Once-Per-Year Rollover Rule and RMD Aggregation: Today’s Slott Report Mailbag

Thursday, April 17, 2025

By Andy Ives, CFP®, AIF®
IRA Analyst

Question:

Are rollovers done by a spouse beneficiary subject to the once-per-year IRA rollover rule? The IRA funds were never distributed to me. They were directly transferred from my deceased husband’s IRA to my own IRA. Everything was done electronically at the same firm. I’m being told that the second transfer is taxable.

Camilla

Answer:

Hi Camilla,

The once-per-year rollover rule applies to 60-day rollovers between IRAs. It does apply to spouse beneficiaries; however, it is not a concern in your situation. You did not do any 60-day rollovers. Instead, you moved the funds from the inherited IRA to your own IRA by doing direct transfers. Direct transfers are not subject to the once-per-year rollover rule, so you do not have a problem.

Question:

I have a traditional IRA and four SEP IRAs. Can I calculate my total 2025 RMD and take that total out of one SEP IRA?

Dave

Answer:

Hi Dave,

Good news! Aggregation of required minimum distributions (RMDs) is permitted between traditional and SEP IRAs. You can take the total of all your 2025 RMDs from the traditional IRA or from any combination of the SEP IRAs.

If you have technical questions you would like to have answered, be sure to submit them to [email protected], to be answered on an upcoming Slott Report Mailbag, published every Thursday.

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