Below, we'll walk you through how to transfer your funds out to another provider using the ACATS method (Automated Customer Account Transfer Service).
Please note that the following instructions only apply to stock and bond taxable accounts or IRAs.
If you would like to transfer out your Betterment 401(k), please see the “Moving money out” section of our 401(k) Participant FAQs.
Crypto accounts cannot be transferred to another provider and must be withdrawn to a connected bank account. For instructions on how to withdraw from your crypto account, please see this resource.
While Cash Reserve and cash goals exist within the same legal account as investment accounts, they cannot be transferred out in-kind. To transfer out any cash that is held in your taxable account, please log in and go to Transfer or Rollover > Withdraw and withdraw it to your linked bank account.
Transferring Your Betterment Taxable or IRA Account to Another Provider
Please be aware that if you are transferring assets out of a Tax-Coordinated Portfolio, this may lead to rebalancing in any taxable accounts that are part of the Tax-Coordinated Portfolio and remain at Betterment. Rebalancing may result in the realization of taxable gains. For information regarding the potential tax impacts of transferring out of a Tax-Coordinated Portfolio, please see this resource.
Note that Roth IRAs cannot be transferred into 401(k)s, even if it’s a Roth 401(k), due to IRS rules.
Lastly, if you request that an outbound transfer request be placed on hold, we will maintain the request for 30 days, at which point it will be canceled if you do not take further steps to complete the transfer.
Betterment Securities charges a flat fee of $75 for each investing account transfer to another company (outbound transfer).
Partial vs. Full Transfers
For taxable or IRA account transfers, we can process full or partial in-kind transfers of the Betterment legal account or sub-account goal (such as Safety Net or Build Wealth).
A full transfer allows you to transfer out your entire Betterment legal account or goal.
A partial transfer allows you to transfer a portion (security-based) of your Betterment legal account or goal. This means you can either request all of one or more securities to be transferred or a specific quantity of one or more securities to be transferred.
Requesting the transfer
To get started, you will need to reach out to the receiving firm and request that they initiate an ACATS transfer. They may need to review statement(s) for any Betterment legal account(s) or goal(s) you intend to transfer. To download your monthly statement, please log in via web browser and navigate to Settings > Accounts.
We currently work with Apex Clearing to process outgoing transfers. If Betterment is not listed as an ACATS option please select “Apex” as your delivering firm.
Generally, transfer requests are completed in 5-7 business days following receipt and approval by Betterment. Your account will be locked while your transfer is being processed. Betterment does not charge fees to close your account. Please note that the receiving firm may charge transactional costs.
Residual shares
ACATS only supports transfers of whole shares. Following a full transfer of a legal account or goal, there will be residual positions in the form of fractional shares. Betterment will liquidate fractional shares shortly after the full transfer completes, as well as any residual dividends received in the account, and send the cash proceeds to the receiving firm via ACATS.
Cost Basis
The cost basis for transferred shares will be sent directly to the receiving firm within 15 days of transfer completion. If your new firm has yet to receive the cost basis within 20 days and you would like to request for Betterment to resend it, please contact our support team.
How to transfer out funds if your new provider is unable to complete your ACATS request
Please note that ACATS is not supported in all cases. If the receiving firm is unable to fulfill your ACATS request or if ACATS is otherwise unavailable, please visit our FAQ to read about your alternative transfer options.
Common Reasons For Rejected Taxable or IRA Account Transfer Requests:
While we certainly want to honor our customers' requests to transfer their accounts, we sometimes have to reject ACATS transfer requests. Below are some common reasons taxable account and IRA ACATS transfer requests are rejected:
- The legal account or goal type provided does not match our records
- Example: Betterment receives a transfer request from a joint Betterment account to an individual account at the receiving firm.
- The account number provided is invalid
- Be sure you are using the correct account number for the legal account or goal that you are requesting to transfer out. This information can be found on your monthly statement. To download your monthly statement, please log in via web browser and navigate to Settings > Accounts.
- The only funds in the account are Cash Reserve or cash goal funds.
- Cash reserve or cash goal funds cannot be transferred out in-kind. To transfer out any cash that is held in your taxable account, please log in and go to Transfer or Rollover > Withdraw and withdraw it to your linked bank account.
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