IRA distributions Treatment in Quicken

Don St Peter

Total treatment of IRA Minimum Required Distribution in Quicken in previous posts has not worked for me. Specifically those approaches posted by JM superUser and ukr SuperUser of past 5 to 7 years has not allowed for tracking of taxable income of MRD's as a separate line item in Quicken Reports that I generate. Of course by assigning categories such as Fed IRS tax W/H, State Tax W/H one can have separate line items for these in reports, but not net income from MRD's as separate line item. Could someone address how this can be done? I have noted discussion on those topics that old has closed.

Thanks in advance for any help.  

J_Mike

The important point here is that retirement distributions are not 'income' in the traditional sense. The distributions are a transfer - i.e., you move money from one pocket to another (from your tax-deferred pocket to your taxable pocket). Your net worth does not change (except for the decrease if you have taxes withheld).

Yes, the IRS treats the distribution as 'income' - because it did not get its' bite when the true income actually occurred sometime in the past.

By comparison, when you receive traditional income (paycheck, social security, investment income, other funds from outside sources), your net worth increases.

For myself, in retirement, my approach to money management has evolved from managing income & expense to managing cash flow. Do I have sufficient funds to meet obligations and are the funds in the right place at the right time to meet these same obligations? I use customized Cash Flow Reports to accomplish this end. I do not bother with Income vs Expense Reports as I am always short on the income side - it's meaningless.

I would urge you to Think Cash Flow.