I’m crossing guard for 27 years. I/m 80 years old.
My tax lady said to roll it over to my Traditional IRA.
I DRAW My deceased husband social security.
Is this ok?
Thank you
Pat

Hi Pat. You don't say what exactly that you're considering rolling over, so I can't give you a good answer. Furthermore, my expertise is limited to Social Security benefits so I can't weigh in on any tax advice you may have been given.

The only thing that might affect your Social Security widow's benefits would be if you collect a pension based on work that you did for a governmental agency, AND if you didn't pay Social Security taxes on those earnings. The reason for that is the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision, which is explained in the following Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf.

Social Security sometimes classifies payments from defined benefit or defined contribution plans (e.g., 401(k), 403(b), or 457) to be payments in lieu of a pension if the plan is based on work for a government agency that was exempt from withholding Social Security taxes. If something like that is what you're considering rolling over to an IRA plan, it wouldn't exempt you from potential offset of at least some of your widow's benefits (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0202608400). However, there's simply not enough information in your question to be able to tell you whether or not your widow's benefits might be affected by a rollover. You should probably direct your question to Social Security since they have access to your records.

Best, Jerry