Hi there,

I read a very insightful article on this site by Andy Ives about the topic of missed RMDs, and was just looking for a clarification for my case.

An elderly friend of mine passed away last month, in December 2022. Amidst the confusion of the funeral planning, his widowed wife did not take the RMD from his retirement account before December 31, 2022 (was a large amount), and is now worried about the penalty.

I read that there was talk of an automatic waiver of the misssed RMD penalty in cases of death of spouse, but I couldn’t find that anywhere specifically in the law, even after reading the entire SECURE Act which was passed end to end.

If it exists, could someone kindly point me to the exact wording or legal text where is says the waiver for this is no longer subject to the 50% penalty? I know that his wife could file a 5329 and/or ask for forgiveness from the IRS, but wondering if there is just an automatic waiver forgiveness somewhere in the law that I could show her.

Thank you to Mr. Ives and others here for your insights and expertise.