early withdrawl question (roth)

[Guest pdog101]

Hi,

2 years ago I contributed $1500 to a roth ira. It was a contribution of my income, not a rollover account from another IRA. I want to withdraw that $1500 now and leave whatever profits I have earned in the roth ira account.

I'm prior to the 5 1/2 year limit, but I'm not withdrawing any earnings. Am I subject to any penalties if I do this?

[Appleby]

No. Your regular contributions may be withdrawn at any time, tax and penalty free. Because the Roth IRA distributions rules determine that any distribution is attributed first to your regular contributions, your distribution of $1,500 or less will be attributed to your regular contributions. See the article Tax Treatment Of Roth IRA Distributions .

Of course, you may already know that if you have regular savings, it may be better to use the $1,500 from those amounts, since assets in a Roth IRA accrue on a tax-deferred basis and are tax-free if qualified...which is not the case for your regular savings