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Accounts, by how they're taxed

Last updated November 3, 2026

Accounts are grouped by how the IRS taxes them: cash, taxable brokerage, traditional, Roth, HSA and 529. That decides how each one is drawn on and taxed in your results.

Each account has a current balance, which is where its growth starts, and a contribution. You choose how the contribution works. It can be the same amount each year, a percentage of your pay, or up to the IRS limit. Up to the limit is the one that changes on its own, because the limit changes. It steps up when you turn 50, again for the four years from 60 to 63, and back down at 64. A plan set that way puts in more in those years without you editing anything.

A taxable account also asks for a cost basis. Only the gain, the balance minus the basis, is taxed when you withdraw. If you leave it blank, your plan treats the whole balance as gain. That's the cautious reading of "I don't know." A rough guess is better than a blank. A blank can only make your paycheck look lower than it is, never higher.

A 529 account belongs to one child. Your plan draws on it only for that child's college costs, whatever else is happening in your plan.

Traditional and Roth accounts can be marked as an employer plan, an IRA or other. That choice decides which IRS contribution limit the account shares. It also matters for the Rule of 55, which applies only to an employer plan.

The Contribution pace box compares what you've entered with the IRS limit on your own contributions for that kind of account and year. It adds up every account of that kind you own. Two 401(k)s at two employers still share one limit. It counts only your own contributions, not an employer match.

What your employer offers holds your current employer's plan rules, and whether their health cover allows an HSA. Your match itself comes from the Employer match, each year figure on each account. One rule there does change your results: how the match is capped. If the match is capped as a share of pay, or you leave the rules blank, the match grows when your salary does. A match capped in dollars stays the same.

History opens an account's past balances. You can add or correct a quarter's balance there, apart from editing the current one.

A Roth account asks for its lifetime contributions. That's what you've put in, plus anything converted from a traditional account. That much comes out free at any age, so it matters most if you retire before 59½. Most brokerages show it as "contributions" on the account summary. Box 10 of each year's Form 5498 records that year's contributions. If you leave it blank, your plan treats the whole balance as growth.

A Roth 401(k) is treated like a Roth IRA. That assumes you roll it into one when you retire. Left in the plan, its withdrawals before 59½ follow a less favorable rule.

A 401(k), 403(b), 457 or TSP that holds both pre-tax and Roth money goes in as two accounts. One is traditional, for the pre-tax part. The other is Roth, for the Roth part. Your statement or the plan's website shows the split as the balance by source. Some plans call it money type. You'll see lines such as pre-tax deferral, Roth deferral, employer match and rollover. Add up the Roth lines for the Roth account, and put the rest in the traditional one. An employer match is almost always pre-tax. The pre-tax part needs no cost basis, because every dollar of it is taxed when it comes out.

Each invested account has its own share in stocks. The rest counts as bonds. Your statement's asset allocation shows it. Above the retirement mix, the page shows your overall share in stocks across all your accounts, weighted by balance. Accounts of the same kind grow together at their combined mix. Cash earns no market return.