- When an IRA owner dies, the SECURE Act modified the criteria for dispersing funds from an inherited IRA.
- For non-spousal IRAs, the “stretch IRA” provision has been mostly eliminated. The new rule compels many beneficiaries to take all assets from an inherited IRA or 401(k) plan within 10 years following the death of the account holder for IRAs inherited from original owners who died on or after January 1, 2020.
- In some situations, disclaiming inherited IRA assets may make sense because they could boost the total value of your estate and push you over the estate tax exemption limit.
If you’re the son, daughter, brother, sister, or even a close friend of an IRA beneficiary, it’s vital that youand the IRA ownerunderstand the regulations that govern IRA inheritances.
“With the enactment of the SECURE Act in December 2019, some of the procedures for inheriting and distributing assets upon the death of an IRA owner changed,” explains Ken Hevert, senior vice president of retirement products at Fidelity. “If IRA owners and beneficiaries aren’t diligent, they risk paying greater taxes or penalties, as well as losing out on future tax-advantaged growth.”
As a nonspouse beneficiary, here’s what you need to know about inheriting IRA funds. The criteria for inheriting IRA assets vary depending on your relationship with the IRA’s original owner and the sort of IRA you acquired. Whatever your circumstances, speaking with your attorney or tax counselor ahead of time may help you avoid unwanted repercussions.
Nonspouse inherited IRA owners are normally required to begin taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) no later than December 31 of the year after the death of the original account owner, according to the IRS.
With the passing of the SECURE Act, nonspouse IRA distributions must be completed within 10 years of the account owner’s death. Previously, if you inherited an IRA or 401(k), you may theoretically “stretch” your payouts and tax payments out beyond your single life expectancy. For some recipients, the SECURE Act repealed the so-called “stretch” provision.
You don’t have the option of rolling the assets into your own IRA as a nonspouse beneficiary. You have numerous alternatives if you inherit IRA funds from someone other than your spouse:
How do I calculate the required minimum distribution for an inherited IRA?
The minimal amount is calculated by dividing the IRA balance by the payout period. Note that the life expectancy payout is the bare minimum that must be withdrawn; a beneficiary may always withdraw more money, including a lump-sum payment.
Are RMDs required for inherited IRAs in 2021?
Brentmark program with the title “The owner’s (Angie’s) date of birth (1950), her date of death (2020), Sue’s birthday (1962) as Angie’s beneficiary, and the IRA balance ($500,000) as of 12/31/2020 are all required.
As a result of the SECURE Act, no RMDs will be required in 2021. (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act). Sue’s RMDs aren’t required until the tenth year after her death. However, the IRA must be withdrawn in its entirety (yep, in its entirety) by December 31, 2030. Before then, any amount can be removed. The new SECURE Act’s 10-year rule for inheritors of IRAs and other tax-deferred funds has resulted in these “beneficiaries who are not exempt.” (The question of who is exempt will be addressed in a subsequent piece.)
Are RMDs required for inherited IRAs?
Starting at age 72 (age 701/2 if you reached age 701/2 before 2020) or after inheriting any IRA account for certain particular beneficiaries, the IRS requires that most IRA owners remove a portion of their tax-deferred investments each year. A necessary minimum distribution is the name for this type of withdrawal (RMD). If you take less than your RMD, you may have to pay a penalty tax of 50% on the difference.
RMDs are intended to ensure that IRA investments do not grow tax-deferred indefinitely, and that this benefit is passed on to the IRA beneficiary. When the account owner died, the regulations for how IRA beneficiaries must take RMDs changed.
What is the new 10-year rule for inherited IRA?
The following are the most relevant aspects of the “10-year” rule as it relates to the SECURE Act and inherited IRAs:
(1) Non-EDBs have ten years to complete their inherited IRA withdrawals; and
(2) During the 10-year period, non-EDBs are not subject to required minimum distributions (RMDs). In other words, they are not obligated to withdraw a certain amount each year during the course of the 10-year period. They can wait until the 10-year time is up and then withdraw the full inherited IRA account in one big sum.
In March 2021, the IRS released Publication 590-B for 2020, which included a section outlining the 10-year inherited IRA withdrawal rule. The IRS intimated in their explanation that RMDs would be required during the 10-year term, which was not the case.
Publication 590-B was recently updated by the IRS to clarify and rectify its position on the 10-year rule. The IRS specifically indicates that no RMDs are due if a non-inherited EDB’s IRA is fully withdrawn by the end of the 10-year anniversary of the original IRA owner’s death.
Harold, who owned a regular IRA, passed away on July 15, 2020. Vivian, Harold’s adult daughter, had been nominated as the sole beneficiary of his typical IRA. Vivian has until December 31, 2030, to withdraw her inherited IRA funds. Vivian has the option but not the obligation to withdraw any amount she wants before December 31, 2030.
The IRS further noted that, while EDBs are still eligible for lifetime distributions from their inherited IRAs based on their life expectancy (thus the term “stretch IRA”), they can choose to use the 10-year rule instead. This is only the case if the IRA owner passed away before the required start date. Individuals born before July 1, 1949, must begin on April 1 of the year in which they turn 70.5; those born after June 30, 1949, must begin on April 1 of the year in which they turn 72.
In some cases, an EDB may prefer the flexibility of the 10-year rule to being bound into a rigorous “stretch IRA” RMD plan each year, even if the time extends beyond the 10-year period.
Spouses get the most leeway
If a survivor inherits an IRA from their deceased spouse, they have numerous options for how to spend it:
- Roll the IRA over into another account, such as another IRA or a qualified employer plan, such as a 403(b) plan, as if it were your own.
Depending on your age, you may be compelled to take required minimum distributions if you are the lone beneficiary and regard the IRA as your own. However, in certain instances, you may be able to avoid making a withdrawal.
“When it comes to IRAs inherited from a spouse, Frank St. Onge, an enrolled agent with Total Financial Planning, LLC in the Detroit region, says, “If you were not interested in pulling money out at this time, you could let that money continue to grow in the IRA until you reach age 72.”
Furthermore, couples “are permitted to roll their IRA into a personal account. That brings everything back to normal. They can now choose their own successor beneficiary and manage the IRA as if it were their own, according to Carol Tully, CPA, principal at Wolf & Co. in Boston.
The IRS has more information on your options, including what you can do with a Roth IRA, which has different regulations than ordinary IRAs.
Choose when to take your money
If you’ve inherited an IRA, you’ll need to move quickly to prevent violating IRS regulations. You can roll over the inherited IRA into your own account if you’re the surviving spouse, but no one else will be able to do so. You’ll also have several more alternatives for receiving the funds.
If you’re the spouse of the original IRA owner, chronically ill or disabled, a minor kid, or not fewer than 10 years younger than the original owner, you have more alternatives as an inheritor. If you don’t fit into one of these groups, you must follow a different set of guidelines.
- The “stretch option,” which keeps the funds in the IRA for as long as feasible, allows you to take distributions over your life expectancy.
- You must liquidate the account within five years of the original owner’s death if you do not do so.
The stretch IRA is a tax-advantaged version of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The opportunity to shield cash from taxation while they potentially increase for decades is hidden beneath layers of rules and red tape.
As part of the five-year rule, the beneficiary is compelled to take money out of the IRA over time in the second choice. Unless the IRA is a Roth, in which case taxes were paid before money was put into the account, this can add up to a colossal income tax burden for large IRAs.
Prior to 2020, these inherited IRA options were available to everyone. With the passage of the SECURE Act in late 2019, persons who are not in the first category (spouses and others) will be required to remove the whole balance of their IRA in 10 years and liquidate the account. Annual statutory minimum distributions apply to withdrawals.
When deciding how to take withdrawals, keep in mind the legal obligations while weighing the tax implications of withdrawals against the benefits of letting the money grow over time.
More information on mandatory minimum distributions can be found on the IRS website.
Be aware of year-of-death required distributions
Another challenge for conventional IRA recipients is determining if the benefactor took his or her required minimum distribution (RMD) in the year of death. If the original account owner hasn’t done so, the beneficiary is responsible for ensuring that the minimum is satisfied.
“Let’s imagine your father passes away on January 24 and leaves you his IRA. He probably hadn’t gotten around to distributing his money yet. If the original owner did not take it out, the recipient is responsible for doing so. If you don’t know about it or fail to do it, Choate warns you’ll face a penalty of 50% of the money not dispersed.
Not unexpectedly, if someone dies late in the year, this can be an issue. The deadline for taking the RMD for that year is the last day of the calendar year.
“If your father dies on Christmas Day and hasn’t taken out the distribution, you might not even realize you own the account until it’s too late to take out the distribution for that year,” she explains.
There is no year-of-death compulsory distribution if the deceased was not yet required to take distributions.
Take the tax break coming to you
Depending on the form of IRA, it may be taxable. You won’t have to pay taxes if you inherit a Roth IRA. With a regular IRA, however, any money you remove is taxed as ordinary income.
Inheritors of an IRA will receive an income tax deduction for the estate taxes paid on the account if the estate is subject to the estate tax. The taxable income produced by the deceased (but not collected by him or her) is referred to as “income derived from the estate of a deceased person.”
“It’s taxable income when you receive a payout from an IRA,” Choate explains. “However, because that person’s estate had to pay a federal estate tax, you can deduct the estate taxes paid on the IRA from your income taxes. You may have $1 million in earnings and a $350,000 deduction to offset that.”
“It doesn’t have to be you who paid the taxes; it simply has to be someone,” she explains.
The estate tax will apply to estates valued more than $12.06 million in 2022, up from $11.70 million in 2020.
Don’t ignore beneficiary forms
An estate plan can be ruined by an ambiguous, incomplete, or absent designated beneficiary form.
“When you inquire who their beneficiary is, they believe they already know. The form, however, hasn’t been completed or isn’t on file with the custodian. “This causes a slew of issues,” Tully explains.
If no chosen beneficiary form is completed and the account is transferred to the estate, the beneficiary will be subject to the five-year rule for account disbursements.
The form’s simplicity can be deceiving. Large sums of money can be directed with just a few bits of information.
Improperly drafted trusts can be bad news
A trust can be named as the principal beneficiary of an IRA. It’s also possible that something terrible will happen. A trust can unknowingly limit the alternatives available to beneficiaries if it is set up wrongly.
According to Tully, if the trust’s terms aren’t correctly crafted, certain custodians won’t be able to look through the trust to establish the qualified beneficiaries, triggering the IRA’s expedited distribution restrictions.
According to Choate, the trust should be drafted by a lawyer “who is familiar with the regulations for leaving IRAs to trusts.”
How much is RMD 2021?
Your own IRAs: If you were 70 1/2 or older on December 31, 2019, you must take an RMD from your own (non-beneficiary) IRA for 2021, as you would have already started your RMDs and are required to continue. Also, if you were born in 1949 or earlier, you would be required to take an RMD for 2021 because you would be 72 years old on December 31, 2021.
You would not be subject to RMDs in 2021 if you were born after 1950 since you would not have reached the age of 70 1/2 by December 31, 2019 and would be under the age of 72 by December 31, 2021.
Your IRAs for beneficiaries, including Roth IRAs for beneficiaries: If you have a beneficiary IRA, whether you must take an RMD in 2021 is determined by a number of circumstances, the first of which is when you inherited the IRA.
If you inherited an IRA before 2020, including a Roth IRA, you must take an RMD for 2021 if:
The 5-year rule requires that your beneficiary IRA be distributed within five years, and the IRA was inherited in 2015. Due to the RMD waiver, 2020 was not counted, making 2021 the fifth year of the five-year period.
2016 is the first year
2. The year 2017
2018 is the third year
4. 2019
5. The year 2021
The 5-year rule states that distributions are voluntary until the end of the fifth year after the IRA owner’s death, at which point the whole account must be distributed.
The life-expectancy rule applies to your distributions. You must take a beneficiary RMD for each year following the year in which the IRA owner dies if you choose this option (except for 2020).
Please note that there may be exceptions if you are the surviving spouse of the IRA owner. For example, if the IRA owner turns 70 1/2 after 2021, you won’t have to begin RMDs until the year your spouse turns 70 1/2. Also, if the spouse beneficiary chooses to transfer the assets to his or her own IRA, the owner rules apply.
B. If you inherited the IRA in 2020, including a Roth IRA, you must take an RMD for 2021 if you are an eligible designated beneficiary taking distributions over your life expectancy. If you meet the following criteria, you are an eligible designated beneficiary:
a. You are the IRA owner’s surviving spouse. However, if you choose to treat the IRA as your own rather than choose the beneficiary IRA option, the owner requirements apply.
e. You are none of the foregoing, but you are no older than the IRA owner by more than ten years.
If you are the surviving spouse of an IRA owner and choose to keep the money in a beneficiary IRA, you will not be required to take RMDs in 2021 if your spouse reaches age 72 later that year.
The distribution factor, which is based on your age as of the end of the RMD year and the fair market value of your IRA amount for the previous year, determines your RMD for the year. Assume you will be 72 years old on December 31, 2021, and the fair market value of your regular IRA will be $500,000 on December 31, 2020. Your RMD for 2021 would be $19,531.25 ($500,000/ 25.6), based on your distribution factor of 25.6 (see table below).
A new table must be utilized for distributions issued after 2021, resulting in decreased RMD amounts. If you reach age 73 in 2022, your RMD would be $18,867.92 under the new table, assuming a December 31, 2021 fair market value of $500,000 ($500,000/26.5); however, if the old table was still in force, your RMD would be $20,242.91 ($500,000/24.7). This leaves you with a $1,375 difference in your IRA, which you can deduct from your income.
Because the laws described above are so complex, professional help is frequently required to ensure that any cautions are appropriately applied, avoiding IRS penalties. Consider the fact that your IRA custodian is allowed to make assumptions that could lead to inaccurate RMD estimates. Even while your IRA custodian will calculate RMDs for your IRAs, it is still a good idea to have those calculations reviewed by a professional.
RMDs may also be required from accounts in employer-sponsored plans, such as 401(k) and 403(b) plans. If you have assets in an employer plan, inquire about the plan administrator’s or HR department’s RMD policy to see if they would distribute your RMDs automatically or if you must submit RMD instructions. If you want to roll over money from these accounts, talk to your advisor to make sure RMD amounts aren’t included in the rollover.
How do you calculate future RMD?
To figure out your RMD, go to the IRS website and look for IRS Publication 590. The RMD tables (sample below) that you will use to compute your RMD are included in this document. Then follow these instructions:
- Subtract your current life expectancy factor from your retirement account balance as of December 31 of the preceding year.
Let’s pretend you’re 76 years old. Your RMD for the year would be $4,545.45 if your IRA balance was $100,000.
If your spouse is the only primary beneficiary of your account and is more than 10 years younger than you, the calculation for your RMD is a little different. In this scenario, the IRS Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy Table must be used. This information is also available in IRS Publication 590. Your life expectancy factor, on the other hand, is determined by your and your spouse’s ages. However, the formula remains the same. You’d still adhere to the IRA withdrawal guidelines outlined above.
You must compute RMDs separately for each retirement plan, such as a 401(k) and a conventional IRA, if you have more than one. You can, however, combine your RMDs and withdraw the total amount from one plan or any combination of your plans. If it’s more advantageous for you to withdraw funds from certain accounts or assets before others, you’ll probably want to do so. Consult a financial counselor for advice, and he or she can also assist you avoid IRS fines for taking too few RMDs.
Do inherited IRAs have to be distributed in 10 years?
When a person dies, the assets in their individual retirement accounts are passed on to the named beneficiaries, which are usually their spouses. Non-spousal beneficiaries of an inherited IRA must withdraw all funds within 10 years following the original owner’s death.
What happens when you inherit an inherited IRA?
A succession beneficiary is someone who inherits an IRA from a parent or grandparent. If the primary beneficiary is unavailable, a contingent beneficiary is named to inherit the IRA. The person who inherits the IRA after the original inheritor dies is known as a successor beneficiary.
What is the difference between an inherited IRA and a beneficiary IRA?
An inherited IRA is one that you leave to someone after you pass away. The account must then be taken over by the beneficiary. The spouse of the deceased person is usually the beneficiary of an IRA, but this isn’t always the case. Although the inherited IRA laws for spouses and non-spouses are different, you can set up your IRA to go to a kid, parent, or other loved one. You can even direct your IRA to an estate, trust, or a beloved charity.
You have three options with your inherited IRA if you’re the surviving spouse. Rather than making it your own, you can simply identify yourself as the account owner, roll it over into another sort of retirement plan, or treat yourself as the beneficiary. You don’t have the choice to make the IRA your own if you’re a non-spouse inheriting the IRA. Either make a trustee-to-trustee transfer or withdraw the account. You’ll almost certainly have to withdraw the funds within five years of the original account owner’s death.
What is the IRA 5 Year Rule?
The initial five-year rule specifies that you must wait five years after making your first Roth IRA contribution before withdrawing tax-free gains. The five-year term begins on the first day of the tax year in which you contributed to any Roth IRA, not just the one from which you’re withdrawing. So, if you made your first Roth IRA contribution in early 2021, but it was for the 2020 tax year, the five-year period will finish on Jan. 1, 2025.