4012 / When may rollover contributions be made from an IRA to another IRA?
An owner of a traditional IRA (other than a SIMPLE IRA during the first two years of participation ( Q 3709)) may receive a distribution of any amount from it and within 60 days roll that amount, or any part of that amount, over into any other traditional IRA (i.e., a receiving plan).1 Likewise, an owner of a Roth IRA may receive such a distribution from it and within 60 days roll that amount, or any part of that amount, over into any other Roth IRA.2 Under previous rules, the only rollover permitted to a SIMPLE IRA was from another SIMPLE IRA. However, the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH) modified these rules to permit a taxpayer to roll over funds from an employer-sponsored retirement plan (such as a 401(k)) to a SIMPLE IRA as long as the taxpayer has participated in the SIMPLE IRA plan for at least two years.3 A Roth IRA generally can be rolled over only to another Roth IRA.
The IRS is authorized to waive the 60-day rollover requirement where failure to waive it would be against equity or good conscience, including upon the occurrence of a casualty, disaster, or other event beyond the reasonable control of the individual subject to the requirement ( Q 4016).4
The owner, for purposes of these rules, includes a spouse who has made a rollover ( Q 4014). The receiving plan may be an existing plan or one newly created, but an endowment contract or an individual retirement plan inherited from a decedent who died after 1983, other than a deceased spouse, may not be used as a receiving individual retirement plan.