If You Missed Estimated Tax Payment Deadlines, You can Use Withholding Tax From Your IRA to Avoid Penalties
Withholding from your IRA distribution or distribution from an employer plan,can be used to satisfy your estimated tax requirements for the year, regardless of the time of year that the withholding occurs.
If you are required to pay estimated taxes, the payments must usually be made on a quarterly basis. Failure to make the quarterly payments may result in your owing the IRS penalties for underpayment of taxes. If you miss the deadlines by which these quarterly payments must be made, you can avoid the penalty by using the withholding tax from your IRA to pay the amount. Under the IRA withholding rules, any amount withheld (regardless of the date of the withholding) is treated as if it was withheld throughout the year. Therefore, if you owe estimated taxes of $1,000 and you request to have $1,000 withheld for federal income tax from your IRA distribution in December, you will be treated as if you have met the quarterly payment requirements. See IRS Publication 505 for detailed information about estimated taxes.
For those who want to rollover the amount, the withdrawal can be made late in the year and rolled over the following year within 60-days. Of course, the rollover strategy can be used only if the amount is rollover eligible. Examples of amounts that are not rollover eligible include distributions that would break the one-per-year IRA-to-IRA rollover rule and required minimum distributions (RMDs).
Talk to your tax professional before using this strategy. Only someone who knows the details of your tax and financial profile can recommend solutions that are suitable for you.
