401k after moving back to India

[Sanabk]

Hello!

I worked in US of A for 5+ years. After, went to school and got a PhD. Now, I took a job and moved for good to India (home country). I filed for taxes till 2016 and everything is clear with both State and Federal Tax. Now that I moved back and have no idea if I ever return to US and wondering if I could claim my 401k money that I put aside during my 5+ years of work on H1B. If yes, do I have to pay taxes on the claimed 401k money before the retirement (not sure if it's applicable). Hope someone can shed some light on my query. 

 

Thanks in advance,

Shanta

[Sairamsrilekha]

You can pay 18-22% tax and take the money out from 401k

 

[JoeF]

Not really an immigration issue.

You can do early withdrawal, but there are tax penalties associated with that. Check the brochure you got when you enrolled.

[rt439]

You can do a hardship withdrawal by paying penalty between 0 - 10 % while withdrawal or based on the year end once they send 1099. In your scenario it is better to take a withdrawal with 0% and wait for the year end, since you are not working in US. It is my opinion u can check with some cpa while filing taxes.