Moving funds from Taxable to IRA

[mayhem]

Hi All, forgive me if this has already been answered. My wife has a taxable investment account with a few grand sitting in, and we’re wondering if you can transfer or direct rollover to an IRA. I assume this could be done easily by selling and then re-investing the proceeds, but would that then trigger capital gains taxes?

Any input is appreciated!

[EvenSteven]

No such luck. This would count as a contribution to an IRA, and those can't be done in-kind.

[mayhem]

Copy that. A google search cleared that up. Now for a more detailed question. These are stocks (mostly GE purchased back when it was ~$1/ share), would you cash these out and re-invest in an index run in an IRA? Or would you hold them until FIRE when I come would be lower and capital gains tax rate will be lower? For reference, our gross income in 2020 was $77k and is expected to break $100k this year, MFJ.

[EvenSteven]

One option would be to reduce your spending enough so that you can afford to contribute more to your 401k’s such that you sneak into the zero percent long term capital gains rate. Then you can avoid any taxes on the sale of your GE stock.