IRA RMD for 94 year old female in NOLA—are the CPA and Attorney right?

Submitted by Julian Good on Tue, 2022-09-20 21:10

To the Forum: I need help trying to get the correct answer for my client, who has a criminal law background. I have given her my answer, but she wants another opinion. So, I ‘m turning to the experts again! My client’s mother is 94 and has an inherited IRA from a deceased cousin. I’ve included my client’s email to me and my response just to clarify the facts. Any help would be greatly appreciated. J Good.

(Client’s Email to me)—she doesn’t capitalize the first word of any sentence.

i have an attorney friend and also my CPA who weighed in on the RMD question and believe the correct calculation would be to use the Single Life Expectancy Table, starting in 2018 when my Mom was 90, and calculate her life expectancy as 5.5 years to start, add a year for 2020 COVID rule saying not required to take RMD, and get to 6.5 years from 2018 to disburse total in inherited IRA. IRS Pub 590-B is controlling in my opinion. on this front, i know that your position is that the Universal Life Table that came about in 2022 would be the correct table to use and she would have longer than 5.5 years( this is not what I told her, but this is what she heard). i guess the main question for me regarding the RMD is if you could let me know on what you’re basing your opinion so that i could take a look at it and work toward resolving the question.

( My response to get clarity of the facts)—-she agreed that what I stated is correct

Your mother(” Jane”) was born on 11/08/1945. She inherited an IRA from her cousin( “John”), as a “non-eligible” designated beneficiary. Jane’s cousin John turned 70 and ½ on 05/08/2016. Thus, John’s RMDs would have to begin by April 1,2017.
John took his first RMD in January 2017, shortly before he passed away on 01/23/2017.

(1) Since the first RMD was taken BEFORE John died, which life expectancy table(s) are to be used in calculating the 2018, 2019, 2020( skipped due to SECURE Act exemption), 2021 and 2022 RMDS? How is the RMD amount calculated each year?

(2) Since the new life expectancy tables became effective for 2022 RMDs, is Jane eligible to recalculate her RMDs going forward?

(3) Are there any limitations as to how distributions are to be made, such as the 5-year rule( applying to certain beneficiaries prior to 01/01/2020 ) or the 10-year rule( applying to certain beneficiaries after 01/01/2020)?

(4) Jane does not need RMDs to live on…just FYI. she has other significant investment assets.

(5) The reason we need THE answers is because we believe a former advisor and/or the custodian calculated some or all of the RMDs incorrectly.



Submitted by David Mertz on Tue, 2022-09-20 23:31

  • The SECURE Act does not apply to decedents dying before 2020.
  • Beneficiaries taking distributions over their lifetime always use the Single Life table, not the Uniform Lifetime table.
  • “add a year for 2020 COVID rule saying not required to take RMD”  No such addition is to be done.  Although RMDs were waived for 2020, 2020 does not get skipped in the reduction by 1 for each subsequent year.  The life expectancy factor for 2018 is 5.5, for 2019 is 4.5 and for 2021 is 2.5.
  • The life expectancy value for 2022 comes from the new Single Life Expectancy table with an age 90 value in 2018 of 5.7 reduced by 4 = 1.7.
  • Because John died before his RBD, Jane could have used the 5-year rule which originally would have meant simply fully draining the account by the end of 2022.  However, the 5-year rule got extended by one because of RMDs for 2020 being waived, so if the 5-year rule had been elected the account would have to be drained by the end of 2023.  The life expectancy factor for 2023 is 0.7, so the account needs to be drained by the end of 2023 anyway.


Submitted by Julian Good on Wed, 2022-09-21 21:52

DMx….thank you for your help! John was born on 11/08/1945 and Jane was born on 02/14/1928. I apologize for getting the dates wrong. It’s great to be able to have the input of experts like you.



Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Tue, 2022-09-20 23:34

  1. FIrst beneficiary RMD for 2018 would apply a divisor of 5.5 to 2017 year end balance. 2019 divisor 4.5, 2020 RMD waived, 2021divisor 2.5. 1.0 is subtracted from the prior divisor each year including 2020 when RMDs were waived.
  2. Yes.  2022 RMD divisor is reset using the new tables, for which the initial divisor would have been 5.7. 2022 divisor therefore 1.7  (5.7 less 4 years = 1.7)
  3. No limitations. 5 and 10 year rules do not apply here. Beneficiary can always take out more than the RMD if desired.
  4. Beneficiary RMDs are still required even though not needed.
  5. If a prior RMD was insufficient, the shortfall must be made up, and a 5329 filed for each shortfall year requesting the penalty be waived. For 2020, a year is not added but the divisor is reduced for 2020 even though no RMD was required. The 2021 divisor is therefore 2.0 less than the 2019 divisor.
  6. NOTE: With Jane’s stated age, her birth year could not have been 1945, which I assume is incorrect.


Submitted by Julian Good on Wed, 2022-09-21 22:19

Alan-iracritic, thank you for your help! Jpohn was born 11/08/1945 and Jane on 02/14/1928. Apologize for not being clear and getting the DOB wrong! Really appreciate your input.



Submitted by David Mertz on Tue, 2022-09-20 23:57

It appears that it was John who was born on 11/08/1945.



Add new comment

Log in or register to post comments