How often do you relax? I mean, really, truly relax? Like you’ve just gotten up from a massage table, disjointed bones, melting muscles kind of relax? It’s been too long for me. I realized yesterday when Tony did a 10 second neck massage, and I resisted it for the first 5 seconds, that maybe relaxing is a learned thing. I don’t do relaxing well, apparently.
I got another summons for jury duty. At least it’s just one so far. The last time before this I was called to show up the month William was due, so December of 2011. I was getting summoned every 6 months at both my post office box and my street address. Kind of ridiculous. I had my doctor write a note to excuse me, and while I was at it, I mentioned the address issue… I didn’t hear from them after that until now, 2 years later. Someone at the jury office put it on their calendar, I’m thinking. I can’t wait for the one that I just know is coming in the mail to the street address! Either that, or they’re going through the employee list of my company, because my co-worker, our CFO and our Compliance Manager have all been called in the last month. Talk about relaxing, huh?
In the same day’s mail I received a payout from a 401K account from my previous job from a contribution that came in after I rolled the account over? From year 2009? With taxes taken out of it? I had no idea they could do this 5 years later… strangest thing ever.
And… a suspenseful ending to my weirdly random post: I’ve been trying to paint my nails for the last week. I just started them now, let’s see if I can finish before William wakes up to go to the bathroom.
Jammie J's Quest 
so? did you get your nails painted? hehe.
Yes, I did. But he woke at 2am and partied til 4am. I’m bushed.
Often, if the account balance is below a certain threshold, the old 401k can “kick you out” as they’ve done here. You say they withheld taxes from the payout, but you may be liable for an “early withdrawl” penalty (usually 10%) in addition to “regular” tax at your ordinary income rate unless you deposit the payout into a qualified account (IRA, current 401k, etc) within 60 days. Yes, even though you didn’t initiate the withdrawl. You’ll need to deposit the amount that they withheld in addition to the amount that they sent you. If you only deposit what they sent you, you’re usually liable for regular tax on the amount they withheld plus the penalty. Fun.
Additional FYI – If you haven’t deposited the check that they sent you, don’t. It’s preferable from a tax accounting standpoint if you have that check deposited directly into your IRA or new 401k. You don’t want it to look like you touched that money at all.
Tinyhands, I haven’t deposited it. I wanted to re-read the thing… it says “contribution of $204 has been deposited to your retirement account through an addition contribution to your employer, called a Qualified Nonelective Contribution. Retirement plans are regulated, and there are various tests to ensure compliance. This contribution has been made to your account as a result of some recent tests. Since the total contribution was less than $200, a distribution has been processed and a check enclosed.”
WTF does that mean? I thought my 401k was closed since I rolled it over to another account. Also the contribution amount was $204, so OVER $200. The resulting amount after taxes is under $200, but I thought everyone went by the gross amount? How do I get the gross amount to deposit, since the check is for less than that? I have to PAY $40 because they took taxes out? This makes no sense!
I called the company handling the 401k. They claim they sent a letter previously asking what to do with it, but I never received any such thing. They charge $50 fee to reprocess it, and they’re not willing to make an exception to that. So, I guess I’ll need to set aside $20 for the 10% penalty and keep the rest of the money.Stupid. It’s all stupid.
I would ignore the first bit of the last sentence – it makes sense if you start with “A distribution has been processed…” Looks like they got audited and found some irregularities.
I don’t see any reason why you’d need to reprocess the check. Sounds like they thought you were telling them that you lost the check and want them to send another. $50 is pretty steep to recut a check, but somebody makes his living off of crazy fees like that.
Remember, you also have to pay taxes on the $204, not just the penalty. (It’s a penalty for not being old enough, if that makes you feel better!) If you don’t want to pay it, deposit $204 (whatever they sent you + the difference from your pocket) into your IRA or current 401k and have it recorded as a rollover from another qualified plan. Paying the taxes + penalty might just be easier though. Report it as a distribution on your 2014 taxes next year.
Clarification:
To keep the check they sent you, figure out how much tax you would pay on $204 of ordinary income in 2014. The employer withheld and sent in 20% of $204 ($41), meaning the check in your hand should be $163. You owe the difference + penalty.
If you (and Tony, because married filing jointly) are in the 25% marginal tax bracket, you should only have to pay another 5% + penalty ($10 + $20 = $30) to keep the $163 check. $133 for nothing isn’t too bad.
[omg, I’m such a nerd, loving this… have to stop myself from calculating all the retirement scenarios]
I will be printing all this for my tax files. 🙂 I love your nerdiness. haha