IRA Annuities – Annuitization and Conversions of Payments into a Roth IRA

I turned age 72 in March 2022. I was required to take my first required minimum distribution (RMD) on an IRA stock brokerage account. The total amount withdrawn for 2022 more than satisfied RMD requirements, i.e. the RMD amount was reinvested back into another non-IRA brokerage account and the remaining dollars (above the RMD) were converted and distributed into an IRA brokerage Roth account. The entire transaction was reported on a Form 1099-R as income for my 1040. This is straightforward. However, now I have a similar question on annuities.

Question: After a qualified (IRA) annuity has been annuitized — and converted into an income stream — can a portion of the withdrawn money be converted and deposited into a Roth IRA? For example, I annuitized a qualified annuity on 1 Apr 22. The money received during the remainder of 2022 (9 monthly deposits) far exceeded RMD requirements had the annuity not been annuitized. It was reported to the IRS on Form 1099-R. I am wondering if I could have done a “conversion” on the additional money that exceeded RMD requirements in 2022 into the same Roth brokerage account in the first paragraph above?

I know there is no formal RMD requirement since the annuity is now an income stream. But, I know the end-of-year value of the annuity for 31 Dec 22 because I received a statement from my insurance company stating the fair market value that is being reported to the IRS for the end of 2022. Since I can compute an RMD for 2023 (because I know its value on 31 Dec 22 and I can use the longevity tables in the tax code), can I “convert” money received during 2023 into a Roth account which exceeds the amount of the “calculated” RMD? Since the money is originally from a qualified annuity, like the qualified brokerage account above, can a portion of it be contributed to into a Roth?

Comments welcome.



You need to ask the insurance company what your RMD is for 2023 from the annuitized IRA. Once you get that figure and add it to the RMD for your other IRAs, you will then have to complete your entire RMD for 2023 before you can convert any amount to Roth. If you had annuitized for life or joint life, then the entire annuity payout would be treated as your RMD, but if your annuity payments are only for 10 years the Regs are quite complex and these insurance companies should clarify the RMD situation before selling the annuity – but they don’t as far as I know. 



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