spouse as successor beneficiary of ROTH IRA
In 2023 a woman inherited from her husband an “inherited Roth IRA” . Her brother had inherited it from his sister (who was seven years older than he was) who passed in 2021 and had had the ROTH IRA for more than five years. This woman (in her mid seventies) , I believe, is a successor beneficiary. Does she have to take RMDs? How long does she have to empty the account?
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Tue, 2024-12-17 19:08
Not sure, but I think the sister was the original owner of the Roth, and left it to her brother (who was the husband of the woman who is the current successor beneficiary. If that is correct, the husband was an EDB because he was not more than 10 years younger than sister and would have been taking beneficiary RMDs using his life expectancy. But when he passed in 2023, the 10 year rule applied to the current successor beneficiary. She must drain the inherited Roth by the end of 2033, but must also continue the RMD schedule that her husband was using in years 1-9.
The age and relationship of successor beneficiaries is irrelevant, but continuing to reduce her husband’s divisors by 1.0 each year might drain the inherited Roth before 2033.
All distributions will be tax free since the Roth is fully qualified.