[‎‎‎Keri]

I am under 59 1/2 and looking to withdraw contributions from my Roth IRA without penalty. I know my basis and am not withdrawing earnings.

I have had this account for > 5 years but transferred it to Vanguard 3 years ago.

Can I access my contributions without penalty since I have not had this account through Vanguard for > 5yrs?

[Cody]

Yes. The 5-year rules only apply to taxable Roth conversions and earnings.

The withdrawal of Roth IRA basis (contributions) is available at any age for any reason without tax or penalty.

Separately, your Roth IRA funds transferred to Vanguard did not reset the 5-year clock on the non-taxable distribution of earnings (after age 59.5).

That 5-year period starts January 1st of the tax year when you establish (open and fund) your first Roth IRA.

[Rick]

Quick consensus above of yeses.
Roths of any form demand a high level of documentation. Roths of multiple forms, which many here have or will have, demand a helluva lot of documentation.

And I do not think this is drilled into people often enough.

I think the only version out of the seemingly 31 flavors of Roth that I do not have is inherited Roth.

Good news is the documentation is not crazy hard. But so many have, and many will, learned it can be hard to do years and decades later.

Everyone should start and catch-up on their Roth documentation.

Review it annually for anything new to add. Future you will be so very thankful.

[Adam]

As others have indicated, you can withdraw the Roth IRA contribution basis at any time. No 5-year rule applies for that.

When you take the withdrawal, your IRA custodian may ask if you want to have any tax withheld. Of course, you’ll say no.

At the end of the year, they’ll issue you a Form 1099-R showing the amount you withdrew (gross distribution) and “taxable amount not determined.”

When you plug this into your tax software, you will need to answer some followup questions about your Roth IRA contribution basis, and the software will fill out Form 8606 Part III to show that no tax or penalty is due.

If you use a tax professional, you should make sure they have both the 1099-R and the information about your contribution basis.

[Christopher]

If you have them, Form 5498 will record your Roth contributions if there are questions about the withdrawal.

[Author]

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