Taxing Issue

March 5, 2007

Here's a simple trick, via Morningstar, that can save you a bundle in taxes, and that a surprising number of investors don't do: put funds with potentially high capital gains distributions in your non-taxable retirement accounts like your IRA or 401(k), and put tax-efficient funds in your taxable accounts:

When a fund realizes capital gains by selling stocks or bonds at a profit or receives interest or dividends, any amount above the fund's expense ratio must be paid out to shareholders, who are then taxed on that income. Some funds are much better than others at shielding shareholders from taxable income and capital-gains payouts. And some investors make it a habit to steer clear of "tax-inefficient funds," those that pay out a substantial portion of each year's gain as taxable income.

When you're choosing a fund for an IRA, though, you can ignore this issue. The attraction of IRAs and other tax-sheltered accounts, of course, is that the profits aren't taxed right away. Instead, they compound until you actually withdraw the money from your account. Only then do you pay the tax. That means some funds you might avoid in a taxable account are suddenly back on the menu when you're investing in your IRA."

They list four example funds that are likely to issue above-average taxable gains distributions and hence would be good fits for your non-taxable accounts:

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