SEP and Stretchout Trust

Can you use an IRA inheritance type trust for a SEP IRA, or just for traditional or Roth IRAs?



If you are referring to a “look through” or qualified trust as the named beneficiary of the IRA, such a trust can be named as a SEP IRA beneficiary as well as the other IRA types.

A SEP IRA is just a form of traditional IRA with employer based contribution rules. The distribution and RMD rules are the same as any other traditional IRA.



And there isn’t all that much special about an “IRA inheritance type trust” other than perhaps someone trying to put a fancy label on it to run up the legal fees. It can even be in the IRA owner’s Will. Of course, you have to make sure than none of the IRA benefits accumulated in the trust can ever go to anyone older than the person whose life expectancy you want to use to measure the stretchout. See PLR 200235038. Also see my article on this in the March 2004 issue of BNA Tax Management’s Estates, Gifts & Trusts Journal: http://www.kkwc.com/docs/AR20041209132954.pdf.



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