The last bit of funds to be withdrawn under the ordering rules are the returns on investments or earnings on contributions.

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This is because the IRS has a set of ordering rules that govern how the funds in your Roth IRA must be withdrawn.

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These ordering rules are intended to be taxpayer-friendly, as S corporation shareholders would generally prefer to have a distribution treated as a tax-free return of basis than a taxable dividend.

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Using that example, you can see that if you really have to make an early withdrawal from your Roth, paying attention to the ordering rules can save you some tax dollars.

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Still, contractors look far nimbler at solving myriad problems than civil servants, who are still hampered, for example, by rules ordering that all official communication be done on paper (e-mails will not do).

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When a state tightens Medicaid eligibility rules, when a doctor refrains from ordering an expensive test, when Congress covers the drug bills of a 65-year-old but not a 64-year-old, that is rationing.

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