Commencing distributions – Bene IRA vs. Inherited IRA
My mother passed in summer 2021 and she had both a Trad IRA and a Roth IRA. At the time, I had elected to remain in the plans as a beneficiary instead of doing a direct rollover to my own inherited IRAs, so that I could keep her same investments (TIAA-Cref is the custodian). I would like to take a partial distribution from the Trad IRA before the end of this year in order to commence my 10-year withdrawal plan per the SECURE Act.
Question: Can I take such a partial distribution directly from the beneficiary TIRA that I am currently in? OR, should I now do a direct rollover of my beneficiary TIRA to my own “Inherited TIRA”, after which I can then take a partial distribution from the new “Inherited TIRA”?
I ask this because I’ve been given different answers by different representatives at TIAA, and I don’t want to make a mistake that could somehow trigger withdrawal of the entire amount for this calendar year (per their words).
And thank you so much for your hard work on this forum which has been immensely helpful as I’ve navigated a very tough couple of months.
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Wed, 2021-12-22 00:00
TIIA does things differently than other firms, and I am not conversant with their rules. They adhere to the IRS rules, but have their own operating rules as well. I would refer you to the TIIA reps to answer this, but apparently they are not on the same page. And you need to be careful, because any distribution check made out to you personally will not be eligible for rollover. For inherited TIRA funds, you would generally want to be able to take partial distributions to avoid a large lump sum distribution near the end of the 10 year period. For an inherited Roth the distribution will be tax free, so you could leave it alone to generate more tax free gains.