which has been discussed on this list and is usually framed by those leaning toward solicalist ideals as a great way to "stick it to the man". Duane, this year you are the man that these folks are sticking it to - congrats! You can thank them at any time. -Cameron On 3/17/06, Duane <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > <cf_rant target="IRS"> > > IRS Rant! > > Even tho my wife and I moved home to Canada we still have to file US taxes > this year. No problems I figured. We both paid maximum with holding all year > so everything should be fine. I figured WRONG! > > My wife and I cashed in our 401ks, and because of that we had to pay the 20% > federal tax penalty when we cashed them in. No worries I figure it covers > the taxes and it will all wash out in the end. WRONG - we get charged more > tax and penalties, and by the time we figure it out we end up losing close > to 40% of the total 401k. > > Just to make sure that they haven't bent us over far enough, we also find > out that we have to pay on my wife's stock grant from the company she left. > When her stocks were granted they were at $0.25/share. They are now valued > at $1.27/share. Even though we haven't sold them and made any profit on them > we had to pay taxes on the $1.02 difference. On 25,000 shares of stock that > adds up to the tune of almost $5k. If the stock ends up worthless I'm out > the 6500 we paid for them plus the 5000 in taxes. What bullshit! > > Instead of breaking even this year as I expected we're now sending those > &$%*ers $9500. I guess it's better than the 19k they nailed me for 2 years > ago > > THIS SUCKS! > > </cf_rant> > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:200588 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
