US 401K taxes

So we are thinking of selling some of our investments in our US 401k which is in a stock mutual funds and putting the money into something "more safe" since the stock market is not doing so well. Since the money would still be IN the 401k would we be taxed on the sale of the mutual funds? Technically we are not getting the money out as we are not retirement age.

Thanks

So we are thinking of selling some of our investments in our US 401k which is in a stock mutual funds and putting the money into something "more safe" since the stock market is not doing so well. Since the money would still be IN the 401k would we be taxed on the sale of the mutual funds? Technically we are not getting the money out as we are not retirement age.

Thanks

There are no tax implications while buying and/or selling funds within a 401k, or IRA.  The only time HMRC (or the IRS) will apply taxes is when distributions are made out of the 401k, at which point those distributions will be taxed by both HMRC and the IRS as regular income.

I do this every year (selling and buying mutual funds within my IRA) when rebalancing to my desired asset allocation.

durhamlad-

Thanks so much. Just wanted to make sure.