Cash transactions not available in IRA accounts (Single Mutual Fund = NO)

jhg

I recently set up a brokerage account and a couple of IRA accounts in Quicken. In the brokerage account I have access to all transaction type, including cash transactions. However it seems to be very difficult to create a cash transaction in an IRA account. In the register transaction type dropdown ("Action" column) none of the usual cash types are listed (XIn, XOut, Deposit, Withdraw). You can get to Deposit and Withdraw only in the Enter Transaction dialog, but XIn and XOut are missing there too.

What is the reason for this? An IRA account that is not Single Mutual Fund is essentially the same as a brokerage account except it's tax deferred, which shouldn't limit the types of transactions available.

Tom Young

This seems to have been set up this way because of the tax rules, is my guess.

An IRA Account isn't the same as an after tax brokerage Account in that money crossing the "frontier" between an IRA Account and and after tax Account is handled differently than money crossing the frontiers at two different after tax Accounts. A simple Transfer of cash between two after tax Accounts isn't a tax event while that same Transfer between an IRA and a regular checking Account is a tax event.

Perhaps it was simpler from a programming standpoint when "IRAs" were first introduced to limit the options of cash movement and properly capture the tax events created cash left or entered an IRA.