I just got a big tax bill from the IRS on my SDIRA

[Hal Cranmer]

Hi. Before I start this post I want to acknowledge this is my fault for not being more careful, but I am still really ticked off.

In June, 2011, I switched my wife's 401k from an old employer into a SDIRA. I distinctly remember telling the company I switched to that I did not want this to be a Roth or to have any kind of taxable event.

Well they switched it into a Roth anyway, and I missed it. On Friday I received a notice in the mail that I will have to pay about half of the IRA amount in taxes and penalties for the conversion.

I called my CPA and he said I am screwed. It's not his fault - I didn't send him anything because I thought it was not taxable. I also called the IRA company to see what they could do and they basically told me nothing - I should contact my CPA.

I pay this company a whole lot of money each year to maintain my and my wife's SDIRAs. I get incredibly slow service from them when I want to make an investment and now we are going to lose the equivalent of about half my wife's 401k savings account.

I was wondering if BP allows me to give out the name of this company so other people do not suffer from such poor service? For the money I pay them you would think they would have this process down just a little better.

If anyone has any advice or tips on what I can do to appeal this, I would love to hear it.

Thanks,
Hal

[Ann Bellamy]

There are many instances of people telling about bad experiences and good experiences with various Self-Directed IRA companies, so I would feel free to name the company.