Rollover Chart
Provides individuals with clarification on the rollover rules for retirement accounts and IRA’s.
Rollover Chart
RC
Provides individuals with clarification on the rollover rules for retirement accounts and IRA’s.
Click on the PDF link in the green box below.
Inherited IRA's: How Do They Work?
An Inherited IRA is a retirement account that is left to a beneficiary after the owner’s death. It is important to have a general knowledge of how Inherited IRA’s work because a minor error in how the account is set up could lead to major tax consequences.
how do inherited ira's work
An Inherited IRA is a retirement account that is left to a beneficiary after the owner’s death. It is important to have a general knowledge of how Inherited IRA’s work because a minor error in how the account is set up could lead to major tax consequences.
Before going into the different kinds of Inherited IRA’s, if you are the sole beneficiary of your spouse’s IRA, you are able to transfer the assets to your own existing IRA or to a new IRA through what is called a “Spousal Transfer”. This account is not treated as an Inherited IRA and therefore is subject to all the rules a Traditional IRA would be subject to as if it was always held in your name. If the spouse needs to have access to the money before age 59 ½, it would probably make sense to set up an Inherited IRA because this would give the spouse options to access the money without incurring a 10% early withdrawal penalty.
Withdrawal Rules for Spouse & Non-Spouse Beneficiaries
The SECURE Act that passed in December 2019 dramatically changed the distribution options that are available to non-spouse beneficiaries. If you are spousal beneficiary please reference the following article:
10 Year Method
All the assets must be distributed by the 10th year after the year in which the account holder died. This option may make sense compared to the Lump Sum option explained next to spread out the tax liability over a longer period.
Lump Sum Distribution
You may take a lump sum distribution when the account is inherited. It is recommended that you consult your tax preparer to discuss the tax consequences of this method since you may move up into a different tax bracket.
Additional Takeaways
If the decedent was required to take a distribution in the year of death, it is important to determine whether or not the decedent took the distribution. If the decedent was required to take a RMD but did not do so in the year they passed, the inheritor must take the distribution based on the life expectancy of the decedent or the distribution will be subject to a 50% penalty. Distributions going forward will be based on the life expectancy of the inheritor.
It is important to be sure a beneficiary form is completed for the Inherited IRA. If there is no beneficiary and the account goes to an estate then the inheritor will have limited choices on which distribution method to choose among other tax consequences.
You are only able to combine Inherited IRA’s if they were inherited from the same individual. If you have multiple Inherited IRA’s from different individuals, you cannot commingle the assets because of the distributions that must be taken.
There is no 60 day rule with Inherited IRA’s like there is with other Traditional IRA’s. The 60 day rule allows someone to withdraw money from an IRA and as long as it’s replenished within 60 days there is no tax consequence. This is not available with Inherited IRA’s, all non-Roth distributions are taxable.
The charts below are from insurancenewsnet.com publication titled “Extended IRA Quick Reference Guide” give another look at the details of Inherited IRA’s.
inherited ira options
inherited ira distribution options
About Rob……...
Hi, I’m Rob Mangold. I’m the Chief Operating Officer at Greenbush Financial Group and a contributor to the Money Smart Board blog. We created the blog to provide strategies that will help our readers personally , professionally, and financially. Our blog is meant to be a resource. If there are questions that you need answered, pleas feel free to join in on the discussion or contact me directly.
What is the 60 Day Rule and How Should it be Used?
The 60 day rule refers to the length of time an individual has to deposit money back into a retirement account that was previously withdrawn without incurring a taxable event. There are a number of reasons someone would withdraw money from an account whether it be to pay a large tax bill, obtain cash for an unexpected expense, or to rollover the
60 day rollover
The 60 day rule refers to the length of time an individual has to deposit money back into a retirement account that was previously withdrawn without incurring a taxable event. There are a number of reasons someone would withdraw money from an account whether it be to pay a large tax bill, obtain cash for an unexpected expense, or to rollover the balance into another retirement account.
There are multiple ways to rollover a balance from one retirement account to another so we will begin by explaining the more common ways to rollover a balance where the 60 day rule won't come into play.
Direct Rollover
A direct rollover is a transfer from a retirement plan to another retirement plan or IRA where the custodian of your current plan makes payment directly to your new account. This can be in the form of a check made payable to the new account custodian or a direct wire transfer. This method will avoid taxes and penalties because the account owner never had access to the cash during the transfer.
Trustee to Trustee Transfer
Similar to the direct rollover, a trustee to trustee transfer moves money from one IRA to another IRA without the account owner ever having access to the cash and therefore avoiding taxes and penalties.
The direct rollover and trustee to trustee transfer methods both avoid taxes and penalties as cash is never available to the owner and therefore the 60 day rule does not come into effect. In any case where the account owner has access to the cash, the money will have to be redeposited into another retirement account within 60 days or the owner will be taxed on any pre-tax dollars and possibly penalized if the owner is under the age of 59 ½.
The 60 day rule is one of the only ways an owner has access to money in a retirement account without paying taxes or penalties on the distribution. An individual can take advantage of this if they are in need of immediate cash for something like an unexpected expense. The distribution is essentially an interest free loan from your retirement account for 60 days. If the money is not available within the 60 days to redeposit, taxes and possible penalties will be assessed on the distribution.
IRS: One 60 Day Rollover in 12 Month Rule
The IRS recognized that individuals were taking advantage of this rule by taking multiple distributions in a single year and therefore increasing the time period. Beginning after January 1, 2015, the IRS changed the law to state that only one rollover can be made from one IRA to another IRA within a 12 month period. This rule does not apply to the following:
rollovers from traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs (conversions)
trustee-to-trustee transfers to another IRA
IRA-to-plan rollovers
plan-to-IRA rollovers
plan-to-plan rollovers
It shows the one rollover in a 12 month period rule was meant to limit the abuse of the 60 day rule because direct rollovers and trustee to trustee transfers are excluded.
What can be Rolled Over?
Most of the time the entire balance in a retirement account can be rolled over to another account unless the balance includes an amount of money that is required to be withdrawn. Examples include required minimum distributions and contributions in excess of limits (plus earnings on the excess contributions). For retirement plans, in addition to RMD's and excess contributions, any loans outstanding at the time of rollover or hardship distributions taken during the year will be subject to taxes and possible penalties.
Are Taxes Assessed at the Time of Distribution?
Distribution from an IRA: Typically, a tax is not assessed on a distribution from an IRA unless the account owner elects to have taxes withheld. A distribution from a pre-tax IRA account is typically subject to a 10% early withdrawal penalty if taken before 59 ½.
Distribution from Retirement Plan: Any distribution taken from a retirement plan where cash is made available to the owner is subject to a minimum 20% federal withholding. For example, if you request a $10,000 distribution, you will receive $8,000 and $2,000 will go to the government. There is no option to opt out of this withholding even if you intend to rollover the balance within 60 days. For this reason, a direct rollover would be a way to avoid the 20% withholding.
It is important to understand if you intend to rollover a distribution from a retirement account that the entire amount of the distribution must be redeposited within 60 days to avoid taxes and penalties even if taxes were already withheld. Using the previous example, if you take a $10,000 distribution from a retirement account and have the 20% withheld for taxes you must redeposit $10,000 within 60 days even though you only received $8,000 in cash. This scenario may appear that you are losing $2,000 but when you complete your taxes the $10,000 distribution will not be taxable as long as the full amount was redeposited within 60 days. When you file your taxes, the $2,000 will be included in the federal taxes withheld which is how the money is recouped.
How is the Rollover Reported to the Government?
Any time you wish to utilize the 60 day rule, it is important you keep documentation. Any distribution from a retirement account will generate a 1099-R form that must be reported as income on your tax return. Also, the 1099-R will show any taxes withheld from the distribution. You will receive a 1099-R even if a direct rollover or trustee to trustee transfer was done. The way the distribution is coded determines how the IRS treats it for tax purposes. If the distribution is coded as a direct rollover or trustee to trustee transfer, the distribution will not be treated as taxable income. If the distribution gave you access to cash, the 1099-R will be coded in a way that treats the distribution as a taxable event. If you redeposited the amount into another retirement account within 60 days, it is important you notify your tax preparer and bring documentation showing the deposit was made timely. The tax preparer should then treat the distribution as a non-taxable event.
About Rob.........
Hi, I'm Rob Mangold. I'm the Chief Operating Officer at Greenbush Financial Group and a contributor to the Money Smart Board blog. We created the blog to provide strategies that will help our readers personally , professionally, and financially. Our blog is meant to be a resource. If there are questions that you need answered, pleas feel free to join in on the discussion or contact me directly.
