While working for the internal revenue Service in the 1990s John J. McGovern Jr. poured all his savings into the feds' version of a 401 (k). As a newly minted CPA he understood the value of contributing pretax money and letting it grow tax deferred. When he quit to attend Villanova law school, he rolled $15,000 of his federal balance into an Individual Retirement Account and used the remaining $12,880 for tuition. Oops. The U.S. Tax Court ruled last year that McGovern owed a 10% ($1,288) early withdrawal penalty in addition to normal tax, because he hadn't moved all the money into an IRA first. Congress, in its wisdom, has decided that the penalty for withdrawals before age 59(1/2) should be waived when a regular IRA, but not a 401 (k), is tapped for tuition.
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机译：在1990年代为国税局工作时，小约翰·麦戈文（John J. McGovern Jr.）将所有积蓄都投入了联邦政府的401（k）版本。作为刚成立的注册会计师，他了解贡献税前资金并让其递延税款的价值。当他辞职上维拉诺瓦法学院时，他将自己的联邦余额中的15,000美元存入了个人退休帐户，并用剩余的12,880美元学费。哎呀。去年，美国税务法院裁定麦戈文欠正常税款之外还欠10％（1,288美元）的提早提款罚单，因为他没有先将所有钱都转移到IRA中。国会明智地决定，如果利用常规的IRA而非401（k）的学费，则免除59（1/2）岁之前的取款罚款。
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