You Can Claim an IRA Deduction First, and Contribute Later

Not much to report today. I’ve been working on the how-to guide a bit more — adding some links to info on the IRS’s web site and elsewhere and prettying-up the formatting.

A reader clued me in to the fact that the IRS will let you claim your IRA contribution before you actually make the contribution — as long as you actually do contribute the money before the tax deadline of April 15th. So it’s possible to claim your maximum $3,000 deduction when you file your taxes in February, but wait until you get your refund check to actually contribute to your IRA.

I changed my “example” in the how-to to reflect this.