Can husband still rollover deceased wife’s IRA into beneficiary IRA?

Submitted by Delia Fernandez on Mon, 2024-09-16 18:29

Wife was born in 1953, died in 2021 at age 67, before RBD. In 2021 her husband was 76. This year husband is 79 and deceased wife’s IRA is still in her name; husband took no action to make it his own.

Given that the deceased wife died before her RBD, can her husband still roll the IRA into a beneficiary IRA and delay RMDs until his wife would have turned 73?

TIA for your help.

Delia Fernandez



Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Mon, 2024-09-16 18:48

Yes, the RMD rules are not affected by delays in establishing inherited IRA accounts. The IRA was still inherited in 2021 and husband is not required to take a beneficiary RMD until wife would have reached 73. If she would have reached 73 on her birthday in 2027, husband will have to take a beneficiary RMD in 2027, but if he elects to assume ownership of the inherited IRA in 2027, the higher beneficiary RMD will be replaced by a lower RMD using the Uniform Table as the IRA owner.

Submitted by Delia Fernandez on Mon, 2024-09-16 19:33

Thanks for your quick response.

It looks as if there was more than one IRA for his wife, and he did roll one of them into his name. Can he change it to a beneficiary IRA instead? He did not take any RMDs.

Thanks again for your advice.

Delia Fernandez

 

Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Mon, 2024-09-16 20:11

Once an IRA is owned, it cannot be changed back to a beneficiary IRA. Since his own RMDs began at 70.5, the IRA that he rolled into his own IRA became subject to RMDs in the year of that rollover. It is surprising that he took action on one IRA and not the other. Perhaps he overlooked it?

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