Early withdrawal of solo 401(k)

L1: Early withdrawal of solo 401(k)I am self employed and have a 401(k). Assume I retire/quit at age 55 can I make early withdrawals from the plan w/o penalty? Is this an option or am I limited toan IRA rollover and 72t election?My concern is that since I retired the company is actually not functioning anymore, even though I assume I could continue to file annual returns.2006-01-31 15:48, By: handg, IP: [209.42.197.4]
L2: Early withdrawal of solo 401(k)Hello handg:
Admittedly, I have not done a ton of research on solo 401(k) plans, but here are the issues:
1. The solo 401k plan is a qualified plan under IRC 401(k) — that’s the good news.
2. In order for the plan participant to receive distributions from a 401(k) plan, the participant must separate from service; e.g. quit, fire yourself, etc. This will eventually become the acide test! How do we prove that you have terminated from your self-employment. Not impossible, but not easy & clearly an issue requiring careful documentation.
3. After satisfying #2 above, & presuming you ceased your self-employment after attaining age 55; then you could commence unstructured withdrawals from the plan pursuant to IRC 72(t)(2)(A)(v).
TheBadger
wjstecker@wispertel.net
2006-01-31 16:27, By: TheBadger, IP: [66.250.23.25]

L2: Early withdrawal of solo 401(k)Good morning Handg:
One benefit of the Solo K-plan is the ability to consolidate your other accounts, like SEP-IRA, SIMPLE-IRA, 403(b)’s, Traditional IRA’s, etc. Roth IRA’s are excluded since it is funded with “after-tax money.”
You might want to explore some options for your case with the ability to consolidate your other accounts. You might find some benefit to you.
Jim2006-02-03 09:27, By: Jim, IP: [70.184.1.35]