Assuming the Spouse’s IRA

Submitted by Kirsten Sullivan on Tue, 2017-02-28 14:21

If a spouse assumes their deceased spouse’s IRA, if no distributions came out before the transfer took place, is that transaction considered a rollover or a transfer?



Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Tue, 2017-02-28 17:33

  • No, that would not be a distribution and would not trigger a 1099R. It is a non reportable transfer. This can even be done by default because a sole surviving spouse who fails to take the RMD as a beneficiary defaults to ownership status even if the title was not changed from the owner or from an inherited IRA title.
  • Most custodians will transfer the decedent’s IRA to a new account when the SSN is changed due to the surviving spouse retitling the account as beneficiary or as the new owner. This again should be a non reportable transfer. No 1099R should be issued unless an actual distribution is made from an account.
  • If the spouse takes a distribution to do a rollover (of any amounts in excess of the RMD), there will be a 1099R. This will count as a rollover for purposes of the one rollover rule per 12 months, so a surviving spouse must be careful to avoid having to report a rollover if they did one with their own IRAs in the prior 12 months.


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