Frequently Asked Question

February 15 2008 | Filed Under ยป ,

Can my spouse and I combine our Traditional IRAs?

No. IRAs cannot be maintained as joint accounts. One key indicator is the label - IRA stands for individual retirement account. The "individual" in the label suggests that the account must be maintained as an individual account for registration purposes.

Refer also to IRC 408 §, which states that an IRA must be established for an individual. Joint ownership is not allowed under any provisions of the Code or Treasury Regulations.

For further reading, see the Traditional IRAs tutorial.

This question was answered by Denise Appleby
(Contact Denise)
by

Denise Appleby

Denise Appleby
Denise Appleby is founder and owner of Appleby Retirement Consulting,which provides technical consultation, content, coaching, writing, editing and training services on related topics.


With more than 14 years of experience in the IRA and defined-contribution plans fields, Appleby has held several senior retirement-plan related positions with Pershing LLC, which included vice president of plans products and services, retirement plans manager, trainer, training manager, compliance consultant, technical help desk manager and writer.
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