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The “Jury” Decides on ROBS – Can you legally fund a business purchase or startup with a Self-Directed 401k? September 15, 2011

Posted by Jeff Nabers in : Business Start-Ups, Rollovers As Business Startup, Rollovers As Business Startups, Self Directed IRA Solo 401k, Small Business Lending, Uncategorized , add a comment

Boy do I get a lot of blowback every time I share my findings about why the government has declared ROBS illegal!

Why is there not a specific government ruling on ROBS?

Great question!

It’s because once an issue has been ruled on, they don’t repeatedly consider it. “They” are the Department of Labor, and the first step of learning about Self-Directed IRA and 401(k) rules is finding out that “prohibited transactions” are an issue outside the jurisdiction of the IRS and in the hands of the Department of Labor (DOL).

When ROBS Was Ruled On

It was 2006. Debra Buchanan, the creator of the IRA LLC, asked the DOL a question about structuring an investment deal to avoid “prohibited transaction” status. (This was before she split with Guidant and became my legal counsel, but that’s another story.)

The DOL came back and said (paraphrased)

It doesn’t matter how you structure things or pursue exemptions. We’ve been clear throughout various rulings ["Advisory Opinions"] that a specific part of the law books [IRC 4975(c)(1)(D)] makes it prohibited for IRA or 401(k) funds to be used to benefit their account owner or family, unless it’s a taxable distribution.

That’s translated into humanspeak. You can see the actual ruling here. Untranslated legal language in it says:

…Department opinions interpreting [regulations] have made clear that a prohibited transaction occurs when a plan invests in a corporation as part of an arrangement or understanding under which it is expected that the corporation will engage in a transaction with a party in interest (or disqualified person).

The ROBS Coffin Is Sealed

This issue is so straightforward because DOL ruled on it as a bigger issue. DOL has received countless letters that ask “But what if I structure my Corporation this way or that way… do I then successfully evade the rules and regulations?”

And they always respond, “No. Using Self-Directed IRA or 401(k) funds to benefit the account owner or their family is always prohibited unless it’s through a taxable distribution.”

Tip: Don’t Piss Off The Government

I know that’s kind of common knowledge, but I wonder if you notice from the DOL language—”Department opinions interpreting [regulations] have made it clear”—that they are already (in 2006) annoyed at all the clever attempts at evading the rules and regulations.

Not a whole lot of wiggle room here. Zero, to be exact.

I know, I know… it’s bitter medicine. Especially if you dreamed up an awesome future all provided to you by ROBS.

But it’s quite easy to swallow if you get real and refocus your attention on legal strategies that actually work.

Nabers Group vs. CheckbookIRA.org, IRA Financial Group, Guidant, IRA123, Safeguard Financial, NAFEP, Asset Exchange Strategies®, etc September 12, 2011

Posted by Jeff Nabers in : Business Start-Ups, Rollovers As Business Startup, Rollovers As Business Startups, Self Directed IRA Solo 401k, Small Business Lending , 2comments

Why should you use my company to setup a Self-Directed IRA, IRA LLC, or Solo 401(k) instead of those others?

It’s quite simple really…

Those other companies all promote an illegal scheme called ROBS, and if you are a client of a company promoting an illegal scheme, you are a target for nasty IRS audits.

Best case audit scenario: After months or years of being audited, you are finally cleared. Your assets might be frozen during that time, and you may incur tens of thousands of dollars in attorney fees to defend yourself.

Worst case scenario: If you used the ROBS strategy yourself with, say a couple hundred thousand dollars, you could incur MILLIONS of dollars in taxes. Yep, you read that right. The tax penalties are (more…)

The Most Elusive & Dangerous Self-Directed IRA Practice – Part 2 November 16, 2010

Posted by Jeff Nabers in : Business Start-Ups, Money, Personal Enjoyment, Personal Productivity, real estate, Self Directed IRA Solo 401k, Small Business Lending , 7comments

In the last post, you learned about how doing an active “entrepreneurship-ish” deal inside your IRA is an open invitation for the IRS to tax the hell out of you.

In this post, you’ll learn the solution.

The solution is to structure both your active entrepreneurship and your passive investment activity in a way that that puts you in the most control. Put another way, avoid giving the IRS an open invitation to tax attack you.

I bet you can guess where this is going (one commenter had a pretty good (more…)

The Most Elusive & Dangerous Self-Directed IRA Practice November 14, 2010

Posted by Jeff Nabers in : Business Start-Ups, Personal Enjoyment, real estate, Self Directed IRA Solo 401k , 11comments

There’s something that most “successful” Self-Directed IRA investors do that can spin them out of control and get them into trouble.

I say “successful” in quotation marks because I’m talking about the particular kind of Self-Directed IRA success that is sexy enough to be frequently written about.

What is this dirty deed that leads to massive profits and the potential implosion the very same Self-Directed IRA that got those profits?

Entrepreneurship.

Bad Entrepreneur!

Yep. Entrepreneurship is so powerful that it seems to be the source of all aggressive wealth creation. So where’s the danger?

Let me explain. Some of the most [initially] profitable Self-Directed IRA stories sounds something like this…

Joe, a Self-Directed IRA investor, knows how to work real estate deals into profits. So he buys and sells real estate in his Self-Directed IRA. Sometimes he involves bank financing. Sometimes he involves private financing and partnering.

But one thing is for sure: Once Joe purchases a property, the work has just begun. He has a system. He only buys properties that meet a certain criteria. After the closing, he usually has repairs and/or remodeling work done.

And his system works. He’ll put $30k or $40k of his Self-Directed IRA money into a deal and get $80k to $100k out, often less than a year or two later.

First, applaud Joe for (more…)