Timing of taking first RMD from Rollover IRA
My client turned 70 on 4/9/2018 so will be 70 1/2 on 10/9/2018. I was told the client needs to withdraw first RMD AFTER 10/9/2018 to count towards 2018 tax year. She also has two IRAs at two different institutions- they both told her she could withdraw her RMD anytime this year and so she did earlier this year. What is correct answer? Anytime this year? Or after 10/9/2018? Terry
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Wed, 2018-06-20 19:27
Distributions taken anytime in 2018 are first applied to the RMD for the year, so the first advice is in error – EXCEPT if client wants to do a QCD to cover her RMD because a QCD cannot be done before client actually reaches 70.5. Note that RMDs are also aggregated over all accounts, so client can add up the RMDs for each account and then take the distributions in any combination from any of the IRA accounts. Of course, the first RMD distribution year (2018) also offers the option of delaying the 2018 RMD as late as 4/1/2019 if desired, so there are some unique planning opportunities for the first RMD, and this gets rather confusing if client is also considering a QCD. Without considering QCDs, the last two institutions were correct and what you were told was incorrect.