In the meantime, I’ll keep my ear to the ground on a good legal alternative for sending my money elsewhere :-). I’m of a similar opinion as you, some day everything will be fair game, especially as the social security reserve account is fully expended in the early 2030s.....

I recently hit my 18.5 limit and I’m now contributing after tax into my 401a. I just spoke with Fidelity to move the after tax $$ into my Roth IRA, she told me I have exceeded my contribution limit and need to submit something in writing to DL regarding this. Does this sound accurate?

No, it doesn't sound accurate, unless you have also hit the 415C limit.

I didn't think so. This is my first time doing this and wasn't sure. I simply contributed after tax $ into my 401a on the last check and called them this morning to roll over that money into my Roth IRA.

That's the same way I've done it for the last couple years. Try again with a different rep and ask a few questions if they say no.

No that is not correct. The reps who answer the lines are not always that knowledgeable...last month I had one trying to tell me the 415 limit was still 54k... Ask to speak with a rollover specialist, they may take a minute to review Deltas plan, but they generally know their stuff.

Just make sure you are talking about the same things;

If she's talking about the 18.5 limit, perhaps you exceeded that. Although, contributions automatically stop once you hit that limit. So, I highly doubt thats the case.

Perhaps shes adding the 401a contributions to the 401k contributions, in which case that is incorrect. 401a doesn't count towards the 18.5k, but it does count towards the 415 $55k limit.

Which is the last point, your contributions plus company contributions are subject to the 415 limits, which is 55k. Again, this should automatically be stopped when the limit is reached. So, I suspect this person is counting 401a towards your 18.5 limit.

If it was just the initial customer service person that answered, they are not experts on this. As mentioned above, speak to the rollover department, their knowledge will blow your mind.

Report back with your findings!

I've got another dumb guy question pertaining to your situation (which I obviously know nothing about). Why do you put the $18.5k limit into the 401k before doing the backdoor Roth? Wouldn't it be better to put all of it (including the initial $18.5k) into the 401a and do the backdoor Roth IRA? Wouldn't that give you more ability to avoid RMDs during retirement?

Your observation is the correct, bypassing the 401k and going straight to the 401a will maximize the benefits of having a Roth IRA. The only downside is it does take a little more work than using a Roth 401k for the first 18.5k due to the time spent on the phone doing the transfers.

If you prepare the year prior, you can dump 75% into 401a until hitting the 415c limits and be done by March. It saves the hassle of making 26 phone calls throughout the year and maximizes the amount of Roth funding, if that is your goal.

Thanks. I guess another point to consider is ERISA protections. It's my understandings that not all States have creditor protections for IRA funds. I think Georgia does, but YMMV.