Permalink Submitted by Alan Spross on Thu, 2010-12-02 00:37
No, not unless the estate is the named or default beneficiary. If the beneficiary is an individual, any distributions must be made to that individual and reported under that person’s SSN.
Even if IRA distributions did not have to be handled that way, the estate may well have different beneficiaries than the IRA and in that case if the estate paid taxes for the IRA distribution it would be a diversion of funds from the estate beneficiary to the IRA beneficiary.
Of course, if the IRA beneficiary is also an estate beneficiary and receives a distribution from the estate, they could use that distribution to pay taxes on the IRA distribution, but this would have to be properly reported on the respective estate and beneficiary income tax returns.
Permalink Submitted by Alan Spross on Thu, 2010-12-02 00:37
No, not unless the estate is the named or default beneficiary. If the beneficiary is an individual, any distributions must be made to that individual and reported under that person’s SSN.
Even if IRA distributions did not have to be handled that way, the estate may well have different beneficiaries than the IRA and in that case if the estate paid taxes for the IRA distribution it would be a diversion of funds from the estate beneficiary to the IRA beneficiary.
Of course, if the IRA beneficiary is also an estate beneficiary and receives a distribution from the estate, they could use that distribution to pay taxes on the IRA distribution, but this would have to be properly reported on the respective estate and beneficiary income tax returns.