Spouse keeping as Inh IRA
We have several clients who had a spouse that passed and they kept the IRA as a inherited IRA. we are keeping track of these clients and once they turn 59 1/2, we move these funds to an IRA in their own name.
Some of the original IRA owners would have started their RMD at 70 1/2 but when the RMD age was increased we also updated our records that the spouse now wouldn’t have to take RMDs until the IRA owner would have turned 73. Is this correct?
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Mon, 2025-02-24 16:24
If retained as an inherited IRA for a sole spouse beneficiary, RMDs do not start until the deceased spouse would have reached their RMD age. That age is 70.5 if the deceased spouse was born prior to 7/1/1949; 72 if born between 7/1/1949 and 12/31/1950, 73 if born from 1951 through 1959, and 75 if born in 1960 or later.
Your records may be incorrect for those beneficiaries whose spouse passed after 1959 or for owners who were born after that date. Both of these RMD ages are now 75.
If a spouse beneficiary does not take a beneficiary RMD by the end of the year deceased owner would have reached RMD age, the spouse automatically is treated as the owner and subject to RMDs based on their own age.