2025 RMD
Husband age 74 pased in 2025 and took his first RMD in 2024. Spouse is age 81. Spouse is seting up a continuation IRA. For the 2025 RMD should we be using the husband’s age or the spouse’s age?
Husband age 74 pased in 2025 and took his first RMD in 2024. Spouse is age 81. Spouse is seting up a continuation IRA. For the 2025 RMD should we be using the husband’s age or the spouse’s age?
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Tue, 2025-09-30 20:25
Because husband passed after RBD, the beneficiary IRA RMD can be based on the husband’s younger age and longer life expectancy. However, the surviving spouse will be far better off to immediately assume ownership of the inherited IRA and will use the Uniform Table starting in 2026. Her RMDs will be far lower as the owner than as a beneficiary, and the beneficiaries she names will be designated beneficiaries rather than successor beneficiaries.
Either way, she must also complete husband’s year of death (2025) RMD if he did not do so. This is the same Uniform Table RMD amount that already applied to him based on the age he would have attained by the end of 2025. This can be done either from the beneficiary IRA or after she assumes ownership and the funds are transferred to a new owned IRA, and because 2025 is the last year to file jointly it will usually be more tax efficient to complete that year of death RMD this year, even though the deadline is 12/31/2026. Next year she will be filing single status and have her own beneficiary RMD to complete subject to tax at her single status rate.