Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA)
You shouldn’t have to wait until retirement to relax. Put your mind at ease knowing that you’re earning more for your retirement with a VyStar IRA. Our IRAs offer competitive rates, and no fees. Choose from a complete range of retirement savings and certificate options like traditional IRAs, Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRAs, Roth IRAs and Coverdell Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). You can even place your IRA funds into any of our certificate programs or into an IRA-tiered savings account, where you’ll earn more with higher balances.
Need more information?
Visit the Retirement Service Center to learn more about IRAs, plan for your retirement, print forms that are needed to open an IRA or review your existing IRA.
IRA products offer higher dividends for larger deposits, no maintenance or administration fees, and retirement accounts insurance protection is separate and apart from insurance coverage of other credit union accounts.
If you need to move your IRA funds from a previous employer or transfer IRA funds from another financial institution, VyStar can help and won’t charge fees for this service.
IRA Certificates
VyStar IRA Certificates are a secure, trustworthy way to save for your retirement. Depending on your income, tax filing status and eligibility from other retirement savings plans, your yearly IRA contributions may be fully or partially tax deductible.
View Current Certificate Rates
To get started or for assistance, talk to a VyStar Representative today. Call (904) 777-6000, 1 (800) 445-6289 or stop by any VyStar branch.
Individual Retirement Account FAQ
Traditional IRAs offer the following benefits:
- Independence: Individuals may open and fund IRAs without any employer participation.
- Immediate tax advantages: Earnings remain tax-deferred until distributed.
- Possible tax deductions: Eligible individuals can make deductible contributions.
- Accessibility: Individuals may distribute IRA assets at any time.
- Flexibility: There is no annual contribution requirement.
To make a regular traditional IRA contribution, the IRA owner must:
- Not have attained 70.5 years of age
- Have eligible compensation (generally earned income) equal to or greater than the traditional IRA contribution amount
An IRA owner may contribute to all of their traditional and Roth IRAs up to the lesser of:
Spousal contributions are a way to make regular contributions to IRAs. An IRA owner who has little or no income can make a regular contribution based on the other spouse’s income if the following requirements are met:
- The couple must be married and file a joint federal income tax return.
- One spouse must have compensation or earned income equal to or greater than the IRA contribution.
- The noncompensated spouse must establish an IRA.
- The spouse receiving the contribution must not have attained 70.5 years of age.
The amount of money an individual may contribute per taxable year as a spousal contribution is the same as that for regular IRA contributions.
Individuals must make regular contributions to traditional and Roth IRAs by the due date of their federal income tax returns (generally April 15), not including extensions. If the deadline for filing an individual’s income tax return falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the individual will have until the following business day to make a contribution.
Contributions made between January 1 and April 15 of one year for the previous year are called prior-year contributions.
One of the benefits of contributing to a traditional IRA is that the contribution may be tax-deductible. Whether a contribution or a portion of a contribution is deductible depends on active participation (participating in or receiving contributions) in an employer-sponsored retirement plan, marital status and modified adjusted gross income (MAGI).
Yes. Traditional IRA owners are permitted to make nondeductible IRA contributions if they are not eligible for a tax deduction or if they choose to not take a deduction. The combined total of deductible and nondeductible contributions cannot exceed the annual contribution limit of $5,500 for 2018 and $6,000 for 2019, plus catch-up contribution if eligible, or 100% of earned income, whichever is less. IRA owners track their nondeductible IRA contributions by filing Form 8606, Nondeductible IRAs, with their federal income tax returns.
Certain individuals may receive a nonrefundable tax credit (not to exceed $1,000) for their regular IRA contributions. Eligible individuals determine their credit on IRS Form 8880,
Credit for Qualified Retirement Savings Contributions, by multiplying their total traditional and Roth IRA regular contributions and retirement plan deferrals of up to a maximum of $2,000 by an applicable percentage. To be eligible for the tax credit, an individual must:
- Have attained age 18 before the end of the taxable year
- Not be a dependent or full-time student
- Have adjusted gross income (AGI) within limits
Unlike many employer-sponsored retirement plans in which access to assets might be limited until the participant has a change of employment or reaches retirement age, access to IRA assets is guaranteed, always. Most Traditional IRA distributions taken before the IRA owner reaches age 59.5 are subject to a 10% early distribution penalty tax. This is to discourage people from taking Traditional IRA distributions at an early age rather than keeping the assets for retirement. The 10 percent early distribution penalty tax does not apply in the following situations:
- Age 59.5 and above
- Death
- Disability
- Certain medical expenses
- Health insurance premiums following unemployment
- First home buyer expenses
- Higher education expenses
- IRS levy
- Series of substantially equal periodic payments
- Qualified reservist distributions
IRS Publication 590,
Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), provides more detail on these penalty tax exceptions.
Traditional IRA distributions become mandatory beginning in the year that a traditional IRA owner turns age 70.5. These mandatory distributions are called required minimum distributions (RMDs). IRA owners must begin taking RMDs by April 1st of the year following the year they turn 70.5. These distributions are based on the IRA balance divided by the applicable distribution period. Because IRAs were created to provide income during retirement—not to be a tax shelter—IRA owners failing to take their RMDs are subject to a 50% excess accumulation penalty tax on the assets that should have been distributed but were not.
For IRA accounts, you may not make any withdrawal or transfers to another credit union account of yours or to a third party by means of a preauthorized or automatic transfer, telephonic order or instructions, or similar order to a third party. Please consult your tax advisor on the tax benefits of an IRA account. An early withdrawal penalty may apply.