IRA

Recharacterization Still Exists

When a traditional IRA owner wants to convert all or a portion of his account to a Roth IRA, he needs to think long and hard about the transaction. For example, some questions to consider:

Surprising News About the New Statute of Limitations for Missed RMDs and Excess IRA Contributions

A big change made by the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 was adding a new statute of limitations (SOL) for the IRS to assess penalties for missed required minimum distributions (RMDs) and excess IRA contributions. On its face, it looks like the new SOL is 3 years for the missed RMD penalty and 6 years for the excess contribution penalty. But looks can be deceiving. In fact, for most of you, the new lookback period will be 6 years for both penalties.

Recharacterization Deadline Approaches

It happens. You have made a 2023 contribution to the wrong type of IRA. All is not lost. That contribution can be recharacterized. While recharacterization of Roth IRA conversions was eliminated by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, recharacterization of IRA contributions is still available and can be helpful in many situations you may find yourself in.

IRA Acronyms

When presenting a particular section of our training manual, I usually make the joke that, “if we were playing an acronym drinking game, we would all be on our way to a hangover.” The segment is titled: “Missed stretch IRA RMD by an EDB, when the IRA owner dies before the RBD.” This part of the manual discusses the automatic waiver of the missed RMD penalty in a certain situation, and the acronym soup is borderline comical. So that everyone knows which end is up, here is a spiked punch bowl of common retirement-account-related acronyms.

What You Need to Know About Withholding and Your IRA

If you take a distribution from your traditional IRA, in most cases you will owe taxes. The government wants to be sure those taxes are paid, so IRA distributions are subject to federal income tax withholding. The good news is that there is a lot of flexibility when it comes to withholding on your IRA distribution. Here is what you need to know.

New Rules: Aggregating Year-of-Death RMDs

In my August 19 Slott Report (“Year of Death RMD – Deadline Extended!”), I wrote about the required beginning date, who takes the year-of-death required minimum distribution (RMD), and the deadline for taking that distribution. Today’s article focuses on an additional nuance of the year-of-death RMD – something created by the final regulations (released July 18, 2024) - that could make taking the year-of-death RMD a little clunky in some situations.

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Please contact Matt Smith at [email protected] or (516) 536-8282 with any questions.