Satisfying RMD in Year of Death ( multiple IRA’s and beneficiaries)

Submitted by Rosanna Brennan on Tue, 2022-02-22 22:39

IRA owner died with 3 separate IRA’s before taking RMD.
4 beneficiaries are not sure if they will take lump sum or open inherited IRAs.
1. I would like to confirm that if just 1 beneficiary takes a lump sum (equal to RMD) the RMD requirement will be satisfied. If yes, does RMD need to come from each of the 3 IRAs or could one distribution from one IRA satisfy the RMD requirement
for all 3?
2. When establishing inherited IRA’s, can you transfer multiple IRA’s (3 in this case) into one or do 3 separate inherited IRAs need to be opened?



Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Wed, 2022-02-23 02:50

Were the beneficiaries on each IRA account the same?  If not, it’s a mess.

Submitted by Rosanna Brennan on Wed, 2022-02-23 03:35

Yes,  the 4 beneficiaries of the 3 IRAs are the same.

Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Wed, 2022-02-23 15:52

Yes, the RMD can be satisfied for the year of death (only) by a single beneficiary, or in any combination, and only one inherited IRA can be used for the distribution.
One inherited IRA for each beneficiary must be opened, and the custodian will probably require this. Once opened the selected beneficiary takes the year of death RMD.

Submitted by Rosanna Brennan on Wed, 2022-02-23 16:18

Thank You. Just learned that the IRA custodian is requiring each to open Inherited IRAs 1st. Sorry again, but will each bene then need to take their own percentage of the RMD, or could one statisfy the RMD requirement?

Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Wed, 2022-02-23 16:40

See point 2 above. The owner’s year of death RMD can still be satisfied by just one beneficiary. This ONLY applies to the year of death RMD, not to later year’s beneficiary RMDs.

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