Yes, you can withdraw the principal from a Roth IRA at any time, at any age, without federal income tax and without the 10% early withdrawal penalty. Every dollar you contributed went in after tax, so the IRS has nothing left to tax when it comes back out. That holds whether you opened the account last year or twenty years ago, and whether you are 30 or 70.
Why Your Contributions Come Out Clean
Roth IRA contributions are made with money you already paid income tax on. When you pull those dollars back, the government is not owed anything a second time. The 10% early withdrawal penalty in 26 U.S.C. § 408A, which normally applies to retirement money taken before age 59½, targets earnings and certain converted amounts. It does not reach your regular contributions.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408A – Roth IRAs
The reason contributions stay clean is an ordering rule written into federal regulations. Under 26 CFR § 1.408A-6, every dollar leaving a Roth IRA is treated as coming out in this sequence: regular contributions first, then conversion and rollover amounts (oldest year first), then earnings. Each layer has to be fully exhausted before the next one starts. Contribute $40,000 over the years, watch the balance grow to $65,000, and the first $40,000 out is your principal, no questions asked.2eCFR. 26 CFR 1.408A-6 – Distributions
The Five-Year Rule Does Not Apply Here
A common worry is that you have to leave money in a Roth IRA for five years before touching it. That is not true for contributions. The five-year holding period applies to earnings, where a fully qualified distribution requires you to be at least 59½ with an account at least five tax years old. Neither condition applies when you are only pulling out what you put in.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408A – Roth IRAs
Know Your Basis Before You Withdraw
Your principal, or basis, is the running total of every regular contribution you have ever made to any Roth IRA, minus anything previously withdrawn or returned. The IRS does not track this figure for you. You do.
Three documents keep the number honest:
- Form 5498, which your IRA custodian files with the IRS each year and sends you a copy of, reporting contributions made during the tax year.3Internal Revenue Service. About Form 5498, IRA Contribution Information
- Prior-year Forms 8606, if you have filed them, which carry a running total of your Roth contribution basis.
- Year-end account statements, useful as backup when a Form 5498 is missing or delayed.
Add every regular contribution across all your Roth IRAs going back to 1998, the first year the accounts existed, subtract anything you have already pulled out, and the result is the amount you can withdraw tax-free and penalty-free right now.
How to Actually Take the Money Out
The mechanics are simple with most custodians. Log into your brokerage’s website or app, or use a paper distribution form, and request a distribution from the Roth IRA. You will pick a dollar amount, choose a delivery method, and verify your identity.
Electronic ACH transfers to a linked bank account are usually free and land in three to five business days. Wire transfers are faster but often carry a fee in the $25 to $50 range. If your bank is already linked, the whole request can take under five minutes.
When the form asks about tax withholding, decline both federal and state withholding. Because you are pulling out contributions, nothing is owed. Withholding just parks your money with the government until you file your return.
Reporting the Withdrawal on Your Tax Return
The withdrawal is not taxable, but it does have to be reported. In January of the following year, your custodian will issue Form 1099-R showing the gross distribution. Box 7 carries a distribution code: Code J for an early distribution (before 59½), Code T when an exception may apply but the custodian is not certain about the five-year period, or Code Q for a fully qualified distribution.4Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498
On your return, report the distribution on Form 8606, Part III. You list your total Roth IRA basis, subtract the distribution, and carry the remaining basis forward. Skipping Form 8606 can bring a $50 penalty and, more painfully, makes it harder to prove your basis years later when you may actually need it.5Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8606
Make sure the gross distribution on Form 8606 matches the 1099-R the custodian sent to the IRS. Mismatches are one of the easier ways to draw automated IRS correspondence.
Changing Your Mind Within 60 Days
If you pull contributions and decide you want them back in the account, you have 60 days to redeposit the money into a Roth IRA through an indirect rollover. The money has to go back into a Roth, not a traditional IRA. Miss the 60-day window and the withdrawal becomes permanent for that year.
There is a second limit. You can only do one indirect IRA-to-IRA rollover in any 12-month period, and the rule aggregates every IRA you own, traditional and Roth alike. A second indirect rollover inside 12 months is treated as a taxable distribution. Direct trustee-to-trustee transfers between custodians do not count against this limit, so when moving a Roth IRA between firms, ask for a direct transfer rather than a check.6Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions
Where the Clean Treatment Stops
The tax-free, penalty-free rule covers your regular contributions. Once those are gone, the ordering rule moves you into converted amounts, then into earnings, and the treatment changes.
Conversion amounts each start their own five-year clock on January 1 of the year you converted. Withdraw a converted amount before age 59½ and within that five-year window, and you owe the 10% penalty on any portion that was taxable at conversion. Past the five-year window, or after 59½, the penalty falls away.
Earnings are the last layer out. Taken before age 59½ or before the account meets the five-year holding period, they are generally subject to both income tax and the 10% penalty, though the IRS recognizes exceptions for permanent disability, qualified higher education expenses, and a qualified first-time home purchase up to $10,000, among others.7Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions
If the Roth IRA Was Inherited
Contributions the original owner made still come out tax-free to a beneficiary. The same ordering applies: contributions first, then conversions, then earnings. Inheriting the account does not change the tax character of the principal.8Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Beneficiary
What does change is how long you have. Most non-spouse beneficiaries who inherited a Roth IRA after 2019 must empty the account by the end of the 10th year following the original owner’s death. There is no required annual withdrawal during that stretch, so you can let the account keep growing and take everything in year 10 if that suits you. Spouse beneficiaries have more options, including treating the inherited Roth IRA as their own.8Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Beneficiary