Hi. I recently tried to withdraw the funds from my Roth IRA account but was told by my online broker that I had to fill out a special form and submit it to them in order to do so. Upon receiving the form and analyzing it it doesn't seem that I fit into any of the categories listed.

I started the Roth IRA in late 1999, and made a $2000 contribution in both 1999 and 2000 (total of $4000). (By the way, I am 31 years old). It seems from the form that I will have to incur a penalty if I want to withdraw the funds, but I can't see how that should be since the total value of the account is less than I contributed to it (it is worth a little less than $4000).

Any insight someone can offer would be most appreciated.

Thank you.

Craig

Without seeing the form, I have no idea what it says. My question for you is whether you are talking about a tax penalty, or a penalty on the investment from the broker?

There is no tax penalty for withdrawing your own contributions from a Roth. Nothing on the form will change this, so don't worry about the form.

You should be able to ask someone at the broker for guidance.

Barry