Wife inherits husband's 401k - Ed Slott and Company, LLC

Submitted by Robert Wright on Tue, 2017-06-13 16:41

A wife inherited her husband’s 401(k) at Fidelity.
The account is apparently registered as a beneficial 401(k) – NOT an IRA in the name of the wife.

The wife is over 70 1/2.

Fidelity says she must use a single life table to calculate her 2017 RMD.

Q: Is this correct? Must the wife use a single life table to calculate her 2017 RMD from this 401(k) she inherited from her husband?

Q: If the wife converts the 401(k) to an IRA in her name (after the 2017 RMD is withdrawn) will she then be able to use the Uniform Table to calculate future RMDs (2018 and after)?

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Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Tue, 2017-06-13 18:03

Yes, as long as the account remains an inherited 401k, the uniform table cannot be used. But if she rolls this into her own IRA, then the Uniform table will apply and her RMDs will be much lower.
Yes. She will have to withdraw the 2017 401k RMD before doing the IRA direct rollover, and the IRA RMD for 2018 and beyond will be lower using the Uniform Table.