IRA RMD – illiquid asset
Traditional IRA owner, > 70. 5, invested in a local private start-up business
assets are iliquid –
assets do not pay a dividend
IRA custodian is valuing it @ roughly $70k – same value as purchase price more than a decade earlier – no gain. Owner thinks the custodian overvaluing the investment. In fact, owner thinks the investment is close to worthless
What happens if the custodian and IRA owner disagree on the valuation of an iliquid investment?
what should the client do in this case – since the the $70k is part of his overall IRA account value subject to RMDs? In other words he is unhappy that his RMD will be larger due to the overvaluation.
Thank you
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Tue, 2017-06-20 15:07
The TIRA owner should never have put himself in this situation, and should have maintained at least enough in liquid assets to cover several years of RMDs, perhaps limiting the illiquid portion to 2/3 of the account. The IRS does not offer relief from RMDs due to assets being illiquid. The IRS will also recognize the FMV reported by the IRA custodian, so the TIRA owner needs to take up the valuation issue directly with the custodian. This will probably come down to who pays for the appraisal of the business value. There are obviously multiple ways of appraising the value and I do not know which method the custodian or IRS would approve. DIfferent methods could produce wide variances in the FMV. A sale of the business would also resolve the problem going forward, but possibly not for any delinquent prior RMDs. There is no simple answer as there are 3 parties here that are affected by the valuation determined.
Permalink Submitted by Jose Morales on Tue, 2017-06-20 16:53
The manner in which the asset would be valued was most likely agreed to in the disclosure statement provided at account opening. If the custodian is valuing the asset in line with the agreed upon method of valuation then there isn’t much the person can do, other than shop around for a new IRA custodian that is willing to hold the asset within the IRA and also has a valuation method available that is favorable to what the account holder desires. Regardless, the RMD must be fulfilled or the account holder is subject to the 50% penalty regardless of the liquidity of the asset.