Merging Roth IRA into inherited Roth IRA from spouse
I’m am 74 and inherited a Roth IRA from my deceased spouse before the secure act passed, which I chose to make my own vs. an inherited account with me as beneficiary. I want to merge my own Roth Ira into my inherited spouse’s Roth Ira. Will the IRS care which account is made into a single account? All the literature I have read to include at the IRA website, speaks to merging the inherited Roth into my account and not the other way around. Since both Roth accounts are in my name now will it make any difference how the accounts are consolidated?
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Mon, 2022-02-07 15:44
No difference, you can combine them any way you want, and the Secure Act had no effect on these rather comfusing rules. Your only question now is whether the combined Roth is qualified, which requires at least one of you to have made your first Roth contribution prior to 2018 (5 year holding requirement). If either of you did, the combined Roth is qualified and they would both be qualified even if you kept them separate since you own them both. Finally, with regard to what you had read, you could have rolled your own Roth IRA into the inherited Roth IRA while it was still inherited, and that rollover would have automatically made the inherited Roth your own. This rule applies to both spousal inherited TIRA and Roth IRAs, so is not restated in the Roth portion of Pub 590 B, but is stated on p 6 of 590 B. There are several special rules that favor spousal beneficiaries, particularly sole spousal beneficiaries.