Withdrawing the principle of a Roth IRA penalty and tax free

[Mathew Fuller]

When I first learned about Roth Ira's, It was to my understanding that the principal that I invested into the Roth IRA account (my already taxed income), was able to be withdrawn at any time tax and penalty free. What I couldn't withdraw tax and penalty free were the gains made off the principal.

I just called Fidelity to pull some of my principal out, and they said that I was under the 5 year period for my Roth IRA account and that I couldn't pull any money out until my account met the 5 year threshold.

Is this correct? Or is this some sort of mistake? I thought the Roth IRA acted as both a savings account and a retirement account.

[Carl Fischer]

No penalty and no tax- look up ordering rules for Roth IRA distributions in irs pub 590 and irs form 8606.Roth "Contributions" can be removed at any time without penalty or tax. The five year rule is Primarily for earnings and rollovers/conversions.

Ask fidelity what the penalty and tax is?
You will get a 1099 from fidelity that will be coded saying they don’t know how much is taxable but your cpa will be able to figure it out. Use your cpa, not a fidelity salesman for advice.