[[ Thank you for both very helpful posts and I will act accordingly.]]

You are very welcome. Glad to help...

[[ I take it that any buying or selling inside my IRA has no effect on my brokerage
account with regard to Wash rules.]]

It depends upon what you mean by that statement. If you are asking "Can I sell XYZ at a loss in my regular account, and then immediately buy it back in my IRA account and avoid the wash sale rules?", I would answer no...not in my opinion.

I believe that you have some control issues, and also some related party issues that the IRS could attack. I've stated my opinions in more detail on this issue in the past. If you are really interested, let me know and I'll try to find an old post that lays out my legal arguement. I believe that KAT in Chaicagoland discusses this issue in his tax site (http://www.fairmark.com) that you might want to check out. We both generally agree on this same issue.

But if you are asking "Can I buy and sell within my IRA account without having to worry about any wash sale issues within that account?", then my answer would be yes...certainly...no worries at all.

[[It sounds like a ridiculous idea that it would,
but from past experience I know not to place to high an emphasis on logic.]]

Right...logic and tax laws don't always (usually?...never?) go hand in hand.

TMF Taxes
Roy