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Inherited IRA Rules (Updated for 2020 to Reflect SECURE Act and CARES Act)
As a result of the SECURE Act that was passed in late 2019, there are now essentially two sets of rules for inherited IRAs. Which rules to use depends on a) when the original account owner died and b) who is listed as the beneficiary of the account.
Also, as a result of the CARES Act that was passed in March 2020, there are no required distributions for 2020 from IRAs — whether inherited or not.
Death in 2020 or Later
If the IRA owner dies in 2020 or later, we first have to determine whether the beneficiary is an “eligible beneficiary.”
Eligible beneficiaries include:
- the surviving spouse of the original account owner,
- a minor child of the original account owner,
- anybody who is disabled or chronically-ill (per the definition found in IRC 7702B(c)(2)), or
- any designated beneficiary who is not more than 10 years younger than the original account owner.
If the beneficiary is an eligible beneficiary, then the old rules apply (see below).
If the beneficiary is not an eligible beneficiary, the new rule applies. And the new rules simply says that the account must be completely distributed within 10 years of the original owner’s death. The distributions do not, however, have to occur evenly over those 10 years. (For instance, if you wanted to do so, you could take no distributions for the first 9 years, then distribute everything in year 10.)
Deaths in 2019 or Earlier, As Well as Eligible Beneficiaries
The “old rules” discussed in the remainder of this article apply in situations in which either:
- The IRA owner died in 2019 or earlier, or
- The beneficiary is an “eligible beneficiary” as described above, and therefore able to use the (more favorable) old rules.
Under the “old rules,” there are still actually two sets of rules: one set of rules that applies if the deceased owner was your spouse, and another set for any other designated beneficiary. We’ll cover spouse beneficiaries first, then non-spouse beneficiaries, then situations in which there are multiple beneficiaries.
Inherited IRA: Spouse Beneficiary
As a spouse beneficiary, you have two primary options:
- Do a spousal rollover — rolling the account into your own IRA, or
- Continue to own the account as a beneficiary.
Note: there’s no deadline on a spousal rollover. Should you want to, you can own the account as a spousal beneficiary for several years, then elect to do a spousal rollover.
If you do a spousal rollover, from that point forward it’s just a normal IRA (i.e., it’s just like any other IRA that was yours to begin with), so all the normal IRA rules apply, whether Roth or traditional.
If you continue to own the account as a spousal beneficiary, the rules will be similar to normal IRA rules, but with a few important exceptions.
No 10% Penalty
First, you can take distributions from the account without being subject to the 10% penalty, regardless of your age. So if you expect to need the money prior to age 59.5, this is a good reason not to go the spousal rollover route — at least not yet. (As mentioned above, there’s no deadline on a spousal rollover.)
Withdrawals from Inherited Roth IRA
Second, if the inherited account was a Roth IRA, any withdrawals of earnings taken prior to the point at which the original owner would have satisfied the 5-year rule will be subject to income tax (though not the 10% penalty).
Spouse Beneficiary RMDs
Third, you’ll have to start taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) in the year in which the deceased account owner would have been required to take them. (If the original owner — your spouse — was required to take an RMD in the year in which he/she died, but he/she had not yet taken it, you’re required to take it for him/her, calculated in the same way it would be if he/she were still alive.)
Your RMD from the account will be calculated each year based on your own remaining life expectancy from the “Single Life” table in IRS Publication 590-B.**
Inherited IRA: Non-Spouse Beneficiary
When you inherit an IRA as a non-spouse beneficiary, the account works much like a typical IRA, with three important exceptions.
No 10% Penalty
Distributions from the account are not subject to the 10% penalty, regardless of your age. (This is the same as for a spouse beneficiary.)
Withdrawals from Inherited Roth IRA
If the inherited account was a Roth IRA, any withdrawals of earnings taken prior to the point at which the original owner would have satisfied the 5-year rule will be subject to income tax, though not the 10% penalty. (This is also the same as for a spouse beneficiary.)
Non-Spouse Beneficiary RMDs
Each year, beginning in the year after the death of the account owner, you’ll have to take a required minimum distribution from the account. (If the account owner was required to take an RMD in the year of his death but he had not yet taken one, you’ll be required to take his RMD for him, calculated in the same way it would be if he were still alive.)
The rules for calculating your RMD are similar (but not quite identical) to the rules for a spousal beneficiary. Again, your first RMD from the account will be calculated based on your own remaining life expectancy from the “Single Life” table in IRS Publication 590-B. However, in following years, instead of looking up your remaining life expectancy again (as a spousal beneficiary would), you simply subtract 1 year from whatever your life expectancy was last year.**
For example, imagine that your father passed away in 2018 at age 65, leaving you his entire IRA. For 2018 (the year of death), you have no RMD. On your birthday in 2019, you turn 30 years old. According to the Single Life table, your remaining life expectancy at age 30 is 53.3 years. As a result, your RMD for 2019 would have been equal to the account balance as of 12/31/2018, divided by 53.3.
For 2020, if it weren’t for the CARES Act eliminating RMDs for 2020, your RMD would have been equal to the account balance at the end of 2019, divided by 52.3. (But because of the CARES Act, the RMD for 2020 would be zero.) In 2021, the RMD will be the 12/31/2020 balance, divided by 51.3.
Important exception: if you want, you can elect to distribute the account over 5 years rather than over your remaining life expectancy. If you elect to do that, you can take the distributions however you’d like over those five years — for example, no distributions in years 1-3 and everything in year 4.
Successor Beneficiary RMDs
If the original non-spouse beneficiary dies before the account has been fully distributed, the new inheriting beneficiary is known as a successor beneficiary.
If the original account owner died in 2020 or later, the new rule is that the successor beneficiary (regardless of who it is) will have to distribute the remainder of the account within 10 years of the death of the original beneficiary. (Note: within 10 years of the death of the original beneficiary, not 10 years of the death of the original owner.)
If the original account owner died in 2019 or prior, successor beneficiaries are subject to the same “old rules” as described above for the original beneficiary, with one exception: the successor beneficiary must continue to take distributions each year as if they were the original beneficiary.
By way of illustration, in the example above (with your father, the original owner, dying in 2018) if you were to then die in 2021, leaving the entire IRA to your sister, she would be required to continue taking RMDs from the account according to the exact same schedule you had been taking them, regardless of her own age. So if you hadn’t yet taken your 2021 distribution, she’d have to take it. Her 2022 distribution would be exactly what yours would have been if you were still alive: the 12/31/2021 balance, divided by 50.3.
Tips for Non-Spouse Beneficiaries
- When you retitle the account, be sure to include both your name and the name of the original owner.
- Name new beneficiaries for the account ASAP.
- If you decide to move the account to another custodian (to Vanguard from Edward Jones, for instance), do a direct transfer only. If you attempt to execute a regular rollover and you end up in possession of the funds, it will count as if you’d distributed the entire account.
Inherited IRA: Multiple Beneficiaries
If multiple beneficiaries inherit an IRA, they’re each treated as if they were non-spouse beneficiaries, and they each have to use the life expectancy of the oldest beneficiary when calculating RMDs. This is not a good thing, as it means less ability to “stretch” the IRA.
However, if the beneficiaries split the IRA into separate inherited IRAs by the end of the year following the year of the original owner’s death, then each beneficiary gets to treat his own inherited portion as if he were the sole beneficiary of an IRA of that size. This is a good thing, because it means that:
- A spouse beneficiary will be treated as a spouse beneficiary rather than as a non-spouse beneficiary (thereby allowing for more distribution options), and
- Each non-spouse beneficiary will get to use his or her own life expectancy for calculating RMDs.
Note: if the original owner dies in 2020 or later and at least one beneficiary is a “non-eligible beneficiary” (per the definition from the beginning in this article), then the whole account will have to be distributed within 10 years, unless the IRA agreement has a provision that immediately divides the IRA into separate IRAs for each beneficiary.
To split an inherited IRA into separate inherited IRAs:
- Create a separate account for each beneficiary, titled to include both the name of the deceased owner as well as the beneficiary.
- Use direct, trustee-to-trustee transfers to move the assets from the original IRA to each of the separate inherited IRA accounts.
- Change the SSN on each account to be that of the applicable beneficiary.
A Few Last Words
When you inherit an IRA, you absolutely must take the time to learn the applicable rules before you do anything. Don’t move the money at all until you understand what’s going on, because simple administrative mistakes can be very costly.
Also, should you elect to get help with the decision — a good idea, in my opinion — don’t assume that somebody knows the specifics of inherited IRA rules just because he or she is a financial advisor. In these circumstances, I’d suggest looking for someone with CPA or CFP certification.
**If a) the inherited IRA is a traditional IRA, b) you are older than the deceased IRA owner, and c) the deceased IRA owner had reached his “required beginning date” by the time he died, your RMD could actually be smaller than the amount calculated above, as you can calculate it based on what would be the deceased owner’s remaining life expectancy (from the “Single Life” table) using the owner’s age as of his birthday in the year of death (and reducing by one for each following year).
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