Clarification for IRA RMD

Submitted by Genevieve Comfort on Mon, 2015-10-26 19:26

My husband died this past September and left me notes to come here with questions. Before he died he did take the RMD for both of us this year. He told me to add all the IRA’s at the end of the year and to use that total to figure my RMD for next year. I will be 72 in January. Am I correct in this understanding. I am in the process of putting his IRA’s in my name, under the spouse exception. At least one CU has rolled his IRA directly into my IRA, will this create any oddities in filing?

If I understand the article,” How to Avoid Year End RMD Error”, next year I add up all the IRAs and will pay based on my age with the chart as of 31 Dec 2015?



Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Mon, 2015-10-26 20:40

  • Sorry to hear of your loss. I remember your husband posting here in past years.
  • If he completed his 2015 RMD, that is good. Of course, if you have had your own IRAs, you also need to complete your own RMDs.
  • Rolling the inherited IRA into your own IRA will not cause any reporting issues. However, you need have these IRA rollovers done by direct transfer and not have a distribution made to you for a rollover. The IRS has now limited 60 day rollovers to just one for all your IRAs combined, and the inherited ones are considered your IRAs with respect to this rule.
  • If all the inherited IRAs are rolled over to your name before year end, he was correct that you add the total 2015 year end value of all your IRAs including IRAs you owned originally and use that total to compute your 2016 RMD. For the divisor from the Uniform Table, use your age as of 12/31/2016 (not 2015) for your 2016 RMD. That divisor will be 25.6 since you will still be 72 on 12/31/2016.


Submitted by Genevieve Comfort on Mon, 2015-10-26 22:01

Alan-iracritic, Thank you for your response. My husband told me any answers I got from you, specifically, would always be the right answer. So I don’t know if this is appropriate on this forum, but I really wanted you to know how much my husband respected you.



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