Non-Qualified Inheritance into Roth
I have a client who is retired, and is about to inherit money from his father. It is non-qualified, and he thinks he can open a Roth, deposit the money, and have it remain tax free, including any interest earned. My initial reaction was no, that can’t be done, but I need something to substantiate refute my answer.
Permalink Submitted by Jose Morales on Wed, 2015-02-04 17:50
You can direct them to this rollover chart published by the IRS, which shows allowable rollovers: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/rollover_chart.pdf
Permalink Submitted by Denise Grace on Wed, 2015-02-04 18:57
It isn’t a rollover, he is talking about non qualified, non Roth money, it would be like taking a pile of cash and opening a Roth for $300,000.
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Wed, 2015-02-04 20:37
Agree it is not eligible for rollover, and the chart confirms that. All he can do is make a regular Roth contribution up to the amount he is eligible to make (eg 5500) and the money to make that could come from this source as long as he has enough earned income to cover the contribution. If this was a NQ annuity, he should check what distribution options are available (eg life expectancy) from the insurer before surrendering the annuity and incurring a large tax bill. In any event, what he proposes to do is not possible.