Pre-Secure Act Beneficiary Question
Hello,
Husband passed away in 2018 (pre-SECURE Act) and was age 66. His wife was the sole bene and was 55. She decided to use a spousal owned inherited IRA as opposed to treating the assets as her own so she could take penalty free distributions. The rules state that she can defer RMDs from the spousal inherited IRA until the year her husband would have reached RMD age, had he lived.
What age do we look at in this scenario? 70 ½ or 72?
If he had lived, he would not have been 70 ½ prior to 2020 (SECURE Act enacted) and his own RMD age would have been 72. Is that what age the wife uses to determine when RMDs for her start?
Or would all spouse beneficiary with inherited IRAs who inherit pre-SECURE Act (prior to 2020) us when the decedent turns 70 ½ as their RMD start date, regardless of how old the decedent spouse was?
Thank you.
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Wed, 2021-08-11 23:05
The ultimate brain teaser. Start with determining which year would be the decedent’s first RMD distribution year had he not died. It would be the year he reached 72, since he was born after 6/30/1949 and therefore would have benefitted from the Secure Act’s new RMD age. Therefore, the surviving spouse’s first beneficiary RMD would be the year husband would have reached 72.