it's called a mirror account and it is illegalIt occurred to me that if one is consistently profitable (or losing) trading, one can use that to transfer capital by doing simultaneous opposite operations on at least two accounts.
Has anyone ever done that, intentionally, purposefully? Any thoughts?
I'm going to look into this. It looks interesting. Thanks for the info.it's called a mirror account and it is illegal
Hillary used it on her famous cattle trades
........ It could be illegal if you're doing a set of offsetting trades with no potential gain to transfer money from a taxable to a tax free (i.e. IRA) account, for example if you buy SPY options in one account and sell identical SPY options in the other in an activity that can by definition have no net profit and in fact loses you money on commissions

I respectfully disagree about the IRS not caring when they get their money. They may be the government, but they do get the concept of net present value and that a dollar delivered in 2035 is worth far less than a dollar delivered today. In fact they can calculate exactly how much because they can issue a 20 year bond today that they have to pay interest on for 20 years to get the dollar now instead of then.But eventually you will pay taxes on the IRA account, so they probably wouldn't care.
IMO ..... You would want the transfer to go from the IRA to a non-IRA account. The reason?
Perhaps the IRA account is locked and you can't access the funds until you are a certain age, but you want the money now. So you place opposing trades in the locked in IRA account and the non-IRA account, with the intention that the trade loses in the IRA account and makes money in the non-IRA account - you now have access to the money.
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But eventually you will pay taxes on the IRA account, so they probably wouldn't care. IMO ..... You would want the transfer to go from the IRA to a non-IRA account. The reason?
Perhaps the IRA account is locked and you can't access the funds until you are a certain age, but you want the money now. So you place opposing trades in the locked in IRA account and the non-IRA account, with the intention that the trade loses in the IRA account and makes money in the non-IRA account - you now have access to the money.
I respectfully disagree about the IRS not caring when they get their money. They may be the government, but they do get the concept of net present value and that a dollar delivered in 2035 is worth far less than a dollar delivered today. In fact they can calculate exactly how much because they can issue a 20 year bond today that they have to pay interest on for 20 years to get the dollar now instead of then.
Also note, if you transfer from a taxable account, or better yet a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA you effectively avoided paying all tax forever.
And finally, if you're just trying to raid your IRA you're again circumventing the early disbursement tax you'd normally be subject to.
Any and all of these strategies are tax avoidance, and the IRS cares a lot. You may not be caught, just like you may not be caught for outright fabricating the info on your tax return. But if you get audited, the penalties far outweigh any risk adjusted benefits IMHO.
