Contributing Articles

IRA data released from the Joint Committee on Taxation revealing some mega-million dollar IRA and Roth IRA balances has set off alarm bells, with Congress citing shock and “abuse” and looking for something to do about this.But there is really no story here when you look at the numbers

2021 is the last year your clients can use their retirement funds for unlimited charitable giving as a result of provisions in recent tax laws.

As a result of widespread job loss during the coronavirus pandemic, many suddenly-unemployed persons who dipped into retirement accounts are saddled with outstanding loans from company savings plans.Advisers can play a valuable role in helping these clients by understanding how the “loan offset” rules work, how the CARES Act affects loan offsets, and how offsets differ from “deemed distributions.”

The age when older Americans must start making withdrawals from retirement accounts could change yet again.

Under a provision in proposed retirement legislation pending in Congress, required minimum distributions, or RMDs, would start at age 75 by 2032, up from age 72 — which only took effect last year after the 2019 Secure Act raised it from age 70½.

I figure Ed Slott has been asked this question a million times, “How much do I need to retire?”, but I ask it anyway.Like anything in life, the true answer is a little more nuanced

Any IRA owner turning age 72 this year will have a required minimum distribution due for 2021, but the due date for taking that RMD will depend on the half of the year in which they were born. June 30 is the cut-off date when the transition to the SECURE Act age 72 RMD rule becomes complete.The SECURE Act raised the RMD age for owners of individual retirement account owners and certain retirement plan participants from 70½ to 72, but only for those who turned 70½ in 2020 or later.

The issue involves the 10-year rule that most non-spouse designated beneficiaries (like adult children or grandchildren, and certain qualifying trusts) who inherit individual retirement accounts will be subject to under the SECURE Act.It was expected that the 10-year rule would work the same way as the 5-year rule: There wouldn’t be annual required minimum distributions, but the entire inherited IRA account balance would have to be withdrawn by the end of the 10-year term.

This is my third update on the confusion about the 10-year rule on required minimum distributions under the SECURE Act, and it won’t be the last. Last Thursday, the IRS acknowledged that IRS Publication 590-B, which contains the tax rules for withdrawing funds from IRAs, is being revised, likely to fix the error I wrote about twice before here, in “IRS: SECURE Act’s 10-year RMD rule is not what you thought” on April 12 and “Weighing in on disputed language in IRS 10-year RMD rule” on April 28.

Congress has come up with what some are calling SECURE 2.0, or Son of SECURE — a bill entitled Securing a Stronger Retirement Act that includes many positive changes to encourage retirement savings. However, one seemingly pointless proposal in the legislation would raise the required minimum distribution age from 72 to 75 over 10 years.Most advisers might argue that consumers will probably love this

On the eve of this year’s Kentucky Derby, the first of three races a horse must win to grab racing’s Triple Crown, the Biden tax proposals are underscoring the triple crown of tax advantages provided by Roth conversions.