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Enabling Check Writing on IRA Accounts

Toolworker

Fidelity locks some IRA accounts out of checkwriting. Here's a (long, tedious) way to get around that. I don't recommend going to the trouble, but I had already bought the printer checks, and when a system doesn't let me do something perfectly reasonable I take it as a challenge.

I make a lot of Qualified Charitable Distributions from this account. If I write the check, it needs to be cashed by Dec. 31. To avoid that, Fidelity can write and mail the checks. But every year some of them don't get cashed. Then six months later Fidelity writes me unclaimed property letters, I have to figure out which checks it was, stop payment and get duplicate checks sent.

So this year I'll write the checks myself, doing it well in advance of Dec. 31 so I can handle those myself that don't get cashed timely.

Ready to print my first checks, but not so fast: The checkwriting window allows checkwriting on an inherited IRA, but not on regular IRAs or Roths (why not Roths?).

Neither I nor AI could find a setting to fix this in Quicken. The restriction seems to be locked in by Fidelity through the web connection. But I cobbled together pieces of the AI's suggestions and found this workaround. Maybe there's an easier way, but this worked for me.

Make a backup of your qdata file. Better yet, make several.
Take screenshots of the balances in all your accounts, and the holdings in your IRA account.
Export the transactions from the existing IRA account to a QIF file.
Delete the existing account.
Add a new account as an offline account, type brokerage. Give it the same name as the deleted one (important).
Activate online services for the account. Give permission for all the currently linked accounts including this one.
When back in Quicken link the online account to the new account. All the others should show already linked; if not, link them to the correct ones.

Now rebuild the register. When my register came back up, it had a bunch of placeholder entries, and transactions going back a year or so. You're going to remove the placeholder entries, then go into the QIF file and delete the recent transactions already in the register, and import any remaining, older ones.
Delete all the placeholder entries for securities.
Edit the QIF file in Notepad (after making a backup copy).
Find the entries corresponding to the first transactions in the register. You can search for the date, in the format D8/29'24 (single digit days use D8/ 9'24).
Delete everything in the QIF file from the transactions already at the top of the register to the end.
The transactions for one date in the QIF file may be in a different order than the register, so carefully match up the QIF and register transactions near the top of the register and only delete transactions that already appear in the register.
Take care - each transaction starts with a date line D8/29'24 and ends with a ^
Import the QIF file into the account. Uncheck Special handling for transfers; this allows (most) existing transfers in this account to be matched to other accounts.
If it asks whether a transaction you just entered is the same as one it's showing, say Yes.
In Edit or Edit/Delete account, set the type of the account to tax-deferred.
Here comes the tedious part. (The parts so far weren't tedious?) Check for discrepancies in the holdings and balance of the new account, and the values of all other accounts. Then go through the register and resolve all the discrepancies.
I did this by putting the backup qdata file into Quicken on my laptop, and going through the register until the cash balance disagreed, then fixing. This process is sadly familiar to many of us, usually with the monthly statement instead of the laptop. So I'm pretty good at it by now.

Do you need tax reporting to be correct? If not, and if the cash balance and holdings match the original account, you're done!
Still here? Checks and withdrawals from the new account won't automatically have the right tax treatment, because Quicken isn't aware of its IRA status. So create a new category or categories for checks and withdrawals from the account, In the category list, set the Tax Reporting tab for those categories to 1099-R and Total IRA taxable distrib., or for a QCD, Total IRA Gross Distribution. Be careful to use only those categories for withdrawals from this account.

Again, I'm not suggesting that anyone else actually do this - unless, like me, you really enjoy wrestling software into submission when it won't let you do something entirely reasonable.

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Comments

NotACPA

My simple response is:

If a charity disregards my donation, such that they don't cash the check for months, I don't donate to them again. Apparently they don't need the money.

BUT, I've never had this happen.

Chris_QPW

From my point of view, I read these instructions as "how do I get around Quicken's cruddy QIF import problems." Quicken's QIF import has always been terrible especially for transfers, and in an investment, account depending on what the transactions are there might not even be any syntax in the QIF format for it. For instance, the QIF format has no syntax for security lots.

It might be interesting to try doing this with a QXF export/import. I still see problems with the QXF export/import when I do my whole file, but other say it has worked for them, and recently the added doing just one account. I haven't tried it, but I suspect that the QXF import is just like the QIF import that if there is an existing empty account with the same name it will probably just import into that account.

I would also suggest creating an idea post to change Quicken about what accounts the check writing can reference because it seems ridiculous that different kinds of IRA accounts have different behaviors. You can go to the forum home page and do New Post → New Idea so that it can be voted on. But in fact, it might even be considered a bug.

Quicken Aldair

Hi @Toolworker,

Thank you for taking the time to document this in such detail and for sharing the workaround you found. I’m sorry for the frustration you’ve experienced with check writing on IRA accounts, especially given the additional complications you’ve encountered with Qualified Charitable Distributions and uncashed checks.

I appreciate you explaining the process and the precautions involved. Because the workaround requires deleting and recreating an account, importing and modifying a QIF file, and then manually reconciling transactions, balances, and holdings, I would strongly recommend making a verified backup of your Quicken data file before attempting anything similar.

As for the underlying limitation, the difference in check-writing availability between inherited IRAs, traditional IRAs, and Roth IRAs is definitely worth bringing to our Product Team’s attention. At this time, there isn’t a Quicken setting that can be used to override the account types made available for check writing through the financial institution connection.

As @Chris_QPW suggested, the best next step would be to create an Idea post requesting that check writing be available for the appropriate IRA account types. Once posted, other Quicken users can vote on the Idea, which helps our Product Team gauge interest and prioritize potential changes.

You can create this idea here:

https://community.quicken.com/categories/quicken-product-ideas

Thanks again for sharing your experience and workaround with the community!

UKR

How about changing this discussion to an Idea? This way we don't lose all the valuable input from the OP and all the comments made already. We'd also save a lot of time.

Toolworker

The problem is that the donations are QCDs - Qualified Charitable Distributions - from an IRA. People over 70 1/2 can donate up to $110,000 from a regular IRA to a charity. It counts against their Minimum Required Distribution (MRD), but is not taxable income.

The money must go from the account directly to the charity during the tax year. So if you write the check, it doesn't count until it's cashed. But if it's not cashed, you can stop payment and write another, or take the money as a distribution.

If Fidelity writes the check, you won't know it wasn't cashed until you get a letter from them six months later - probably during the next tax year. And the money is already out of your account. If you needed that distribution to make up your MRD, you'd be liable for a tax penalty unless you could get the charity to cash a replacement check.

All of which makes it worth the trouble to go through writing the checks yourself on the IRA account. I think. I'll let you know in January.

Toolworker

Yes, can you change this to an idea? If not I'll post that separately and cross-reference.

Sceptic

@Toolworker maybe I am not clear on what you described as your process of creating and printing checks from your IRA to send as QCDs. From what I understand, if Fidelity (or any custodian/trustee) doesn't allow you to write checks directly from your IRA to the charity, then the QCD check must come directly from Fidelity. You cannot get around this by printing and sending your own checks from an IRA that doesn't allow it.

There are many reasons why an IRA doesn't allow check writing, but simply, only self‑directed brokerage IRAs that explicitly offer IRA check‑writing allow the account owner to physically write checks from the IRA. And again, if the IRA doesn't allow for checkwriting, the QCD check must come directly from the custodian/trustee, in this case Fidelity.

If you send a check from an IRA that doesn't allow checkwriting, the QCD is no longer a QCD and is taxable. The QCD becomes a regular charitable donation recorded on Schedule A.

Sceptic

@Toolworker it is also important to note that there was a change to the 1099-R for QCDs starting for the tax year 2024. Before this there was no special code for QCDs, but for tax years 2024 and after, Box 7 of the 1099-R for the QCD should be coded with a "Y". If you try to write your own QCD checks from an IRA that doesn't allow it, the 1099-R would not be coded properly with a "Y"

jsnider47

The paper IRA check transition window is closing:

For Tax Years 2025 and 2026: You can write a paper check from your IRA, hand it to your church or charity, download your Form 1099-R showing a standard Code 7 in Box 7, and then in H&R Block (or other personal tax software) still enter amount of QCD, then software takes gross IRA distribution, 1040 line 4a (from Box 1, 1099-R) – your user-entered QCD amount to = line 4b, taxable income . This is because Code Y is optional for 2026 (see 2026 IRS 1099-R for explicit statement and instructions) and also was optional for 2025. For 2025 and 2026 tax software and IRS system will process your manual honor-system entry exactly as you described. Schwab and Fidelity allow paper checks for IRAs (Vanguard does not allow paper checks).
For Tax Year 2027 and Beyond: The optional loophole closes permanently. If you write a manual paper check, the IRA custodian/broker will report Code 7, your entry of what you intended to be a paper check IRA QCD, and then user entered QCD amount in H&R block – which determines 1040, Line 4b will then trigger a database mismatch against the mandatory Code Y filter. No code Y in 2027, then you did not do a QCD. Then the IRS computers will automatically issue a notice. So, any paper checks written to Church or charity for QCD, you will be taxed as ordinary income to donate the distribution. So, in 2027 better to stop writing personal checks and use your custodian's direct online request system. In 2027, the IRS does not know the amount of your QCD, just that you did one in 2027 with code Y on Form 1099-R.

mshiggins

@jsnider47 it seems the code Y handling for 2027 is not as cut and dried as you have stated, at least according to this Morningstar article:

https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance/new-qcd-reporting-rule-raises-big-question-ira-owners

Sceptic

@jsnider47 @mshiggins

Wow what a mess. I think the safest thing to do is always have the custodian/trustee directly send the QCD to the charity. I read that the code Y was optional, but I thought that it was migrating to always being coded as a Y. But I still am under the impression that if you write a check for a QCD from an IRA that doesn't allow checkwriting, that's a problem. The check withdrawal then would not be considered a QCD. There are various reasons why check writing is not allowed or blocked from certain IRAs. These are not arbitrary or discretionary reasons.

Sceptic

@jsnider47 after rereading your comment. I respectfully disagree with your assertion that you could write a check for a QCD and give it to your church or charity and have your tax preparer just enter it as a QCD on your tax forms. A tax preparer cannot fix it or convert it to a QCD. In order for it to be considered a QCD, the distribution to the charity must come directly from the IRA. The check has to be from an IRA that allows check writing. As far as I know, only self-directed IRAs allow for check writing. From what I understand there has never been a loophole for this. The coding (Y) on the 1099-R form is probably being put into place to catch people trying to do what you describe.

Chris_QPW

In reference to the "idea" I want to understand something. When you setup an IRA in Quicken manually these are the only choices:

Clearly QCDs "accounts" aren't here for "blocking check writing".

What caused the blocking? Is really that the financial institution sent information to Quicken during the online setup that blocks this?

If so then that would make this requested idea invalid. I thought this was something that Quicken was doing just by the account type selected.

BTW from what I have researched @Sceptic is correct, no check writing on the account, then you can't do this. And it makes perfect sense; the requirement is that the contribution come directly from the IRA. If there isn't any check writing and the financial institution hasn't done the transfer, then the only thing you can do is do a withdrawn and pay from your personal account, which isn't allowed.

Sceptic

What could be done is to add an option for "Self-Managed IRAs" as an account type or as an option in account details. Then it could be implied that these IRA types allow for linked checking accounts. From what I understand, self managed IRAs are the only ones that allow for check writing. Or better yet just add the the ability to add linked checking accounts to any IRA and let the user decide how they want to use it.

Sceptic

You make some really good points here. I see the dilemma. Just because you add the feature in Quicken, there is no guarrantee that it can interface properly with the FI. All you are doing is openning another can of worms.

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20572629#Comment_20572629

mshiggins

Regarding being able to write checks from an IRA and have them count as QCDs, my research is telling me:

If the FI allows check writing and the account is a traditional IRA, you can write checks to qualified charities and those withdrawals will qualify as QCDs. You as the taxpayer are still ultimately responsible for tracking and reporting the QCD donations - this is true whether the FI issues the checks or you write the checks yourself.
If the account is a checkbook IRA LLC structure, checks written to charities are not eligible to be QCDs because "the check-writing control is outside of the direct trustee framework".

Disclaimer - I am not a tax expert, do your own research and/or consult your own tax professional.

Regarding what is actually limiting the ability to write and print checks from an IRA in Quicken:

You can use the WriteChk action in the Enter Transactions window in a traditional IRA account in Quicken and this records the check transaction in the IRA transaction list. This independent of the FI as the WriteChk action is available even an offline traditional IRA account.
You can indicate the WriteChk Enter Transaction window to add the check to the check printing queue.
The sticking point is the check printing. For a traditional IRA account in Quicken, the Print Checks feature will not recognize that there are checks to print.

I tried to find an alternate method to exporting and importing the entire IRA account.

Tried writing and printing the checks from a brokerage account thinking I could then move the transactions from the brokerage account to the IRA account. The writing and printing from the brokerage account worked fine, but I could not find any method to move or cut/copy/paste the transactions from the brokerage account to the IRA account. So you would have to manually recreate the checks in the IRA account and delete the check transactions from the brokerage account.
Tried the same with writing and printing checks from a checking account and moving the transactions to the IRA account. Same issue - I could find no method to move or cut/copy/paste transactions from the checking account to the IRA account.
Tried using QIF export for the brokerage/banking check transactions and importing to the IRA account. The transactions did import to the IRA account, but came in as Withdraw transactions and lost their check numbers.

So no ideal solutions, just more tedious workarounds.

Chris_QPW

The "Move Transactions" that is a relatively new feature in Quicken Subscription does allow moving the write check transaction from a Brokerage account to a IRA account, but is quite painful since it does a Validate at the end to clean up whatever in the database.

"Write Check" is one of things I was remembering about the fact that they made an "attempt" to have the feature in the brokerage account but didn't complete it. Clearly if this was finished you would be able to print that check. That in fact, might be the better idea to implement.

Sceptic

I didn't realize that they attempted to add the "Write Check" function to brokerage accounts. If that is the case, you may be right that that may be a better option rather than a full blown linked checking account. Just so long as they include adding the "Write Check" features to Traditional IRAs to accomodate QCDs.

Sceptic

Just for reference. Only a handful of mainstream custodians offer IRA checkbooks:

Charles Schwab
Fidelity
Vanguard (limited; often custodian‑issued checks)
ETRADE Complete IRA

So it may explain why the ability to write checks from an IRA account on Quicken hasn't had any traction in the past. But I still think the OP has a good idea. Quicken should at least allow the "Write Check" function in Traditional IRA accounts to accomodate QCDs (and not make users do a complicated workaround just to print checks).

Jim_Harman

Responding to @Chris_QPW's nested comment above, it appears that the title of this discussion should actually be "Enable check printing on IRA accounts" since check writing is already available.

Also an Idea about IRA check writing from 2021, now archived, mentioned that IRAs converted from MS Money support linked checking accounts but other IRAs do not.

And one more point: because an IRA is a tax deferred account, I'm not sure how you would record a QCD check written directly on that account so that it would be treated correctly in the Tax Planner and tax reports. I record QCDs as transfers to a dummy taxable account where I cancel out the income and record the QCD payment using a Charity sub Category that does not feed Schedule A.

I suppose if I wanted to print the QCD checks, I could do it from the dummy account, but Vanguard only supports QCDs via checks that they generate and send to me. I can then include the check with the charity's form and send it on to them.

Chris_QPW

I agree, but the more I think about it, the more I think this is a long-standing bug, not a new feature.

mshiggins

I was actually figuring out how to write my first QCD checks just this week, so this was a timely and interesting discussion!

NotACPA

I just had Fidelity send my QCD checks last year, in November. Much easier than doing it myself.

Jim_Harman

Here is my response to an earlier discussion on recording QCDs

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20540252#Comment_20540252

q_lurker

Am I reading this topic correctly that what is really wanted is for the programming to allow any retirement-class account (IRA, Roth IRA, 401k, etc.) to have a 'linked checking account' capability?

Or is the idea to use the current WriteChk transaction and be able to print those on Quicken-compatible checks?

Either way, it should be made clear by editing the opening idea post.

All this discussion about QCD's seems to be extraneous noise to the basic idea I see being suggested. To the central idea, why does it matter if it is a QCD check, a withdrawal check, or a check paying for groceries or a credit card balance. (My separate understanding is that some users do use IRA checks as a regular checking account with the aggregate value serving as withdrawals toward RMD requirements.)

The ability to record written checks exists, I use it - the WriteChk transaction - albeit printing those 'checks' is a current no-go. I suppose if the FI provided you the first checkbook, one could order your own Quicken-compatible checks for the account but are people doing that, or handwriting the FI-provided checkbook.

Chris_QPW

Yes, @Jim_Harman stated the same thing, and I agree/agreed, but I contend that this should be reported by everyone as a bug.

The IRA accounts allow you write a check and entering into the "printing queue", so clearly, you should be able to print it.

And it shouldn't even be that hard to do, it looks like a simple filter is blocking this. If the account type was a brokerage account, it would all work. At the basic level there isn't any difference between the register used for a brokerage account and an IRA account. So, it isn't like there is any new "plumbing" to put in. The problem only seems to be that the "Write Check" dialog is filtering out the IRA accounts so you can't select them.

As for should a linked checking account be allowed. I'm would say that in the past it is clear that it shouldn't have one. It implies more than just writing a check. But given new developments in the way the financial institutions are treating the IRA accounts that might need to be revisited, but not in this thread. And as for handling QCDs in general. This other idea is clearly the better one to look at:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7864626/improve-handling-of-ira-distributions-including-qcds-and-roth-conversions

Chris_QPW

I have submitted this Problem report:

Investments

You should be able to print a check from an IRA account.

Currently you use the WriteCheck action from an IRA account to create a check entry and set it to print, but when you go to the Write Check dialog it filters out the IRA accounts even when it has the print icon on the account name in the Account Bar that takes you to the Write Check Dialog. For QCDs and probably other reasons it is allowed to write a check from an IRA account. So, it should be allowed to print that check.

I encourage others to do the same.

Sceptic

I agree with what @Chris_QPW but an important caveat is that you can only write or print your own check from the traditional IRA if your custodian allows you to have a checkbook with your IRA. There are only a handful of mainstream custodians that currently provide this checkwriting capability.

Charles Schwab
Fidelity
Vanguard (limited; often custodian‑issued checks)
ETRADE Complete IRA

That is why the discussion was sometimes about adding the linked checking account feature to Traditional IRAs. But, a Chris pointed out, there might be programming and interface issues with a linked checking account. So then the "WriteCheck" option seem the more logical solution. Even without "WriteCheck" the user who has the checkbook feature with their traditional IRA could always just write their own check for their QCD or RMD and then record it as a check in the IRA account on Quicken. It's just that the OP wants to print his own checks from Quicken.

Toolworker

@Quicken Aldair My OP wasn't set up to be an idea, but making it one has generated considerable discussion.

Now that @Chris_QPW has pointed out that the correct statement of the idea is that the Write Check function should be available in IRA accounts, and has submitted that as a problem report, can we declare success and move this back to Discussions? The workaround in the OP ought to remain available until if and when the problem report is accepted and fixed.

Chris_QPW

I'm of the opinion that allowing any IRA to "Write Checks" and print them "does no harm". This is never a downloaded action, it is something that the user enters, and they should certainly know if they can actually write a check or not.

One might say the same for "link to checking account" but to me this is "more dangerous". You are actually taking transactions that should appear in the investment account and pushing them to a separate virtual account. Not only does this have ramifications like it might be impossible to change your mind on this (you can switch back but in a lot of cases Quicken mess it up) and the reporting changes because of the fact that the transaction are now in a banking account. In some cases that last part might be desirable, but without really studying it seems like a "risk" to me.

EDIT there is a guaranteed bug here in my opinion on the WriteCheck. Either the user shouldn't be allowed to write a check at all or the printing should be allowed. You can't have it both ways.

Jim_Harman

Further wrinkles on writing and printing checks from IRAs:

In an IRA, I can click on Enter Transactions and Write checks is an available option, with a "Send this check to the printing queue" checkbox. But as others have noted, when I try to write or print the checks from Tools > Write and print checks or by hitting Ctrl-W, the IRA account is not available.

And there is no option to write a check in an IRA account directly from the Transaction List. The Enter Transactions dropdown list has a full set of cash transactions like other investing accounts, but the only cash option in the Transaction List is WithdrawX.

mshiggins

@Jim_Harman for your QCD process, what is the tax line item on the IRA account’s transfers out, if any? I’ve been banging my head trying to get the QCDs showing properly and wonder if the transfers out tax line item is the problem.

mshiggins

@Jim_Harman of course as soon as I post I figure where I was going wrong! You’d think I hadn’t been reading the IRA RMD posts for the last 20 years…

I have the tax line item for transfers out on the IRA set to 1099-R:Total IRA taxable distrib, but was failing to initiate the distribution from the IRA as a deposit in the taxable account (step 3 in your process).