Eligible Designated Beneficiaries and RMD Aggregation: Today’s Slott Report Mailbag

Thursday, August 18, 2022

By Sarah Brenner, JD
Director of Retirement Education
Follow Us on Twitter: @theslottreport

Question:

Hi,

My wife (68) inherited a traditional IRA and a Roth from her sister (71) in 2021. Both accounts have been moved to inherited IRAs.

I’m trying to do some tax planning. Can you please confirm the following from my confusing research?

As an “eligible designated beneficiary,” my wife can stretch distributions over her lifetime for both the traditional and Roth IRAs.  RMDs are required starting this year from BOTH inherited accounts using the Single Life Expectancy Table for inherited IRAs.

Yes?  Thanks very much!

Steve

Answer:

Hi Steve,

You are correct. Because your wife was not more than ten years younger than her sister, she is considered an eligible designated beneficiary (EDB). As an EDB, she has the ability to stretch distributions from both the traditional and Roth inherited IRAs over her life expectancy. The annual RMDs would be calculated using the Single Life Expectancy Table, and the first RMDs would need to be taken this year from each inherited IRA.

Question:

I have an IRA at Vanguard and one at American Funds.  Can I aggregate my RMD and take it from just one account even though they are at different companies?

Thanks

Sonny

Answer:

Hi Sonny,

We get a lot of questions on when RMDs can be aggregated and taken from one IRA. In your case, there is no problem. You can aggregate your RMDs and take the total amount due from one of your IRAs. The fact that the IRAs are with different companies does not matter.

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