I am now working PT in the "real world" and part-time in my ebay business. I lost my employer's contribution to my retirement account at work, and our accountant recommends that I get a Simple IRA to save ebay profits towards retirement. Apparently you can put $6000 a year into such an account.
Just curious if anyone else is doing something like that? I need to double-check with the bank or whatever that I am eligible. I am confused because I do have my own small business, but I work PT for another[county library] employer.
posted on May 20, 2001 11:04:25 AM
It's up to $6000 now? Cool.
I have an IRA just sitting that I inherited in a divorce, but I haven't contributed in awhile. They're pretty easy to set up though.
I no longer know the particulars as you can see from the first sentence. I kind of made a decision to pay off my house in 10 years rather than do the retirement fund thing.
Good luck! And smart thinking. If the rules are still the same, you should be able to contribute until April 15th of the following year, so you might want to find out what your profit is first, and then calculate what you'd need to put in to offset your tax liability.
posted on May 20, 2001 01:47:02 PM
I think you need to check with another accountant, who will be more clear on the subject. Is your accountant talking about a SEP-IRA?
The laws regarding these retirement plans are <b>very</b> complex, and the IRS is NOT very forgiving if you misinterpret the rules or if you get bad advice.
posted on May 20, 2001 01:52:09 PM
It's the SIMPLE IRA which is interesting: you can have a "real" job and a retirement fund through them, and also get one of these if you fund solely from your small business. It's up to $6,500 for 2001. You have to make a minimum of $5000 from your small business. I mostly need to see if my bank offers it; I might have to go through a brokerage place and pay fees for the service.
posted on May 20, 2001 04:29:29 PM
If you are signing up for an IRA, make sure to make it a ROTH IRA (especially if you do not claim your ebay profits on taxes). All the money that goes into it is after tax money, and any money it earns is tax free.
NO FEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
