Beneficiaries May Need To Take An RMD From A Decedent’s IRA In The Year They Pass Away

A common mistake that beneficiaries of retirement accounts make when they inherit either a Traditional IRA or 401(k) account is not knowing that if the decedent was required to take an RMD (required minimum distribution) for the year but did not distribute the full amount before they passed, the beneficiaries are then required to withdrawal that amount from the retirement account prior to December 31st of the year they passed away.  Not taking the RMDs prior to December 31st could trigger IRS penalties unless an exception applies.

The RMD Requirement for the Decedent

Once you reach a specific age, the IRS requires taxpayers to begin taking mandatory annual distributions from their pre-tax retirement account each year.  These mandatory annual distributions are called RMDs or required minimum distributions.   The age at which an individual is required to begin taking RMDs is also referred to as the “Required Beginning Date” (RBD).  The Required Beginning Date is based on your date of birth:

• Born 1950 or earlier:  Age 72

• Born 1951 – 1959:      Age 73

• Born 1960 or later:      Age 75

Example:  If Jim was born in 1951 and turns age 73 this year, and Jim has a Traditional IRA with a $500,000 balance,  in 2024, Jim would be required to withdraw $18,867 from his IRA as his annual RMD and pay tax on the distribution. 

Undistributed RMD Amount When Someone Passes Away

It’s a common situation for an individual who has reached their Required Beginning Date for RMDs to pass away prior to distributing the required amount from their IRA account for that calendar year.

Example: Jen is age 81; she passed away in February 2024 with a $300,000 balance in her Traditional IRA.    Her RMD amount for 2024 would be $15,463.  If Jen only distributed $3,000 from her IRA prior to passing away in February, the beneficiary or beneficiaries of Jen’s IRA would be required to withdraw the remaining amount of her RMD, $12,463, prior to December 31, 2024, otherwise the beneficiaries will be faced with a 10% to 25% excise tax on the amount of the RMD that was not withdrawn prior to December 31st.

A Single Beneficiary

If there is only one beneficiary that is inheriting the entire account balance, the process is easy: determine the remaining amount of the decedent’s RMD, and then process the remaining RMD amount from the IRA account prior to December 31st of the year that they passed away. 

Multiple Beneficiaries

When there are multiple beneficiaries of a pre-tax retirement account, the IRS recently released new regulations clarifying a question that has been in existence for a very long time.

The question has been, “If there are multiple beneficiaries of a retirement account, does EACH beneficiary need to distribute an equal share of the decedent’s remaining RMD amount OR do they collectively just have to make sure the remaining RMD amount was distributed but it does not have to be in equal shares?”

I’ll show you why this matters in an example:

Susan passed away before taking her $20,000 RMD for the year. She has a $200,000 balance in her Traditional IRA, and her two kids, Scott and Wanda, are both 50% primary beneficiaries on her account.    The kids set up separate inherited IRAs and transfer their $100,000 shares into their respective accounts.  Scott intends to take a $50,000 distribution from his Inherited IRA, pay the tax, and buy a boat, but Wanda, who is a high-income earner, wants to avoid taking taxable distributions from her Inherited IRA until after she retires.

Since Scott took enough out of his Inherited IRA to cover Susan’s full $20,000 undistributed RMD in the year she passed, is Wanda relieved of having to take an RMD from her account in the year that Susan passed, or does she still need to distribute her $10,000 share of the $20,000 RMD?

The new IRS regulations state that the decedent’s undistributed RMD amount is allowed to be satisfied by “any beneficiary” in the year that they pass away.  Meaning the RMD does not have to be distributed in equal amounts to each beneficiary, as long as the total remaining RMD amount is distributed by one or more of the beneficiaries of the decedent. 

In the example above, if Scott processed $50,000 from his inherited IRA in the year that Susan passed, Wanda would not be required to take a distribution from her inherited IRA that year because Susan’s $20,000 remaining RMD amount is deemed to be fulfilled.

A Decedent With Multiple IRAs

It’s not uncommon for an individual to have more than one Traditional IRA account when they pass away.  The question becomes if they have multiple IRAs and each of those IRAs has an undistributed RMD amount at the time the decedent passes away, can the beneficiaries total up all of the undistributed RMD amounts and take the full amount from one single IRA account OR do they have to take the undistributed RMD amount from each IRA account?

The answer is “it depends”.  It depends on whether the beneficiaries are the same or different for each of their IRA accounts.

Multiple IRAs – Same Beneficiaries

If the decedent has multiple IRAs but the beneficiaries are exactly the same as all of their IRAs, then the beneficiaries are allowed to aggregate the undistributed RMD amounts together and distribute that amount from any IRA or IRAs that they choose before the end of the year. 

Multiple IRAs – Different Beneficiaries

However, in the instance that the decedent has multiple IRAs but has different beneficiaries listed amongst the different IRA accounts, then the decedent’s undistributed RMD amount needs to be taken from each IRA account.

Privacy Issue with Multiple Beneficiaries

I have been a financial planner long enough to know that not all family members get along after someone passes away.  If the decedent had an undistributed RMD amount in the year that they passed and the beneficiaries are not openly sharing their plans regarding how much they plan to withdraw out of their inherited IRA in the year the decedent passed away, it may be impossible to coordinate the disproportionate distributions between the multiple beneficiaries defaulting the beneficiary to taking their equal share of the undistributed RMD amount.

IRS Penalty For Missing RMD

If the beneficiaries fail to distribute the decedent’s remaining RMD amount before December 31st of the year that they pass away, then the IRS will assess a 25% penalty against the amount that was not timely distributed from the IRA account. 

Special Note:  The IRS penalty is reduced to 10% if corrected in a timely fashion.

Automatic Waiver of the RMD Penalty

The final regulations released by the IRS in 2024 granted a very favorable automatic waiver of the missed RMD penalty that did not exist prior to July 2024.    The automatic waiver originally stemmed from the common scenario that if the decedent passed away in December and had not yet satisfied their RMD amount for the year, it was often difficult for the beneficiaries to work with the custodians of the IRA to get those distributions processed prior to December 31st. However, the IRS, being oddly gracious, now provides beneficiaries with an automatic waiver of the missed RMD penalty, specifically for undistributed RMD amounts for a decedent, up until December 31st of the year AFTER the decedent’s death to satisfy the RMD requirement.

When Is No RMD Required?

I have gone through numerous scenarios without stating the obvious.  If the decedent either died before their Required Beginning Date for RMDs or if they died AFTER their Required Beginning Date but distributed their full RMD amount prior to passing away, the beneficiaries are not required to distribute anything from the decedent’s IRA prior to December 31st in the year that they passed away. 

Also, if the Decedent had a Roth IRA, Roth IRAs do not have an RMD requirement, so the beneficiaries of the Roth IRA would not be required to take an RMD prior to December 31st in the year the decedent passes away.

About Michael……...

Hi, I’m Michael Ruger. I’m the managing partner of Greenbush Financial Group and the creator of the nationally recognized Money Smart Board blog . I created the blog because there are a lot of events in life that require important financial decisions. The goal is to help our readers avoid big financial missteps, discover financial solutions that they were not aware of, and to optimize their financial future.

The Final Rules For Non-spouse Beneficiary Inherited IRAs Has Been Released: The 10-Year Rule, Annual RMD Requirement, Tax Strategies, New 401(k) Roth Rules, and More…….

In July 2024, the IRS released its long-awaited final regulations clarifying the annual RMD (required minimum distribution) rules for non-spouse beneficiaries of retirement accounts that are subject to the new 10-year rule. But like most IRS regulations, it’s anything but simple and straightforward.  The short answer is for non-spouse beneficiaries that are subject to the 10-year rule; some beneficiaries will be required to begin taking annual RMDs starting in 2025 while others will not.  In this article, we will review:

1. The RMD requirement for non-spouse beneficiaries

2. RMD start date

3. IRS penalty relief for missed RMDs

4. Are one-time distributions required for missed RMDs 2020 - 2024?

5. Different RMD rules for Traditional IRAs versus Roth IRAs

6. Different RMD rules for Roth 401(k) versus Roth IRAs

7. Common RMD mistake for stretch rule beneficiaries

In addition to covering the topics above related to the new RMD rules, we want this article to be a “one-stop shop” for non-spouse beneficiaries to understand how these non-spouse inherited IRAs work from start to finish, so we will start this article by covering:

1. How Inherited IRA work for non-spouse beneficiaries

2. Rules for a decedent that pass either before or after 2019

3. The new 10-year Rule

4. Beneficiaries that are granted an exception to the new 10-year rule

5. Required minimum distributions (RMDs)

6. Taxation of distributions from inherited IRAs

7. Tax strategies and Pitfalls associated with Inherited IRA accounts

8. Special rules for minor children with Inherited IRAs

 (If you are reading this just for the new RMD rules, you can skip to the second half of the article)

Non-spouse Beneficiaries of Retirement Accounts

When you inherit a retirement account, there are different options available to you depending on whether you are a “spouse beneficiary” or a “non-spouse beneficiary”.  In this article, we are going to be focusing on the options available to a non-spouse beneficiary.  

Non-spouse Beneficiary Rules Prior to 2020

In 2019, the SECURE Act 1.0 was passed, which greatly limited the inherited IRA options that were available to non-spouse beneficiaries of IRAs, 401(k)’s, and other types of employer-sponsored retirement plans.  Under the old rules, if someone passed away prior to January 1, 2020, you as a non-spouse beneficiary, were allowed to move the balance of that IRA into an inherited IRA in your name, avoid any immediate tax implications, and you only had to take small distributions each year called RMDs (required minimum distributions) based on IRS life expectancy table.   This was called the “stretch rule” which allowed a non-spouse beneficiary to stretch the distributions over their lifetime.

If you wanted to take more out of the account, you could, since it’s an inherited IRA, even if you were under the age of 59 ½, you avoided the 10% early withdrawal penalty and either had to pay income tax on a pre-tax retirement account or avoided tax altogether on Roth inherited IRA accounts.  These beneficiaries had a lot of flexibility with this option with minimal emergency tax planning needed.

For individuals in this camp who inherited a retirement account from someone who passed away prior to January 1, 2020, the good news is you are grandfathered in under the old rules, and none of the changes that we are going to cover in this article apply to you.   You still have access to the stretch provision. 

Non-spouse Beneficiary of Decedent That Passed After December 31, 2019

SECURE Act 1.0, which passed in 2019, took away the “stretch option” for most non-spouse beneficiaries and replaced it with a much more restrictive “10-Year Rule,” which requires a non-spouse beneficiary to fully deplete the account balance of that inherited retirement account within 10 years start the year after the decedent passed away.  If you inherited a retirement account from someone who passed away AFTER December 31, 2019, and you are non-spouse beneficiaries, you are subject to the new 10-Year Rule UNLESS you meet one of the exceptions.  Non-spouse beneficiaries that qualify for an exception to the 10-year rule are referred to as “Eligible Designated Beneficiaries” in the new tax regulations if you choose to read the 260 pages that were just released by the IRS.  

Here is the list of beneficiaries that are exempt from the new 10-year rule and still have the stretch option available to them:

• Surviving spouse

• Person less than 10 years younger than the decedent

• Minor children

• Disabled person

• Chronically ill person

• Some See-Through Trusts benefitting someone on this exception list

Non-Spouse Beneficiary Not More Than 10 Years Younger Than The Decedent

I wanted to highlight this exception because it’s the most common exception to the 10-rule for non-spouse beneficiaries that we see amongst our clients. If you are a non-spouse beneficiary of a retirement account from someone that was not more than 10 years younger than you like a sibling or a cousin, the new 10-year distribution rule does not apply to you.  You are allowed to roll over the balance to your own inherited IRA and stretch annual RMDs over your lifetime. 

Example:  Tim passes away at the age of 55 and his sister Susan age 58 is the 100% primary beneficiary of his Traditional IRA account, since Susan is a non-spouse beneficiary, she normally would be subject to the 10-year rule requiring her to fully distribute and pay tax on Tim’s IRA balance within a 10 year period. However, since Tim was less than 10 years younger than Susan, she qualifies for the exception to the 10-year rule. She can rollover Tim’s IRA balance into an Inherited IRA in her name, and she would only be required to take small required minimum distributions each year starting the year after Tim passed away.

Minor Children As Beneficiary of Retirement Accounts

The minor child exception is a little tricker. If a minor child is the beneficiary of a retirement account, and they inherited the retirement account from their parents, they are only required to take those small annual RMDs until they reach age 21, but then as soon as they turn 21, they switch over to the 10-Year Rule.   If they inherited the retirement account from someone other than their parent, then the 10-year period begins the year after the decedent passes away like the rest of the non-spouse beneficiaries.

Example:  Josh is age 12 and his mother unexpectedly passes away and Josh is listed as the primary beneficiary on his mother’s 401(K) account at work.  Josh, as a non-spouse beneficiary, would not immediately be subject to the 10-year rule, but instead, he would be temporarily allowed to use the stretch provision; he would be required to take annual RMDs each year from the retirement account until he reaches age 21.  Once Josh reaches age 21, he will then be subject to the 10-year rule, and he will be required to fully distribute the retirement account 10 years following when he turns age 21.

Age of Majority:  Normally the “age of majority” is defined by the state that the minor lives in. For some states, it’s age 18, and in other states, it’s age 21. The new IRS regulations addressed this issue and stated that regardless of the age of majority for the state that the minor lives in and regardless of whether or not the child is a student past the age of 18, the age of majority for purposes of triggering the 10-year rule for non-spouse beneficiaries will be age 21.

Non-Spouse Beneficiary Subject To The 10-Year Rule

If you are a non-spouse beneficiary who inherited a retirement account from someone who passed away AFTER December 31, 2019, and you DO NOT qualify for one of the exceptions previously listed, then you are subject to the new “10-Year Rule”.  The 10-Year Rule requires a non-spouse beneficiary to fully deplete the inherited retirement account balance no later than 10 years following the year after the decedent passes away. 

The 10-Year Rule Applies to Both Pre-Tax and Roth Retirement Accounts

Regardless of whether you inherited a pre-tax retirement account like a Traditional IRA, SEP IRA, or 401(k) account or a Roth retirement account like a Roth IRA or Roth 401(k), the 10-year rule applies.

Example:   Sarah’s father just passed away in February 2024, and she was the 100% primary beneficiary of his Traditional IRA account with a balance of $300,000.  Sarah is age 60. Sarah, as a non-spouse beneficiary, would be subject to the 10-year rule and would be required to fully distribute and pay tax on the full $300,000 before December 31, 2034, which is 10 years following the year after her father passed away.

The RMD Mystery

When the 10-Year Rule first came into being in 2020, it was assumed that this 10-year rule was an extension of the previous “5-year rule”, which only required the beneficiary to deplete the account balance within 5 years but there was no annual RMDs requirement during that 5-year period. The IRS just simply eliminated the “stretch option” and extended the 5-year rule to a 10-year rule. 

But then, two after the IRS passed SECURE Act 1.0 with this new 10-year rule, the IRS came out with new proposed regulations that  basically said, “Whoops, I know we wrote it that way, but that’s not what we meant.”    

In the proposed regulations that the IRS released in February 2022, the IRS clarified that what they meant to say was that certain non-spouse beneficiaries that are subject to the new 10-year rule would ALSO be required to take annual RMDs during that 10-year period.  This was not welcome news for many non-spouse beneficiaries, and it created a lot of confusion since a few years had already gone by since the new 10-year rule was signed into law.

The New RMD Rules for Inherited IRA for Non-spouse Beneficiaries

The finalized IRS regulations that were just released in July 2024 made their stance official.  Whether or not a non-spouse beneficiary will be subject to BOTH the 10-Year Rule and annual RMDs will be dependent on two factors:

1. The age of the decedent when they passed away

2. The type of retirement account that the beneficiary inherited (Pre-tax or Roth)

RMD Requirement Based on Age of Decedent

If you are the original owner of a retirement account (Traditional IRA, 401(k), etc.), once you reach a specific age, the IRS requires you to start taking small distributions from that pre-tax account each year, which are called required minimum distributions (RMDs). 

The age at which you are required to begin taking RMDs is called your Required Beginning Date (“RBD”), not to be confused with the “RMD”.  There are too many acronyms in the finance world “The IRS wants you to take your RMD by your RBD ASAP so they can collect their TAX.”

The date at which RMDs are required to begin varies based on your date of birth:

• Born 1950 or earlier:  Age 72

• Born 1951 – 1959:      Age 73

• Born 1960 or later:      Age 75

Someone that is born in 1956 would be required to start taking RMDs from their pre-tax retirement accounts at age 73. Why is this relevant to non-spouse beneficiaries?  Because whether or not the decedent died before or after their Required Beginning Date for RMDs will determine whether or not you, as the non-spouse beneficiary, are required to take annual RMDs during the 10-Year Rule period.

The Decedent Passes Away Prior to Their RMD Required Beginning Date

If the decedent passed away prior to their Required Beginning Date, then you, as the non-spouse beneficiary, are subject to the 10-Year Rule, but you ARE NOT REQUIRED to take annual RMDs during the 10-year period. You simply have to deplete the account balance prior to the end of the 10 years.

Example:  Brad’s father passes away at age 68 and Brad is the 100% beneficiary of his Traditional IRA.  Brad’s father was born in 1956, making his RMD start at age 73.  Since Brad’s father passed away prior to reaching age 73 (RBD), Brad would be subject to the 10-year rule but would not be required to take annual RMDs during that 10-year period. 

The Decedent Passes Away After Their RMD Required Beginning Date

If the decedent passes away AFTER their Required Beginning Date for RMDs, then the non-spouse beneficiary is subject to BOTH the 10-year rule AND is required to take annual RMDs during that 10-year period.

Example:  Dave’s father passed away at age 80, and he had been taking RMDs for many years since he was beyond his Required Beginning Date.  When Dave inherits his father’s Traditional IRA, he will not only be subject to the 10-year rule as a non-spouse beneficiary, but he will also be required to distribute annual RMDs every year from the Inherited IRA account since his father had already begun receiving RMDs for his account.

RMDs Not Required Until 2025

Since the IRS just released the final regulation in July 2024, for non-spouse beneficiaries that are subject to both the 10-Year Rule and annual RMDs, RMDs are not required to begin until 2025.

Good news:  For non-spouse beneficiaries subject to the 10-year rule, the IRS has waived all penalties for the “missed RMDs” between 2020 and 2024, and they are not requiring these non-spouse beneficiaries to “make up” for missed RMDs for years leading up to 2025.  The RMDs will be calculated in 2025 like everything has been working smoothly since Day 1.  

No Reset of the 10-Year Depletion Timeline

It’s important to note that even though the IRS took 4 years to clarify the RMD rules associated with the new 10-year rule, it does not reset the 10-year clock for the depletion of the inherited retirement account.

Example: Jessica’s uncle passed away in 2020 at the age of 82.  Jessica, as a non-spouse beneficiary, would be subject to the 10-year rule requiring her to fully deplete the Traditional IRA by December 31, 2030.   Since her uncle was past his Required Beginning Date for RMDs, Jessica would be required to take annual RMD in the years 2025 – 2030. (Note that the 2021 – 2024 RMDs were waived due to the IRS delay).  Even though her first RMD will not be until 2025, she is still required to deplete the Traditional IRA account by December 31, 2030. 

Annual RMD Rules

Many of these examples incorporate the delay in annual RMDs due to the delay in the IRS regulations being released. However, if someone passes away in 2024 and has a non-spouse beneficiary listed on their pre-tax retirement account, the 10-year timeline and the first annual RMD calendar would begin in 2025, which is the year following the decedent’s date of death.

The first RMD is required to be taken by a non-spouse beneficiary by December 31st of the year following the decedent's death.

Inherited Roth IRAs – No RMD Requirement

You will notice in most of my examples that I specifically use a “Traditional IRA” or “Pre-tax Retirement Account.” That is because only pre-tax retirement accounts have the RMD requirement.   If you are the original owner of a Roth IRA, Roth IRAs do not require you to take an RMD regardless of your age.  So, under the new rules, if you inherit a Roth IRA, since the decedent would not have been required to take an RMD from a Roth IRA at any age, they never had a “Required Beginning Date”. This makes the non-spouse beneficiary subject to the 10-year rule, but no annual RMDs would be required from an inherited Roth IRA.

Note: If you inherit a Roth IRA and you are eligible for the stretch options, annual RMDs are then required from you Inherited Roth IRA account.

Roth 401(k)s Are Different

While typically, Roth IRAs and Roth 401(k)s have the same rules, the IRS included a weird rule for Roth 401(k)s in the final regulations regarding the RMD requirement. If you inherit a 401(k) plan, it’s possible that there are both Pre-tax and Roth monies within that same account since most 401(k) plans allow plan participants to make either pre-tax deferrals or Roth deferrals to the plan.  

Normally I would have thought if a 401(k) account contains both Pre-tax and Roth dollars, as a non-spouse beneficiary, you would have the 10-year rule for the full account balance, but you could ignore the RMD requirement for the Roth dollars, but the annual RMDs on the pre-tax portion of the account would depend on whether or not the decedent passed away before or after their Required Beginning Date for RMDs.   Assuming this, I would have been correct for the pre-tax portion of the 401(k) account but potentially wrong about no annual RMDs for the Roth portion of the 401(k) account.

The final regulations state that if the 401(k) account contains ONLY Roth dollars, no pre-tax dollars within the account, then a non-spouse beneficiary is subject to the 10-year rule but DOES NOT have to take annual RMDs during that 10-year period.

However, if the 401(k) account contains both Roth and any other type of pre-tax source, like employee pre-tax deferrals, employer match, and employer profit sharing, which is much more common for 401(k) plans, then the ENTIRE BALANCE in the 401(k) plan, INCLUDING THE ROTH SOURCE, is subject to the annual RMD requirement during the 10-year period.  Yuck!!!

This new rule will encourage individuals who have a Roth source within their employer-sponsored retirement plans to roll over their Roth monies within the plan to a Roth IRA before they pass away.  By removing that Roth source from the employer-sponsored retirement plans and moving it into a Roth IRA, now when the non-spouse beneficiary inherits the Roth IRA, they are allowed to accumulate those Roth dollars longer within the 10-year period since they are not required to take annual RMDs from a Roth IRA account.

Note: The pre-tax sources within a 401(k) works the same way as inheriting a Traditional IRA. A non-spouse beneficiary would be subject to the 10-year rule and may or may not have to take RMDs during the 10-year period depending on whether or not the decedent dies before or after their Required Beginning Date for RMDs.

Non-Spouse Beneficiaries Eligible For The Stretch Rule Only Had An RMD Waiver for 2020

In 2020, part of the COVID relief packages was the ability to waive taking an RMD during that calendar year.  I have run into a few cases where non-spouse beneficiaries that were grandfathered in under the “stretch rules” requiring them to take an annual RMD each year, are getting confused with the delay in the RMD requirement for non-spouse beneficiaries that are subject to the new 10-year rule after December 2019.    The delay in the annual RMDs until 2025 for non-spouse beneficiaries ONLY applies to individuals subject to the 10-year rule. If you inherited a retirement account from someone who passed away prior to 2020 or you qualify for one of the exceptions to the 10-Year Rule as a non-spouse beneficiary, you are grandfathered in under the old “Stretch Rule,” which requires the owner of that Inherited IRA to take annual RMD’s from that account each year starting in the calendar year following the decedent’s date of death.

In summary, if you are a stretch rule non-spouse beneficiary, the only year you were allowed to skip your RMD was 2020 per the COVID relief; you should have restarted your annual RMDs in 2021 and taken an RMD for 2021, 2022, and 2023, and subsequent years.   If you missed this, the good news is the Secure Act 2.0 also lowered the IRS penalty amount for missed RMDs, from 50% to 25% and even lower to 10% if timely corrected.

Non-Spouse Inherited IRA Tax Strategies

We will be writing a separate article that contains all of the advanced tax strategies that we implement for clients who are non-spouse beneficiaries subject to the 10-year rule since there are a number of them, but here is some of the standard guidance that we provide to our clients.

If you inherit a Roth IRA, that is an ideal situation because even though you are subject to the 10-year rule as a non-spouse beneficiary, all of the accumulation in an Inherited Roth IRA can be withdrawn tax-free.

Example: John inherits a $200,000 Roth IRA from his mother in 2024.  John, as a non-spouse beneficiary, will be subject to the 10-year rule, so the account has to be depleted by 2034, but he is not required to take annual RMDs because it’s a Roth IRA account.  If John invests the $200,000 wisely and receives an 8% annual rate of return, at the end of 10-year the $200,000 has grown to $431,785 within that Inherited Roth IRA, and the full balance will be distributed to him ALL TAX-FREE. 

For this reason,  we have a lot more clients processing  Roth Conversions in retirement to push more of their net worth from the pre-tax bucket over to the Roth bucket, which is much more favorable for non-spouse beneficiaries when they inherit the account.

For clients that inherit larger pre-tax retirement accounts that are subject to the 10-year rule, we have to develop a detailed tax plan for the next 10 years since we know all of that money will need to be distributed and taxed within the next 10 years, which could cause the money to be taxed at a higher tax rate, increased Medicare premiums, lower financial aid awards for parents with kids in college, have their social security taxed at a higher rate, lose tax deductions, or other negative consequences for showing too much income in a single year.

About Michael……...

Hi, I’m Michael Ruger. I’m the managing partner of Greenbush Financial Group and the creator of the nationally recognized Money Smart Board blog . I created the blog because there are a lot of events in life that require important financial decisions. The goal is to help our readers avoid big financial missteps, discover financial solutions that they were not aware of, and to optimize their financial future.

2023 RMDs Waived for Non-spouse Beneficiaries Subject To The 10-Year Rule

There has been a lot of confusion surrounding the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules for non-spouse beneficiaries who inherited IRAs and 401(k) accounts subject to the new 10-Year Rule.  This has left many non-spouse beneficiaries questioning whether or not they are required to take an RMD from their inherited retirement account prior to December 31, 2023.  Here is the timeline of events leading up to that answer:

December 2019: Secure Act 1.0

In December 2019, Congress passed the Secure Act 1.0 into law, which contained a major shift in the distribution options for non-spouse beneficiaries of retirement accounts. Prior to the passing of Secure Act 1.0, non-spouse beneficiaries were allowed to move these inherited retirement accounts into an inherited IRA in their name, and then take small, annual distributions over their lifetime.  This was referred to as the “stretch option” since beneficiaries could keep the retirement account intact and stretch those small required minimum distributions over their lifetime.

Secure Act 1.0 eliminated the stretch option for non-spouse beneficiaries who inherited retirement accounts for anyone who passed away after December 31, 2019. The stretch option was replaced with a much less favorable 10-year distribution rule.  This new 10-year rule required non-spouse beneficiaries to fully deplete the inherited retirement account 10 years following the original account owner’s death.  However, it was originally interpreted as an extension of the existing 5-year rule, which would not require the non-spouse beneficiary to take annual RMD, but rather, the account balance just had to be fully distributed by the end of that 10-year period.

2022: The IRS Adds RMDs to the 10-Year Rule

In February 2022, the Treasury Department issued proposed regulations changing the interpretation of the 10-year rule.  In the proposed regulations the IRS clarified that RMDs would be required for select non-spouse beneficiaries subject to the 10-year rule, depending on the decedent’s age when they passed away. Making some non-spouse beneficiaries subject to the 10-year rule with no RMDs and others subject to the 10-year rule with annual RMDs.

Why the change? The IRS has a rule within the current tax law that states that once required minimum distributions have begun for an owner of a retirement account the account must be depleted, at least as rapidly as a decedent would have, if they were still alive. The 10-year rule with no RMD requirement would then violate that current tax law because an account owner could be 80 years old, subject to annual RMDs, then they pass away, their non-spouse beneficiary inherits the account, and the beneficiary could voluntarily decide not to take any RMDs, and fully deplete the account in year 10 in accordance with the new 10-year rule. So, technically, stopping the RMDs would be a violation of the current tax law despite the account having to be fully depleted within 10 years.

In the proposed guidance, the IRS clarified, that if the account owner had already reached their “Required Beginning Date” (RBD) for required minimum distributions (RMD) while they were still alive, if a non-spouse beneficiary, inherits that retirement account, they would be subject to both the 10-year rule and the annual RMD requirement.

However, if the original owner of the IRA or 401k passes away prior to their Required Beginning Date for RMDs since the RMDs never began if a non-spouse beneficiary inherits the account, they would still be required to deplete the account within 10 years but would not be required to take annual RMDs from the account.

Let’s look at some examples. Jim is age 80 and has $400,000 in a traditional IRA, and his son Jason is the 100% primary beneficiary of the account. Jim passed away in May 2023. Since Jason is a non-spouse beneficiary, he would be subject to the 10-year rule, meaning he would have to fully deplete the account by year 10 following the year of Jim’s death. Since Jim was age 80, he would have already reached his RMD start date, requiring him to take an RMD each year while he was still alive, this in turn would then require Jason to continue those annual RMDs during that 10-year period.  Jason’s first RMD from the inherited IRA account would need to be taken in 2024 which is the year following Jim’s death.

Now, let’s keep everything the same except for Jim’s age when he passes away. In this example, Jim passes away at age 63, which is prior to his RMD required beginning date. Now Jason inherits the IRA, he is still subject to the 10-year rule, but he is no longer required to take RMDs during that 10-year period since Jim had not reached his RMD required beginning date at the time that he passed.

As you can see in these examples, the determination as to whether or not a non-spouse beneficiary is subject to the mandatory RMD requirement during the 10-year period is the age of the decedent when they pass away.

No Final IRS Regs Until 2024

The scenario that I just described is in the proposed regulations from the IRS but “proposed regulations” do not become law until the IRS issues final regulations. This is why we advised our clients to wait for the IRS to issue final regulations before applying this new RMD requirement to inherited retirement accounts subject to the 10-year rule.

The IRS initially said they anticipated issuing final regulations in the first half of 2023. Not only did that not happen, but they officially came out on July 14, 2023, and stated that they would not issue final regulations until at least 2024, which means non-spouse beneficiaries of retirement accounts subject to the 10-year rule will not face a penalty for not taking an RMD for 2023, regardless of when the decedent passed away. 

Heading into 2024 we will once again have to wait and see if the IRS comes forward with the final regulations to implement the new RMDs rules outlined in their proposed regs.

About Michael……...

Hi, I’m Michael Ruger. I’m the managing partner of Greenbush Financial Group and the creator of the nationally recognized Money Smart Board blog . I created the blog because there are a lot of events in life that require important financial decisions. The goal is to help our readers avoid big financial missteps, discover financial solutions that they were not aware of, and to optimize their financial future.

Secure Act 2.0: RMD Start Age Pushed Back to 73 Starting in 2023

On December 23, 2022, Congress passed the Secure Act 2.0, which moved the required minimum distribution (RMD) age from the current age of 72 out to age 73 starting in 2023.  They also went one step further and included in the new law bill an automatic increase in the RMD beginning in 2033, extending the RMD start age to 75.

This is the second time within the past 3 years that Congress has changed the start date for required minimum distributions from IRAs and employer-sponsored retirement plans.  Here is the history and the future timeline of the RMD start dates:

1986 – 2019:     Age 70½

2020 – 2022:     Age 72

2023 – 2032:     Age 73

2033+:               Age 75 

You can also determine your RMD start age based on your birth year:

1950 or Earlier:   RMD starts at age 72

1951 – 1959:      RMD starts at age 73

1960 or later:      RMD starts at age 75   

What Is An RMD?

An RMD is a required minimum distribution.   Once you hit a certain age, the IRS requires you to start taking a distribution each year from your various retirement accounts (IRA, 401(K), 403(b), Simple IRA, etc.) because they want you to begin paying tax on a portion of your tax-deferred assets whether you need them or not. 

What If You Turned Age 72 In 2022?

If you turned age 72 anytime in 2022, the new Secure Act 2.0 does not change the fact that you would have been required to take an RMD for 2022.  This is true even if you decided to delay your first RMD until April 1, 2023, for the 2022 tax year.    

If you are turning 72 in 2023, under the old rules, you would have been required to take an RMD for 2023; under the new rules, you will not have to take your first RMD until 2024, when you turn age 73.

Planning Opportunities

By pushing the RMD start date from age 72 out to 73, and eventually to 75 in 2033, it creates more tax planning opportunities for individuals that do need to take distributions out of their IRAs to supplement this income.  Since these distributions from your retirement account represent taxable income, by delaying that mandatory income could allow individuals the opportunity to process larger Roth conversions during the retirement years, which can be an excellent tax and wealth-building strategy. 

Delaying your RMD can also provide you with the following benefits:

• Reduce the amount of your Medicare premiums

• Reduce the percentage of your social security benefit that is taxed

• Make you eligible for tax credits or deductions that you would have phased out of

• Potentially allow you to realize a 0% tax rate on long-term capital gains

• Continue to keep your pre-tax retirement dollars invested and growing

Additional Secure Act 2.0 Articles

• Mandatory Roth Catch-Up Contributions For High Wage Earners

• New Roth Simple IRA Contributions Beginning in 2023

About Michael……...

Hi, I’m Michael Ruger. I’m the managing partner of Greenbush Financial Group and the creator of the nationally recognized Money Smart Board blog . I created the blog because there are a lot of events in life that require important financial decisions. The goal is to help our readers avoid big financial missteps, discover financial solutions that they were not aware of, and to optimize their financial future.

Coronavirus RMD Relief: Ability To Waive Mandatory IRA Distributions In 2020

Congress passed the CARES Act in March 2020 which provides individuals with IRA, 401(k), and other employer sponsored retirement accounts, the option to waive their required minimum distribution (RMD) for the 2020 tax year.  This option is available to both individual over the age of 70½ and non-spouse beneficiaries of inherited IRA’s.   In this article we will review: 

• The new RMD waiver rules

• RMD’s for individuals age 70.5

• RMD’s for beneficiaries of Inherited IRA’s

• What happens if you already took your distribution for 2020?

• Options for putting the RMD back into your IRA

Who Qualifies For The RMD Waiver?

Unlike other provisions in the CARES Act that require an individual to demonstrate that they have been impacted by the Coronavirus to gain access, the waiver of 2020 required minimum distributions is available to everyone.  If you were age 70½ prior to December 31, 2019 or are the non-spouse beneficiary of an IRA, you are typically required to take a small distribution from your IRA each year, called an “RMD”, and pay tax on those distributions.  However, for 2020, if you want to keep that money in your IRA in 2020 and avoid the tax hit associated with taking the distribution, you have the option to do so. 

What If You Already Took Your RMD for 2020?

If you already received the RMD amount from your IRA for 2020, you may be able to return it to your IRA, and avoid the tax hit. 

If the distribution came from your own personal IRA, not an inherited IRA, you will have two options: 

OPTION 1:  If the distribution happened within the last 60 days, you can simply return the money to your IRA. For this option, you are utilizing the 60-day rollover rule which allows you to take money out of an IRA, return it within 60 days, and avoid the tax liability.   You are only allowed one 60-day rollover every 12 months. 

OPTION 2:  If the distribution took place more than 60 days ago, you will only be allowed to return it to your IRA if you qualify based on one of the four Coronavirus-Related Distribution criteria: 

• You, your spouse, or a dependent was diagnosed with the COVID-19

• You are unable to work due to lack of childcare resulting from COVID-19

• You own a business that has closed or is operating under reduced hours due to COVID-19

• You have experienced adverse financial consequences as a result of being quarantined, furloughed, laid off, or having work hours reduced because of COVID-19

If you qualify under one of these items, then you will have 3-years from the date of the distribution to return the money back to your IRA and avoid the tax hit. However, while you have 3-years to return it to the IRA, if you don’t return the money to your IRA prior to December 31, 2020, you will have a tax liability in 2020 for all or a portion of that IRA distribution.  It’s only when you actually return the money to your IRA that the tax liability is nullified. If you return it in a future tax year, you would have to go back and amend your 2020 tax return to recapture the taxes that were paid. 

Inherited IRA – Non-spouse Beneficiary

However, if you are a non-spouse beneficiary of an IRA, the rules for returning the money to your IRA are different.  If you are a non-spouse beneficiary of an IRA and you already received your RMD for 2020, you cannot return that money to your IRA to avoid the tax liability. Why is this? Beneficiaries are not eligible to make rollovers, so that disqualifies them from return the money to the IRA under the rollover rules in the CARES Act. 

A Note To Our Greenbush Financial Clients

If you wish to waiver your RMD to 2020 or if have already received your RMD, and wish to process a rollover back into your IRA, 401(k), or employer sponsored plan, please contact us. 

Michael Ruger

About Michael……...

Hi, I’m Michael Ruger. I’m the managing partner of Greenbush Financial Group and the creator of the nationally recognized Money Smart Board blog . I created the blog because there are a lot of events in life that require important financial decisions. The goal is to help our readers avoid big financial missteps, discover financial solutions that they were not aware of, and to optimize their financial future.

IRA RMD Start Date Changed From Age 70 ½ to Age 72 Starting In 2020

The SECURE Act was passed into law on December 19, 2019 and with it came some big changes to the required minimum distribution (“RMD”) requirements from IRA’s and retirement plans.  Prior to December 31, 2019, individuals were required to begin taking mandatory distributions from their IRA’s, 401(k), 403(b), and other pre-tax retirement accounts starting in the year that they turned age 70 ½.  The SECURE Act delayed the start date of the RMD’s to age 72.   But like most new laws, it’s not just a simple and straightforward change. In this article we will review: 

• Old Rules vs New Rules surrounding RMD’s

• New rules surrounding Qualified Charitable Distributions from IRA’s

• Who is still subject to the 70 ½ RMD requirement?

• The April 1st delay rule

Required Minimum Distributions

A quick background on required minimum distributions, also referred to as RMD’s.  Prior to the SECURE Act, when you turned age 70 ½ the IRS required you to take small distributions from your pre-tax IRA’s and retirement accounts each year.  For individuals that did not need the money, they did not have a choice. They were forced to withdraw the money out of their retirement accounts and pay tax on the distributions.   Under the current life expectancy tables, in the year that you turned age 70 ½ you were required to take a distribution equaling 3.6% of the account balance as of the previous year end. 

With the passing of the SECURE Act, the start age from these RMD’s is now delayed until the calendar year that an individual turns age 72. 

OLD RULE: Age 70 ½ RMD Begin Date

NEW RULE: Age 72 RMD Begin Date 

Still Subject To The Old 70 ½ Rule

If you turned age 70 ½ prior to December 31, 2019, you will still be required to take RMD’s from your retirement accounts under the old 70 ½ RMD rule.  You are not able to delay the RMD’s until age 72.

Example: Sarah was born May 15, 1949.  She turned 70 on May 15, 2019 making her age 70 ½ on November 15, 2019.  Even though she technically could have delayed her first RMD to April 1, 2020, she will not be able to avoid taking the RMD’s for 2019 and 2020 even though she will be under that age of 72 during those tax years.

Here is a quick date of birth reference to determine if you will be subject to the old 70 ½ start date or the new age 72 start date:

• Date of Birth Prior to July 1, 1949: Subject to Age 70 ½ start date for RMD

• Date of Birth On or After July 1, 1949: Subject to Age 72 start date for RMD

April 1 Exception Retained

OLD RULE:  In the the year that an individual turned age 70 ½, they had the option to delay their first RMD until April 1st of the following year.  This is a tax strategy that individuals engaged in to push that additional taxable income associated with the RMD into the next tax year. However, in year 2, the individual was then required to take two RMD’s in that calendar year: One prior to April 1st for the previous tax year and the second prior to December 31st for the current tax year. 

NEW RULE:  Unchanged. The April 1st exception for the first RMD year was retained by the SECURE Act as well as the requirement that if the RMD was voluntarily delayed until the following year that two RMD’s would need be taken in the second year. 

Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD)

OLD RULES: Individuals that had reached the RMD age of 70 ½ had the option to distribute all or a portion of their RMD directly to a charitable organization to avoid having to pay tax on the distribution.  This option was reserved only for individuals that had reached age 70 ½.  In conjunction with tax reform that took place a few years ago, this has become a very popular option for individuals that make charitable contributions because most individual taxpayers are no longer able to deduct their charitable contributions under the new tax laws.

 

NEW RULES: With the delay of the RMD start date to age 72, do individuals now have to wait until age 72 to be eligible to make qualified charitable distributions?  The answer is thankfully no.  Even though the RMD start date is delayed until age 72, individuals will still be able to make tax free charitable distributions from their IRA’s in the calendar year that they turn age 70 ½. The limit on QCDs is still $100,000 for each calendar year.

 

NOTE: If you plan to process a qualified charitable distributions from your IRA after age 70 ½, you have to be well aware of the procedures for completing those special distributions otherwise it could cause those distributions to be taxable to the owner of the IRA.  See the article below for more on this topic:

 Article: Lower Your Tax Bill By Directing Your Mandatory IRA Distributions To Charity

ANOTHER NEW RULE: There is a second new rule associated with the SECURE Act that will impact this Qualified Charitable Distribution strategy.  Under the old tax law, individuals were unable to contribute to Traditional IRA’s past the age of 70 ½.  The SECURE Act eliminated that rule so individuals that have earned income past age 70 ½ will be eligible to make contributions to Traditional IRAs and take a tax deduction for those contributions.

As an anti-abuse provision, any contributions made to a Traditional IRA past the age of 70 ½ will, in aggregate, dollar for dollar, reduce the amount of your qualified charitable distribution that is tax free.

Example:  A 75 year old retiree was working part-time making $20,000 per year for the past 3 years. To reduce her tax bill, she contributed $7,000 per year to a traditional IRA which is allowed under the new tax laws.  This year she is required to take a $30,000 required minimum distribution (RMD) from her retirement accounts and she wants to direct that all to charity to avoid having to pay tax on the $30,000. Because she contributed $21,000 to a traditional IRA past the age of 70 ½,  $21,000 of the qualified charitable distribution would be taxable income to her, while the remaining $9,000 would be a tax free distribution to the charity.

$30,000 QCD  –  $21,000 IRA Contribution After Age 70 ½ =  $9,000 tax free QCD

About Michael……...

Hi, I’m Michael Ruger. I’m the managing partner of Greenbush Financial Group and the creator of the nationally recognized Money Smart Board blog . I created the blog because there are a lot of events in life that require important financial decisions. The goal is to help our readers avoid big financial missteps, discover financial solutions that they were not aware of, and to optimize their financial future.

New Rules For Non Spouse Beneficiaries Of Retirement Accounts Starting In 2020

The SECURE Act was signed into law on December 19, 2019 and with it comes some very important changes to the options that are available to non-spouse beneficiaries of IRA’s, 401(k), 403(b), and other types of retirement accounts starting in 2020.  Unfortunately, with the passing of this law, Congress took away one of the most valuable distribution options available to non-spouse beneficiaries called the “stretch” provision.  Non-spouse beneficiaries would utilize this distribution option to avoid the tax hit associated with having to take big distributions from pre-tax retirement accounts in a single tax year.  This article will cover: 

• The old inherited IRA rules vs. the new inherited IRA rules

• The new “10 Year Rule”

• Who is grandfathered in under the old inherited IRA rules?

• Impact of the new rules on minor children beneficiaries

• Tax traps awaiting non spouse beneficiaries of retirement accounts

The “Stretch” Option Is Gone

The SECURE Act’s elimination of the stretch provision will have a big impact on non-spouse beneficiaries. Prior to January 1, 2020, non-spouse beneficiaries that inherited retirement accounts had the option to either:

• Take a full distribution of the retirement account within 5 years

• Rollover the balance to an inherited IRA and stretch the distributions from the retirement account over their lifetime. Also known as the “stretch option”.

Since any money distributed from a pre-tax retirement account is taxable income to the beneficiary, many non-spouse beneficiaries would choose the stretch option to avoid the big tax hit associated with taking larger distributions from a retirement account in a single year.   Under the old rules, if you did not move the money to an inherited IRA by  December 31st of the year following the decedent’s death, you were forced to take out the full account balance within a 5 year period.

On the flip side, the stretch option allowed these beneficiaries to move the retirement account balance from the decedent’s retirement account into their own inherited IRA tax and penalty free.  The non-spouse beneficiary was then only required to take small distributions each year from the account called a RMD (“required minimum distribution”) but was allowed to keep the retirement account intact and continuing to accumulate tax deferred over their lifetime. A huge benefit!

The New 10 Year Rule

For non-spouse beneficiaries, the stretch option was replaced with the “10 Year Rule” which states that the balance in the inherited retirement account needs to be fully distributed by the end of the 10th year following the decedent’s date of death.  The loss of the stretch option will be problematic for non-spouse beneficiaries that inherit sizable retirement accounts because they will be forced to take larger distributions exposing those pre-tax distributions to higher tax rates. 

No RMD Requirement Under The 10 Year Rule

Even though the stretch option has been lost, beneficiaries will have some flexibility as to the timing of when distributions will take place from their inherited IRA.  Unlike the stretch provision that required the non-spouse beneficiary to start taking the RMD’s the year following the decedent’s date of death, there are no RMD requirements associated with the new 10 year rule. Meaning in extreme cases, the beneficiary could choose not to take any distributions from the retirement account for 9 years and then in year 10 distribute the full account balance.

Now, unless you love paying taxes, very few people would elect to distribute a large pre-tax retirement account balance in a single tax year but the new rules give you a decade to coordinate a distribution strategy that will help you to manage your tax liability under the new rules.

Tax Traps For Non-Spouse Beneficiaries

These new inherited IRA distribution rules are going to require pro-active tax and financial planning for the beneficiaries of these retirement accounts. I’m lumping financial planning into that mix because taking distributions from pre-tax retirement accounts increases your taxable income which could cause the following things to happen: 

• Reduce the amount of college financial aid that your child is receiving

• Increase the amount of your social security that is considered taxable income

• Loss of property tax credits such as the Enhanced STAR Program

• Increase your Medicare Part B and Part D premiums the following year

• You may phase out of certain tax credits or deductions that you were previously receiving

• Eliminate your ability to contribute to a Roth IRA

• Loss of Medicaid or Special Needs benefits

• Ordinary income and capital gains taxed at a higher rate

You really have to plan out the next 10 years and determine from a tax and financial planning standpoint what is the most advantageous way to distribute the full balance of the inherited IRA to minimize the tax hit and avoid triggering an unexpected financial consequence associated with having additional income during that 10 year period. 

Who Is Grandfathered In?

If you are the non-spouse beneficiary of a retirement account and the decedent passed away prior to January 1, 2020, you are grandfathered in under the old inherited IRA rules. Meaning you are still able to utilize the stretch provision.   Here are a few examples:

Example 1: If you had a parent pass away in 2018 and in 2019 you rolled over their IRA into your own inherited IRA, you are not subject to the new 10 year rule.  You are allowed to stretch the IRA distributions over your lifetime in the form of those RMD’s.

Example 2:  On December 15, 2019, you father passed away and you are listed as the beneficiary on his 401(k) account. Since he passed away prior to January 1, 2020, you would still have the option of setting up an Inherited IRA prior to December 31, 2020 and then stretching the distributions over your lifetime.

Example 3:  On February 3, 2020, your uncle passes away and you are listed as a beneficiary on his Rollover IRA. Since he passed away after January 1, 2020, you would be required to distribute the full IRA balance prior to December 31, 2030.

You are also grandfathered in under the old rules if:

• The beneficiary is the spouse

• Disabled beneficiaries

• Chronically Ill beneficiaries

• Individuals who are NOT more than 10 years younger than the decendent

• Certain minor children (see below)

Even beyond 2020, the beneficiaries listed above will still have the option to rollover the balance into their own inherited IRA and then stretch the required minimum distributions over their lifetime. 

Minor Children As Beneficiaries

The rules are slightly different if the beneficiary is the child of the decedent AND they are still a minor.  I purposely capitalized the word “and”.   Within the new law is a “Special Rule for Minor Children” section that states if the beneficiary is a child of the decedent but has not reached the age of majority, then the child will be able to take age-based RMD’s from the inherited IRA but only until they reach the age of majority. Once they are no longer a minor, they are required to distribute the remainder of the retirement account balance within 10 years.

Example:  A mother and father pass away in a car accident and the beneficiaries listed on their retirement accounts are their two children, Jacob age 10, and Sarah age 8.  Jacob and Sarah would be able to move the balances from their parent’s retirements accounts into an inherited IRA and then just take small required minimum distributions from the account based on their life expectancy until they reach age 18.  In their state of New York, age 18 is the age of majority.  The entire inherited IRA would then need to be fully distributed to them before the end of the calendar year of their 28th birthday.

This exception only applies if they are a child of the decedent. If a minor child inherits a retirement account from a non-parent, such as a grandparent, then they are immediately subject to the 10 year rule.

Note: the age of majority varies by state.

Plans Not Impacted Until January 1, 2022

The replacement of the stretch option with the new 10 Year Rule will impact most non-spouse beneficiaries in 2020.  There are a few exceptions to that effective date: 

• 403(b) & 457 plans sponsored by state and local governments, including Thrift Savings Plans sponsored by the Federal Government will not lose the stretch option until January 1, 2022

• Plans maintained pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement also do not lose the stretch option until January 1, 2022

Advanced Planning

Under the old inherited IRA rules there was less urgency for immediate tax planning because the non-spouse beneficiaries just had to move the money into an inherited IRA the year after the decedent passed away and in most cases the RMD's were relatively small resulting in a minimal tax impact.   For non-spouse beneficiaries that inherit a retirement account after January 1, 2020, it will be so important to have a tax plan and financial plan in place as soon as possible otherwise you could lose a lot of your inheritance to higher taxes or other negative consequences associated with having more income during those distribution years. 

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions on the new inherited IRA rules.  We would also be more than happy to share with you some of the advanced tax strategies that we will be using with our clients to help them to minimize the tax impact of the new 10 year rule. 

About Michael……...

Hi, I’m Michael Ruger. I’m the managing partner of Greenbush Financial Group and the creator of the nationally recognized Money Smart Board blog . I created the blog because there are a lot of events in life that require important financial decisions. The goal is to help our readers avoid big financial missteps, discover financial solutions that they were not aware of, and to optimize their financial future.

Understanding Required Minimum Distributions & Advanced Tax Strategies For RMD's

Understanding Required Minimum Distributions & Advanced Tax Strategies For RMD’s

A required minimum distribution (RMD) is the amount that the IRS requires you to take out of your retirement account each year when you hit a certain age or when you inherit a retirement account from someone else. It’s important to plan tax-wise for these distributions because they can substantially increase your tax liability in a given year; consequentially, not distributing the correct amount from your retirement accounts will invite huge tax penalties from the IRS. Luckily, there are advanced tax strategies that can be implemented to help reduce the tax impact of these distributions, as well as special situations that exempt you from having to take an RMD. 

Age 72

LAW CHANGE: There were changes to the RMD age when the SECURE Act was passed into law on December 19, 2019.  Prior to the law change, you were required to start taking RMD’s in the calendar year that you turned age 70 1/2.  For anyone turning age 70 1/2 after December 31, 2019, their RMD start age is now delayed to age 72.

The most common form of required minimum distribution is age 72.  In the calendar year that you turn 72, you are required to take your first distribution from your pretax retirement accounts.

The IRS has a special table called the “Uniform Lifetime Table”.  There is one column for your age and another column titled “distribution period”. The way the table works is you find your age and then identify what your distribution period is. Below is the calculation step by step:

1) Determine your December 31 balance in your pre-tax retirement accounts for the previous year end

2) Find the distribution period on the IRS uniform lifetime table

3) Take your 12/31 balance and divide that by the distribution period

4) The previous step will result in the amount that you are required to take out of your retirement account by 12/31 of that year

Example: If you turn age 72 in March of 2023, you would be required to take your first RMD in that calednar year unless you elect the April 1st delay in the first year.  After you find your age on the IRS uniform lifetime table, next to it you will see a distribution period of 25.6. The balance in your traditional IRA account on December 31, 2018 was $400,000, so your RMD would be calculated as follows:

$400,000 / 25.6 = $15,625

Your required minimum distribution amount for the 2023 tax year is $15,625.  The first RMD will represent about 3.9% of the account balance, and that percentage will increase by a small amount each year.

RMD Deadline

There are very important dates that you need to be aware of once you reach age 72. In most years, you have to make your required minimum distribution prior to December 31 of that tax year. However, there is an exception for the year that you turn age 72. In the year that you turn 72, you have the option of taking your first RMD either prior to December 31 or April 1 of the following year.  The April 1 exception only applies to the year that you turn 72.  Every year after that first year, you are required to take your distribution by December 31st. 

Delay to April 1st

So why would someone want to delay their first required minimum distribution to April 1? Since the distribution results in additional taxable income, it’s about determining which tax year is more favorable to realize the additional income.

For example, you may have worked for part of the year that you turned age 72 so you’re showing earned income for the year.  If you take the distribution from your IRA prior to 12/31 that represents more income that you have to pay tax on which is stacked up on top of your earned income. It may be better from a tax standpoint to take the distribution in the following January because the amount distributed from your retirement account will be taxed in a year when you have less income.

Very important rule:

If you decide to delay your first required minimum distribution past 12/31, you will be required to take two RMD‘s in that following year.

Example: I retire from my company in September 2023 and I also turned 72 that same year. If I elect to take my first RMD on February 1, 2024, prior to the April 1 deadline, I will then be required to take a second distribution from my IRA prior to December 31, 2024.

If you are already retired in the year that you turn age 72 and your income level is going to be relatively the same between the current year and the following year, it often makes sense to take your first RMD prior to December 31st, so are not required to take two RMD‘s the following year which can subject those distributions to a higher tax rate and create other negative tax events.

IRS Penalty

If you fail to distribute the required amount by the given deadline, the IRS will be kind enough to assess a 50% penalty on the amount that you should have taken for your required minimum distribution. If you were required to take a $14,000 distribution and you failed to do so by the applicable deadline, the IRS will hit you with a $7,000 penalty. If you make the distribution, but the amount is not sufficient enough to meet the required minimum distribution amount, they will assess the 50% penalty on the shortfall instead. Bottom line, don’t miss the deadline. 

Exceptions If You Are Still Working

There is an exception to the 72 RMD rule.  If your only retirement asset is an employer sponsored retirement plan, such as a 401(k), 403(b), or 457,  as long as you are still working for that employer, you are not required to take an RMD from that retirement account until after you have terminated from employment regardless of your age.

Example:  You are age 73 and your only retirement asset is a 401(k) account with your current employer with a $100,000 balance, you will not be required to take an RMD from your 401(k) account in that year even though you are over the age of 72.

In the year that you terminate employment, however, you will be required to take an RMD for that year. For this reason, be very careful if you’re working over the age of 72 and leave employment in late December. Your retirement plan provider will have a very narrow window of time to process your required minimum distribution prior to the December 31st deadline.

This employer sponsored retirement plan exception only applies to balances in your current employer’s retirement plan. You do not receive this exception for retirement plan balances with previous employers.

If you have retirement account such as IRA’s or other retirement plan outside of your current employer’s plan, you will still be required to take RMD’s from those accounts, even though you are still working.

Advanced Tax Strategies

There are two advanced tax strategies that we use when individuals are age 72 and still working for a company that sponsors are qualified retirement plan.

It’s not uncommon for employees to have a retirement plans with their current employer, a rollover IRA, and some miscellaneous balance in retirement plans from former employers.  Since you only have the exception to the RMD within your current employers plan, and most 401(k), 403(b), and 457 plans accept rollovers from IRAs and other qualified plans, it may be advantageous to complete rollovers of all those retirement accounts into your current employer’s plan so you can completely avoid the RMD requirement.

Strategy number two. If you are still working and you have access to an employer sponsored plan, you are usually able to make employee contributions pre-tax to the plan.  If you are required to take a distribution from your IRA which results in taxable income, as long as you are not already maxing out your employee deferrals in your current employer’s plan, you can instruct payroll to increase your contributions to the plan to reduce your earned income by the amount of the required minimum distribution coming from your other retirement accounts.

Example:  You are age 72 and working part time for an employer that gives you access to a 401(k) plan. Your 401(k) has a balance of $20,000 with that employer, but you also have a Rollover IRA with a balance of $200,000. In this case, you would not be required to take an RMD from your 401(k) balance, but you would be required to take an RMD from your IRA which would total approximately $7,500.  Since the $7,500 will represent additional income to you in that tax year, you could turn around and instruct the payroll company to take 100% of your paychecks and put it pre-tax into your 401(k) account until you reach $7,500 which would wipe out the tax liability from the distribution that occurred from the IRA.

Or, if you have a spouse that still working and they have access to a qualified retirement plan, the same strategy can be implemented. Additionally, if you file a joint tax return, it doesn’t matter whose retirement plan it goes into because it’s all pre-tax at the end of the day. 

5% or More Owner

Unfortunately, I have some bad news for business owners.  If you are a 5% or more owner of the company, it does not matter whether or not you are still working for the company, you are required to take an RMD from the company’s employer sponsored retirement plan regardless.  The IRS is well aware that the owner of the business could decide to work for two hours a week just to avoid required minimum distributions. Sorry entrepreneurs. 

A Spouse That Is More Than 10 Years Younger

I mentioned above that the IRS has a uniform lifetime table for calculating the RMD amount.  If your spouse is more than 10 years younger than you are, there is a special RMD table that you will need to use called the “joint life table” with a completely different set of distribution periods, so make sure you’re using the correct table when calculating the RMD amount. 

Charitable contributions

There is also an advanced tax strategy that allows you to make contributions to charity directly from your IRA and you do not have to pay tax on those disbursements.  The special charitable distributions from IRA’s are only allowed for individuals that are age 72 or older.  If you regularly make contributions to a charity, church, or not for profit, or if you do not need the income from the RMD, this may be a great strategy to shelter what otherwise would have been more taxable income. There are a lot of special rules surrounding how these charitable contributions work. For more information on this strategy see the following article:

Lower Your Tax Bill By Directing Your Mandatory IRA Distributions To Charity

Roth IRA’s

You are not required to take RMD‘s from Roth IRA accounts at age 72, this is one of the biggest tax advantages of Roth IRAs. 

Inherited IRA

When you inherit an IRA from someone else, those IRAs have their own set of required minimum distribution rules which vary from the rules at the age 72.  The SECURE Act that was passed in 2019 split non-spouse beneficiaries of IRA into two categories.  For individuals that inherited retirement accounts prior to December 31, 2019, they are still able to stretch the RMD over their lifetime and the required minimum distributions must begin by December 31st of the year following the decedent date of death. For individuals that inherited a retirement account after December 31, 2019, the New 10 Rule replaced the stretch option and no RMDs are required for non-spouse beneficiaries.  For the full list of rule, deadlines, and tax strategies surrounding inherited IRA’s see the articles listed below:

Spouse Inherited IRA Options

How Do Inherited IRA’s Work For Non-Spouse Beneficiaries

About Michael……...

Hi, I’m Michael Ruger. I’m the managing partner of Greenbush Financial Group and the creator of the nationally recognized Money Smart Board blog . I created the blog because there are a lot of events in life that require important financial decisions. The goal is to help our readers avoid big financial missteps, discover financial solutions that they were not aware of, and to optimize their financial future.

Spouse Inherited IRA Options

If your spouse passes away and they had either an IRA, 401(k), 403(b), or some other type of employer sponsored retirement account, you will have to determine which distribution option is the right one for you.   There are deadlines that you will need to be aware of, different tax implications based on the option that you choose, forms that need to be completed, and accounts that may need to be established. 

Spouse Distribution Options

As the spouse, if you are listed as primary beneficiary on a retirement account or IRA, you have more options available to you than a non-spouse beneficiary.  Non-spouse beneficiaries that inherited retirement accounts after December 31, 2019 are required to fully distribution the account 10 years following the year that the decedent passed away. But as the spouse of the decedent, you have the following options: 

• Fulling distribute the retirement account with 10 years

• Rollover the balance to an inherited IRA

• Rollover the balance to your own IRA

To determine which option is the right choice, you will need to take the following factors into consideration: 

• Your age

• The age of your spouse

• Will you need to take money from the IRA to supplement your income?

• Taxes

Cash Distributions

We will start with the most basic option which is to take a cash distribution directly from your spouse’s retirement account.    Be very careful with this option.  When you take a cash distribution from a pre-tax retirement account, you will have to pay income tax on the amount that is distributed to you.  For example, if your spouse had $50,000 in a 401(k), and you decide to take the full amount out in the form of a lump sum distribution, the full $50,000 will be counted as taxable income to you in the year that the distribution takes place. It’s like receiving a paycheck from your employer for $50,000 with no taxes taken out.   When you go to file your taxes the following year, a big tax bill will probably be waiting for you.

In most cases, if you need some or all of the cash from a 401(k) account or an IRA, it usually makes more sense to first rollover the entire balance into an inherited IRA, and then take the cash that you need from there.   This strategy gives you more control over the timing of the distributions which may help you to save some money in taxes.  If as the spouse, you need the $50,000, but you really need $30,000 now and $20,000 in 6 months, you can rollover the full $50,000 balance to the inherited IRA, take $30,000 from the IRA this year, and take the additional $20,000 on January 2nd the following year so it spreads the tax liability between two tax years.

10% Early Withdrawal Penalty

Typically, if you are under the age of 59½, and you take a distribution from a retirement account, you incur not only taxes but also a 10% early withdrawal penalty on the amount this is distributed from the account.  This is not the case when you take a cash distribution, as a beneficiary, directly from the decedents retirement account.  You have to report the distribution as taxable income but you do not incur the 10% early withdrawal penalty, regardless of your age. 

IRA Options

Let's move onto the two IRA options that are available to spouse beneficiaries.  The spouse has the decide whether to: 

• Rollover the balance into their own IRA

• Rollover the balance into an inherited IRA

By processing a direct rollover to an IRA in either case, the beneficiary is able to avoid immediate taxation on the balance in the account.  However, it’s very important to understand the difference between these two options because all too often this is where the surviving spouse makes the wrong decision.  In most cases, once this decision is made, it cannot be reversed. 

Spouse IRA vs Inherited IRA

There are some big differences comparing the spouse IRA and inherited IRA option.

There is common misunderstanding of the RMD rules when it comes to inherited IRA’s.  The spouse often assumes that if they select the inherited IRA option, they will be forced to take a required minimum distribution from the account just like non-spouse beneficiaries had to under the old inherited IRA rules prior to the passing of the SECURE Act in 2019. That is not necessarily true.  When the spouses establishes an inherited IRA, a RMD is only required when the deceases spouse would have reached age 70½.  This determination is based on the age that your spouse would have been if they were still alive.  If they are under that “would be” age, the surviving spouse is not required to take an RMD from the inherited IRA for that tax year.

For example, if you are 39 and your spouse passed away last year at the age of 41, if you establish an inherited IRA, you would not be required to take an RMD from your inherited IRA for 29 years which is when your spouse would have turned age 70½.   In the next section, I will explain why this matters.

Surviving Spouse Under The Age of 59½

As the surviving spouse, if you are under that age of 59½, the decision between either establishing an inherited IRA or rolling over the balance into your own IRA is extremely important.  Here’s why .

If you rollover the balance to your own IRA and you need to take a distribution from that account prior to reaching age 59½, you will incur both taxes and the 10% early withdrawal penalty on the amount of the distribution.

But wait…….I thought you said the 10% early withdrawal penalty does not apply?

The 10% early withdrawal penalty does not apply for distributions from an “inherited IRA” or for distributions to a beneficiary directly from the decedents retirement account.  However, since you moved the balance into your own IRA,  you have essentially forfeited the ability to avoid the 10% early withdrawal penalty for distributions taken before age 59½.

The Switch Strategy

There is also a little know “switch strategy” for the surviving spouse.  Even if you initially elect to rollover the balance to an inherited IRA to maintain the ability to take penalty free withdrawals prior to age 59½, at any time, you can elect to rollover that inherited IRA balance into your own IRA.

Why would you do this?  If there is a big age gap between you and your spouse, you may decide to transition your inherited IRA to your own IRA prior to age 59½.  Example, let’s assume the age gap between you and your spouse was 15 years.  In the year that you turn age 55, your spouse would have turned age 70½.  If the balance remains in the inherited IRA, as the spouse, you would have to take an RMD for that tax year.   If you do not need the additional income, you can choose to rollover the balance from your inherited IRA to your own IRA and you will avoid the RMD requirement.   However, in doing so, you also lose the ability to take withdrawals from the IRA without the 10% early withdrawal penalty between ages 55 to 59½.  Based on your financial situation, you will have to determine whether or not the “switch strategy” makes sense for you.

The Spousal IRA

So when does it make sense to rollover your spouse’s IRA or retirement account into your own IRA?  There are two scenarios where this may be the right solution:

• The surviving spouse is already age 59½ or older

• The surviving spouse is under the age of 59½ but they know with 100% certainty that they will not have to access the IRA assets prior to reaching age 59½

If the surviving spouse is already 59½ or older, they do not have to worry about the 10% early withdrawal penalty.

For the second scenarios, even though this may be a valid reason, it begs the question:  “If you are under the age of 59½ and you have the option of changing the inherited IRA to your own IRA at any time, why take the risk?”

As the spouse you can switch from inherited IRA to your own IRA but you are not allowed to switch from your own IRA to an inherited IRA down the road.

About Michael……...

Hi, I’m Michael Ruger. I’m the managing partner of Greenbush Financial Group and the creator of the nationally recognized Money Smart Board blog . I created the blog because there are a lot of events in life that require important financial decisions. The goal is to help our readers avoid big financial missteps, discover financial solutions that they were not aware of, and to optimize their financial future.

Lower Your Tax Bill By Directing Your Mandatory IRA Distributions To Charity

When you turn 70 1/2, you will have the option to process Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD) which are distribution from your pre-tax IRA directly to a chartable organization.  Even though the SECURE Act in 2019 changed the RMD start age from 70 1/2 to age 72, your are still eligible to make these QCDs beginning the calendar year that you turn age 70 1/2.   At age 72, you must begin taking required minimum distributions (RMD) from your pre-tax IRA’s and unless you are still working, your employer sponsored retirement plans as well.  The IRS forces you to take these distributions whether you need them or not.  Why is that?  They want to begin collecting income taxes on your tax deferred retirement assets.

Some retirees find themselves in the fortunate situation of not needing this additional income so the RMD’s just create additional tax liability.  If you are charitably inclined and would prefer to avoid the additional tax liability, you can make a charitable contribution directly from your IRA and avoid all or a portion of the tax liability generated by the required minimum distribution requirement.

It Does Not Work For 401(k)’s

You can only make “qualified charitable contributions” from an IRA.  This option is not available for 401(k), 403(b), and other qualified retirement plans. If you wish to execute this strategy, you would have to process a direct rollover of your FULL 401(k) balance to a rollover IRA and then process the distribution from your IRA to charity.

The reason why I emphases the word “full” for your 401(k) rollover is due to the IRS “aggregation rule”.  Assuming that you no longer work for the company that sponsors your 401(k) account, you are age 72 or older, and you have both a 401(k) account and a separate IRA account, you will need to take an RMD from both the 401(k) account and the IRA separately.  The IRS allows you to aggregate your IRA’s together for purposes of taking RMD’s.  If you have 10 separate IRA’s, you can total up the required distribution amounts for each IRA, and then take that amount from a single IRA account.   The IRS does not allow you to aggregate 401(k) accounts for purposes of satisfying your RMD requirement.  Thus, if it’s your intention to completely avoid taxes on your RMD requirement, you will have to make sure all of your retirement accounts have been moved into an IRA.

Contributions Must Be Made Directly To Charity

Another important rule. At no point can the IRA distribution ever hit your checking account.  To complete the qualified charitable contribution, the money must go directly from your IRA to the charity or not-for-profit organization.   Typically this is completed by issuing a “third party check” from your IRA.  You provide your IRA provider with payment instructions for the check and the mailing address of the charitable organization. If at any point during this process you take receipt of the distribution from your IRA, the full amount will be taxable to you and the qualified charitable contribution will be void.

Tax Lesson

For many retirees, their income is lower in the retirement years and they have less itemized deductions since the kids are out of the house and the mortgage is paid off.  Given this set of circumstances, it may make sense to change from itemizing to taking the standard deduction when preparing your taxes.  Charitable contributions are an itemized deduction. Thus, if you take the standard deduction for your taxes, you no longer receive the tax benefit of your contributions to charity. By making IRA distributions directly to a charity, you are able to take the standard deduction but still capture the tax benefit of making a charitable contribution because you avoid tax on an IRA distribution that otherwise would have been taxable income to you.

Example: Church Offering

Instead of putting cash or personal checks in the offering each Sunday, you may consider directing all or a portion of your required minimum distribution from your IRA directly to the church or religious organization.  Usually having a conversation with your church or religious organization about your new “offering structure” helps to ease the awkward feeling of passing the offering basket without making a contribution each week.

Example: Annual Contributions To Charity

In this example, let’s assume that each year I typically issue a personal check of $2,000 to my favorite charity, Big Brother Big Sisters,  a not-for-profit organization.   I’m turning 70½ this year and my accountant tells me that it would be more beneficial to take the standard deduction instead of itemizing.  My RMD for the year is $5,000.  I can contact my IRA provider, have them issuing a check directly to the charity for $2,000 and issue me a check for the remaining $3,000.  I will only have to pay taxes on the $3,000 that I received as opposed to the full $5,000.  I win, the charity wins, and the IRS kind of loses.  I’m ok with that situation.

Don’t Accept Anything From The Charity In Return

This is a very important rule.  Sometimes when you make a charitable contribution, as a sign of gratitude, the charity will send you a coffee mug, gift basket, etc.  When this happens, you will typically get a letter from the charity confirming your contribution but the amount listed in the letter will be slightly lower than the actual dollar amount contributed.  The charity will often reduce the contribution by the amount of the gift that was given.  If this happens, the total amount of the charitable contribution fails the “qualified charitable contribution” requirement and you will be taxed on the full amount.  Plus, you already gave the money to charity so you have spend the funds that you could use to pay the taxes.  Not good

Limits

While this will not be an issue for many of us, there is a $100,000 per person limit for these qualified charitable contributions from IRA’s.

Summary

While there are a number of rules to follow when making these qualified charitable contributions from IRA’s, it can be a great strategy that allows retirees to continue contributing to their favorite charities, religious organizations, and/or not-for-profit organizations, while reducing their overall tax liability. 

About Michael……...

Hi, I’m Michael Ruger. I’m the managing partner of Greenbush Financial Group and the creator of the nationally recognized Money Smart Board blog . I created the blog because there are a lot of events in life that require important financial decisions. The goal is to help our readers avoid big financial missteps, discover financial solutions that they were not aware of, and to optimize their financial future.