Within how many days must a Traditional IRA be rolled over to another IRA to avoid tax consequences?

• A. 60 days
• B. 30 days
• C. 90 days
• D. 120 days

Answer: (A)

The key idea is that a traditional IRA rollover must be completed within 60 days to avoid taxes on the distribution. If you take a distribution from an IRA and redeposit it into another IRA within 60 days, the transaction is treated as a tax-free rollover rather than a withdrawal. If you miss that window, the distribution is taxed as ordinary income for the year, and if you’re under age 59½, you may also face a 10% early withdrawal penalty.

If the funds go directly from one IRA custodian to the other (a trustee-to-trustee transfer), there’s no 60-day clock to worry about, since you never receive the distribution personally.