Islandee writes:

Just a quiet rant.

You wrote:

"While NEXT year you will be able to transfer after-tax monies in a 401k to a traditional IRA, THIS year you may not do so....'

For various reasons I live and work overseas. In that situation, I spend a lot of time with Brits who seem much better represented in overseas communities; a few of them (and the number is growing) are retired. My occasional recounting of the US tax laws and the obligations it imposes upon me into retirement and unto and beyond death, wherever in the world I may be, is an unending source of humor, and mystification, to them.

The humor arises in their eyes from the excruciatingly detailed and constantly changing laws and regs which the IRS imposes upon US citizens worldwide (witness the above, not untypical breakstep between THIS and NEXT year).

You're blaming the Infernal (sic) Revenue Service who merely enforces the tax laws passed by Congress and enacted by the President. Put the blame on Capitol Hill and the White House where it belongs.

Regards..Pixy