Decedent Contribution
If a person passes away mid-year, how long does the executor have to make a contribution to the decedent’s IRA? Spouse is beneficiary and both spouses made annual contributions based on the (now) remaining spouse’s earned income. I assume it would be like the regular IRA contribution deadline of April 15th of the following year.
Thanks
Permalink Submitted by Alan Spross on Mon, 2011-06-27 17:46
A regular IRA contribution cannot be made for a decedent, ie. for the decedent after passing. This applies even though the surviving spouse was the source of the earned income for a spousal contribution.
While the executor has authority for some post death transactions, such as recharacterizing a conversion done by the decedent, or completing a rollover within 60 days of an otherwise eligible rollover distribution taken by the decedent, making a new regular IRA contribution is not allowed.
Permalink Submitted by mk foss on Mon, 2011-06-27 17:48
An executor cannot make an IRA contribution for someone that has passed away; the contributions must be made during lifetime. The pre-death earnings of the decedent can be used to qualify a non-working spouse for a contribution by April 15 of the next year.