The IRA Contribution Deadline and Inherited IRAs: Today’s Slott Report Mailbag

Thursday, March 25, 2021

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

Question:

Has the deadline to make an IRA contribution for 2020 been extended since the 2020 tax filing date has been extended to May 17, 2021?

Robert

Answer:

Hi Robert,

Yes. The 2020 IRA contribution deadline is also extended to May 17, 2021.

Question:

Hi Ed,

My mother recently passed away in February 2021 from Covid. Prior to her passing I transferred her Traditional IRA from one brokerage account to a managed account with no beneficiary listed for the new account. The account will now go to the estate in which I am the sole beneficiary listed in her last will and testament. What are my options? My mother was 80 years old and had started her required minimum distributions.

Thank you for your help,

Scott

Answer:

Hi Scott,

Our condolences on the death of your mother.

It sounds like the estate became the IRA beneficiary by default. Because your mother was taking required minimum distributions (RMDs), the estate will need to take her 2021 RMD if she did not take it already. 

Beginning next year, RMDs would then need to be taken annually based on your mother’s remaining nonrecalculated single life expectancy. For 2022 RMDs the IRS has released new life expectancy tables to be used. If your mother reached her 80th birthday in 2021, the factor would be determined using age 80 and the new single life expectancy table. That would be 11.2. Each year one is subtracted from that factor. So, to calculate the RMD for next year, a factor of 10.2 would be used. Of course, the estate can always take the funds more quickly than is required.

 

 

 

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