RMD From Either IRA?

Submitted by Bob Keller on Thu, 2015-09-17 04:31

Taxpayer died in 2014 in his sixties so not required to take rmd.
Surviving spouse is in her seventies and has recently retitled the inherited IRA as her own account.
She also has her own pre-existing IRA from which she normally takes her annual rmd’s.

My understanding is that for 2015 she is not required to take a distribution from her deceased husband’s(now her own) IRA because it was not yet hers on 12/31/2014. Is that correct?

Also, if not required to take an rmd from the inherited IRA, can she calculate her 2015 rmd based on the value of her old IRA on 12/31/14 but take the money from the inherited account to satisfy the rmd requirement for 2015?



Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Thu, 2015-09-17 19:09

  • Your understanding is correct. She can take her 2015 RMD from any IRA she owns at the time of the distribution under the IRA RMD aggregation rules. Starting in 2016, her RMD will increase since the year end 2015 balance will include the inherited IRA value. Note that if she had retained the inherited IRA as such, no RMDs from that account would be required until the year he would have reached 70.5.
  • The year end balance question frequently comes up because the IRS Pubs are not clear on the subject of spousal rollover RMDs. There is a statement made that the spouse is treated as if they owned the IRA the entire year, but according to IRS Reg 1.408-8 Q 7, this does not mean that the prior year end balance must be adjusted to include the balance of the rollover.

Submitted by Bob Keller on Thu, 2015-09-17 20:36

Thank you.

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