Is a ROTH IRA part of the $12,920,000 lifetime exemption?

Are Roth IRAs included in “estate” for lifetime gifting, even with stated beneficiary (spouse or maybe trust).

I thought they were, but below is the response from an advisor.

Generally speaking, Roth IRAs are NOT part of the “taxable estate”. Roth IRAs pass by beneficiary designation, rather than by inheritance, so there in essence is no “gift”. So, you could potentially have a $100 million Roth IRA and that could pass to your one sole child without any Gift or Estate tax consequence.

Any thoughts?



With regard to estate taxes (Form 706), qualified retirement accounts, including Roth IRAs, are part of the estate.  A $100M Roth IRA would subject the estate to substantial estate tax.



Add new comment

Log in or register to post comments