Beneficiary of pre-SECURE IRA
Surviving Spouse is four years older than the Deceased Spouse (date of death 12/13/2016) and was the sole beneficiary of decedent’s IRA. Survivor opened a decedent IRA and moved the assets into that IRA to delay the start of RMDs until decedent would’ve been 70.5 (since this was pre Secure Act). When decedent turned 70.5 Survivor was planning on treating it as own and moving the assets into it.
Would the decedent’s RBD now be 72 under SECURE so the Survivor could wait to move the assets and treat them as his own?
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Wed, 2022-02-16 23:26
The answer is confusing, but Pub 590B (“year of first required distribution”) appears to pin the answer to the year the owner died (pre or post 2020). The sole beneficiary surviving spouse must start beneficiary RMDs by the end of the year owner would have reached 70.5 if owner passed prior to 2020. The owner must have passed after 2019 for the beneficiary to delay until the year owner would have reached 72. The end result is that the beneficiary would have to start RMDs by the year owner would have had owner lived, which is 70.5 in your example.