You can move an IRA to another institution by asking the receiving firm to run a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer, and the IRS places no limit on how often you do it. The two custodians handle the movement between themselves, you never take possession of the money, and nothing about the move is treated as a distribution. That means no tax, no withholding, no 60-day clock, and no one-per-year restriction.
The rest comes down to picking the right method, filling out the paperwork correctly, and knowing the few situations where the standard rules bend.
Why the Transfer Method Matters
The IRS draws a hard line between a transfer and a rollover. In a trustee-to-trustee transfer, the assets move directly between financial institutions. Because there is no distribution to you, the transaction is tax-free and is not affected by the one-rollover-per-year waiting period.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A (2025), Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
An indirect rollover is different. Your old custodian sends you a check or deposits the funds into your personal bank account, and you have 60 days to redeposit the full amount into another IRA or eligible retirement plan.2Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions Miss that window and the IRS treats the entire amount as a taxable distribution. If you’re younger than 59½, add a 10 percent early withdrawal penalty on top of the income tax.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 72 – Annuities; Certain Proceeds of Endowment and Life Insurance Contracts
IRA distributions carry a default 10 percent voluntary federal withholding that you can waive; a trustee-to-trustee transfer avoids withholding entirely because no distribution is made to you.4Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Resource Guide Plan Participants General Distribution Rules For any move between two IRAs, the direct route is cleaner in every respect.
One boundary worth naming: transfers must go between the same type of account. Traditional to Traditional, Roth to Roth. A SEP IRA is legally a Traditional IRA and follows the same rules.5Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plans FAQs Regarding SEPs Moving a Traditional IRA into a Roth IRA is a conversion, which is a separate, taxable transaction.
How To Set Up the Transfer
Open the receiving IRA at the new institution first, if you don’t already have one. The new custodian drives the process from there: they issue a transfer request form (sometimes called a transfer initiation form), contact your current custodian on your behalf, and pull the assets in.
The form typically asks for:
- Account numbers for both the existing IRA and the new IRA.
- The legal name and address of the institution currently holding your IRA.
- Your Social Security number, and in many cases a recent account statement from the current custodian.
- Whether you’re moving the full balance or a partial amount. For partial transfers, you specify the dollar amount, number of shares, or particular securities.
Make sure the transaction is designated as a trustee-to-trustee transfer, not a rollover or distribution. That single checkbox is what keeps the IRS out of the equation.
Some custodians require a Medallion Signature Guarantee for high-value transfers. It’s a specialized stamp, different from a standard notarization, that verifies your identity and shields both institutions from fraud. You can usually get one at a bank or credit union where you already hold an account. If it’s required and missing, the current custodian will reject the paperwork.
What Can and Cannot Move In Kind
Not every holding travels. Proprietary mutual funds, meaning funds offered exclusively by one institution, generally cannot be held at a different custodian. In that case the current custodian liquidates those shares and sends the cash. The same applies to certain annuity contracts or other institution-specific investments. Before you file the transfer form, ask the new custodian which of your holdings will move as-is and which need to be sold.
How Long It Takes
Most brokerage-to-brokerage transfers move through the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service (ACATS), the electronic system that standardizes moving securities between firms.6U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Transferring Your Brokerage Account – Tips on Avoiding Delays A problem-free ACATS transfer typically takes six to ten business days.7FINRA. Report of the Customer Account Transfer Task Force
Delays usually come from one of three sources: account information on the transfer form that doesn’t match the current custodian’s records, assets that have to be liquidated before they can move, or a missing signature guarantee. Cash-only transfers, like the proceeds from a bank IRA CD, can process in under a week at some institutions. Check the transaction history on both accounts, and follow up with the current custodian if nothing has moved within two weeks.
SIMPLE IRA: The Two-Year Trap
A SIMPLE IRA has its own waiting period. During the first two years after you begin participating in the employer’s SIMPLE IRA plan, you can only transfer the assets to another SIMPLE IRA. Move SIMPLE IRA funds to a Traditional IRA or any other non-SIMPLE account before the two years are up, and the IRS treats the amount as a distribution and imposes a 25 percent additional tax. That’s higher than the standard 10 percent early withdrawal penalty.8Internal Revenue Service. SIMPLE IRA Withdrawal and Transfer Rules After two years, you can transfer SIMPLE IRA funds tax-free to a Traditional IRA or other non-Roth retirement account.
Frequency: Transfers vs. Indirect Rollovers
Trustee-to-trustee transfers have no frequency limit. You can move your IRA between institutions as many times as you want in a year.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A (2025), Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
Indirect rollovers are the ones that carry the one-per-year cap. The IRS allows only one indirect rollover across all of your IRAs in any 12-month period, and for this purpose all of your Traditional, Roth, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs are treated as a single IRA. An indirect rollover from any one of them starts the clock for all of them.2Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions Trustee-to-trustee transfers, Roth conversions, and rollovers between IRAs and employer plans are all exempt from this limit.
Coordinating With Required Minimum Distributions
Once you reach age 73, you generally must begin taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) from your Traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs each year.9Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) Your first RMD is due by April 1 of the year following the year you turn 73; every one after that is due December 31.
An RMD cannot be rolled over or transferred into another tax-deferred account. It has to come out as a distribution. If you’re transferring your IRA in a year an RMD is due, take the RMD before initiating the transfer, or wait and take it from the new account after the transfer settles. Either works, as long as the required amount is withdrawn by the annual deadline. If you own multiple Traditional IRAs, you calculate the RMD for each account separately but can pull the total from any one or more of them.10Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
Missing an RMD triggers an excise tax of 25 percent on the shortfall, dropping to 10 percent if you correct it within two years.11Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs
Inherited IRAs
You can move an inherited IRA to a new custodian through a trustee-to-trustee transfer, but the account has to keep its inherited titling. A non-spouse beneficiary cannot roll inherited IRA funds into their own IRA. The inherited account stays titled in the name of the deceased original owner, for your benefit as the beneficiary.10Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) The transfer is fine as long as the new account keeps that titling.
Most non-spouse beneficiaries who inherited from someone who died in 2020 or later must empty the entire account by the end of the tenth year following the owner’s death.12Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Beneficiary Moving the inherited IRA to a different custodian does not restart or change the 10-year clock. Certain eligible designated beneficiaries, including a surviving spouse, a minor child of the deceased, someone who is disabled or chronically ill, or someone not more than 10 years younger than the deceased, may have different distribution options.
A surviving spouse has the most flexibility, including the option to transfer the inherited IRA into their own IRA and treat it as their own account going forward.
Transfers in a Divorce
Federal tax law allows tax-free transfer of IRA assets to a spouse or former spouse under a divorce decree or separation agreement. The transferred portion becomes the receiving spouse’s own IRA from that point forward, not a distribution to the original owner.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408 – Individual Retirement Accounts The transfer must be made under a divorce or separation instrument. Simply handing part of your IRA to a spouse without a court order does not qualify.
What Gets Reported to the IRS
A direct trustee-to-trustee transfer between two IRAs of the same type generally is not reported. The current custodian does not issue a Form 1099-R, and the receiving custodian does not report the incoming amount on Form 5498, because no distribution has occurred.14Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498 As far as the IRS is concerned, the money never left a tax-advantaged account.
Reporting does kick in for other movements. A direct rollover from an employer plan such as a 401(k) into an IRA is reported on Form 1099-R using distribution code G, with the receiving IRA custodian reporting the incoming rollover on Form 5498. A Roth conversion is reported on Form 1099-R even when handled as a trustee-to-trustee transfer, because the conversion is a taxable event.15Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498 An indirect rollover produces a 1099-R showing the distribution, and you then report the rollover on your tax return to establish that the amount isn’t taxable. Keep records of the dates and amounts either way.