My wife was laid off in March 1999, she had been in their 401K plan. Now she is stay at home mom, obviously not in a 401K plan.

We file jointly and would fall below the AGI phaseout. Would we still be able to claim the $2000 deposit into her IRA for 199 as fully deductible since she is no longer an "active participant" in a 401K plan, even though she was at one point in the year?

As long as she was a participant at ANY time during the year, she is considered an active participant in order to determine IRA deductibility.



------------------
Barry Picker, CPA/PFS, CFP
New York, NY

Thanks for the prompt response, just curious, this is the case even if we took the lump sum payout on the amount, meaning she is totally out of that plan? She had only been in the plan for 3 months, it only had about 900 bucks in it.

Still no luck?

Thanks,
Rob

If your joint AGI for 1999 was less than $51,000, then you both can make deductible contributions even if you were both covered by plans. If your AGI is between $51,000 - $61,000 then you can get partial deductions.

Still no luck.



------------------
Barry Picker, CPA/PFS, CFP
New York, NY