Inherited IRA beneficiary older than decedent

Submitted by Rebecca Crandall on Mon, 2023-05-29 17:09

A friend will be 81 this year and her sister died in 2022 and left her $2.3M IRA to this older sister. The decedent was over 72 when she died, so had been taking RMDs for several years. Would the beneficiary sister be an eligible designated beneficiary since she is not more than 10 years younger? And would she base RMDs on her age from the Uniform Life Table or the Single Life Expectancy table?

She also inherited her sister’s Roth, so we’re guessing she will have to either take RMDs or distribute within 10 years (or is it 5 years)?



Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Mon, 2023-05-29 19:12

  • The friend is an EDB for both IRAs (but see Roth option later)  due to being not more than 10 years younger. The 10 year rule does not apply, and because the sister passed after her RBD for the traditional IRA, the friend can use the longer single life expectancy of the sister to calculate each year’s traditional IRA beneficiary RMD. To do that she would determine the sister’s age on her birthday in 2022 and look up the single life table divisor for 2022, then reduce that divisor by 1.0 for 2023 and also for each year thereafter. Friend’s own age would not have mattered under the old rules, but the Secure Act will require that the inherited IRA be drained in the year that the divisor using the friend’s age would drop below 1.0. This unnessary complication results in both ages applying during the RMD period. To eliminate this confusion, it might be worthwhile to just have the friend use her own age to determine annual distributions, ignoring the younger age of the deceased sister. This will result a more even distribution of the inherited IRA instead of a lower RMD each year and a much larger distribution in the final year, about 11 years from now. 
  • Friend is also responsible for completing sister’s 2022 year of death RMD if sister did not before passing.
  • Friend has another option for the inherited Roth IRA. SInce Roth owners always pass prior to RBD, the friend could opt out of EDB treatment and into the 10 year rule. That would avoid any annual RMDs until 2032 when a total distribution will be required, and since the inherited Roth will be qualified that distribution would be non taxable. While this would result in the Roth being drained 1 year sooner than not opting out of EDB treatment, the average balance will be higher since it will not be depleted by fairly large RMDs in years 1-9. If friend decides not to opt out and accept EDB treatment for the inherited Roth, she must use her own single life expectancy factor each year. She cannot use sister’s age for the Roth because that rule is only available if the owner passes after RBD, and because a Roth has no RBD the longer LE of sister is not available, so she must use her own age.
  • This case clearly illustrates how the Secure Act has further complicated RMD determinations.
  • Note that the Uniform Table never applies to non spouse beneficiaries.

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