Yes, you can borrow from your IRA for 60 days, but only through a specific tax code mechanism called an indirect rollover. Under 26 U.S.C. § 408(d)(3), you take a distribution from your IRA, use the cash however you want, and redeposit the full amount into a qualified retirement account by the 60th day after you receive it.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408 – Individual Retirement Accounts Do it right and you owe nothing. Miss the deadline by one day, and the entire distribution becomes taxable income, plus a 10% penalty if you are under 59½.
The IRS does not allow true loans from IRAs the way some 401(k) plans do. The 60-day rollover is the closest thing that exists, and the rules around it are unforgiving.
How the 60-Day Window Works
You request a distribution from your IRA custodian, receive the money by check or transfer, and then deposit the full gross amount into the same IRA or a different one within 60 calendar days.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408 – Individual Retirement Accounts
The clock starts the day after you receive the funds. Every calendar day counts. Weekends count. Federal holidays count. There is no extension if day 60 lands on a Sunday or a bank holiday. If the money is not sitting in a qualified retirement account by the end of day 60, the IRS treats the full amount as ordinary income for that tax year. If you are under 59½, a 10% early distribution penalty stacks on top of the income tax.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 72 – Annuities; Certain Proceeds of Endowment and Life Insurance Contracts
You also have to return the same type of property. If you took cash, you redeposit cash. You cannot take a cash distribution, buy stock with it, and then transfer the shares back into the IRA.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408 – Individual Retirement Accounts
The Withholding Trap That Ruins Rollovers
This is where people get burned. When your custodian processes an IRA distribution, the default is to withhold 10% for federal income tax. Ask for $10,000, and you receive $9,000. The custodian forwards $1,000 to the IRS on your behalf.3Internal Revenue Service. Pensions and Annuity Withholding
To complete a full rollover, you have to redeposit the entire $10,000, not the $9,000 you actually received. That missing $1,000 has to come from somewhere else in your pocket. If you only put back $9,000, the IRS treats the $1,000 shortfall as a taxable distribution. You will get the withheld amount back as a tax credit when you file, but you need to front the difference in the meantime.
You can sidestep this by filing IRS Form W-4R with your custodian before the distribution goes out. The form lets you elect any withholding rate from 0% to 100% on nonperiodic payments. Choose 0% and you receive the full amount, making the rollover math clean.4Internal Revenue Service. Form W-4R – Withholding Certificate for Nonperiodic Payments and Eligible Rollover Distributions If you skip the form, the custodian is required to withhold at 10% and cannot honor a verbal request to change it.
Only Once Every 12 Months, Across All Your IRAs
Section 408(d)(3)(B) limits you to one indirect rollover in any rolling 12-month period. Since 2015, the IRS has applied this limit in aggregate across every IRA you own: traditional, Roth, SEP, and SIMPLE, at every institution. For this rule, they are treated as a single IRA.5Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions
The 12 months run from the date you received the first distribution, not the date you completed the rollover. If you took a distribution on March 1, you cannot receive another indirect rollover distribution from any IRA until March 2 of the following year. A second distribution inside that window is immediately taxable, and the early distribution penalty may apply.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408 – Individual Retirement Accounts
Direct trustee-to-trustee transfers are not rollovers and do not count against this limit. If you need to move IRA money between institutions and you do not need the cash in hand, have the custodians transfer it directly. You can do as many of those as you want in a year.5Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions
Redepositing the Money Correctly
When you make the deposit, tell the receiving institution in clear terms that it is a rollover contribution, not a regular annual contribution. Rollovers have no dollar limit. Regular contributions are capped, and if the deposit is miscoded, the custodian may report the excess to the IRS, triggering a 6% penalty for every year the excess sits in the account.7Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
Get written confirmation from the receiving custodian showing the deposit was accepted as a rollover contribution and the date it was credited. If a dispute ever comes up about whether you met the 60-day deadline, that record is your evidence.
Roth and SIMPLE IRA Differences
Roth IRAs follow the same 60-day and one-per-year rules, but Roth funds can only be rolled into another Roth IRA. You cannot move Roth money into a traditional IRA.8Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plans FAQs Regarding IRAs
SIMPLE IRAs carry a two-year trap. During your first two years of participating in an employer’s SIMPLE IRA plan, you can only roll SIMPLE funds into another SIMPLE IRA. Roll them into a traditional IRA inside that window and the IRS treats the amount as a taxable distribution with a 25% early withdrawal penalty rather than the usual 10%.9Internal Revenue Service. SIMPLE IRA Withdrawal and Transfer Rules After two years, the standard rules apply.
Inherited IRAs Are Excluded
If you inherited an IRA from someone other than your spouse, this option is not available. Non-spouse beneficiaries have to take distributions under the standard inherited-IRA rules, typically the 10-year rule for accounts inherited in 2020 or later. Money that comes out of an inherited IRA to a non-spouse beneficiary is taxable and cannot be redeposited.10Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Beneficiaryp>
A surviving spouse who is the sole beneficiary can roll an inherited IRA into their own IRA and then use the 60-day rollover like any other account owner.10Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Beneficiary
If You Miss the 60-Day Deadline
You have two possible ways to save a late rollover before the distribution becomes permanently taxable.
Self-Certification Under Revenue Procedure 2020-46
The IRS allows you to self-certify a late rollover if the delay was caused by one of twelve specific circumstances. No advance approval, no fee, no waiting for a ruling. You give a signed certification letter to the receiving financial institution using the model letter in Rev. Proc. 2020-46.11Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plans FAQs Relating to Waivers of the 60-Day Rollover Requirement
The qualifying reasons are:12Internal Revenue Service. Rev. Proc. 2020-46 – Certification for Late Rollover Contribution
- A financial institution made an error in the distribution or deposit
- The distribution check was misplaced and never cashed
- You deposited the money into an account you mistakenly believed was an eligible retirement plan
- Your principal residence was severely damaged
- A family member died during the rollover window
- You or a family member was seriously ill
- You were incarcerated
- A foreign country imposed restrictions that prevented the rollover
- A postal delivery failure occurred
- The distribution came from an IRS levy and the proceeds were returned to you
- The distributing institution failed to provide information the receiving institution needed, despite your reasonable efforts
- The distribution was sent to a state unclaimed property fund
You must complete the rollover as soon as the reason no longer applies, generally within 30 days. Self-certification is not permanent protection. If the IRS audits you later and decides you did not actually qualify, the distribution becomes taxable retroactively with interest and possible penalties.11Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plans FAQs Relating to Waivers of the 60-Day Rollover Requirement
Private Letter Ruling
If your situation does not fit one of the twelve reasons, you can ask the IRS for a private letter ruling waiving the 60-day requirement. It is slower and costs a user fee typically in the thousands of dollars, with no guarantee of approval. For a large distribution where the tax hit would be significant, it may still be worth pursuing.
Reporting the Rollover on Your Tax Return
Even a clean rollover generates paperwork. The paying custodian issues Form 1099-R showing the gross distribution in Box 1.13Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498 The receiving custodian reports the rollover on Form 5498, Box 2, which often does not arrive until late May.14Internal Revenue Service. Form 5498 IRA Contribution Information
On Form 1040, put the full distribution on line 4a. If you rolled over the entire amount, enter zero on line 4b and check the rollover box on line 4c.15Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A, Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements If you kept part of it, put the portion you kept on line 4b and still check the rollover box. The IRS matches 1099-R filings against returns. If the rollover is not reported correctly, expect a notice claiming tax on the full distribution.