This article is NOT about the “ghost rule” applicable to non-living beneficiaries. That payout rule applies when a non-person beneficiary (like an estate) inherits an IRA when the original owner died on or after his required beginning date (RBD).
The year is flying by, and before we know it 2025 will be here. With the arrival of the new year, several new provisions from the 2022 SECURE 2.0 law that impact retirement plans will become effective. One of the changes allows certain older participants in company savings plans and SIMPLE IRAs to make higher catch-up contributions.
Question:We have a client who has children from a previous marriage. Upon the husband’s death, he wants to make sure his current spouse has access to income from his IRA. But he also wants to make sure the remaining balance, when she passes, goes to his children from his first marriage and not to someone else, e.g., her children.
October 15, 2024 has come and gone. This was the deadline for correcting 2023 excess IRA contributions without penalty. If you missed this opportunity, you may be wondering what your next steps should be. All is not lost! While you may not have avoided the excess contribution penalty for this year, you can still correct the issue for future years.
By Andy Ives, CFP®, AIF®IRA Analyst We have written about the net unrealized appreciation (NUA) tax strategy many times. Generally,...
By Andy Ives, CFP®, AIF®IRA Analyst QUESTION: Good afternoon, If a client passed this year with four adult children inheriting...
Victims of Hurricane Helene have at least a glimmer of good news when it comes to their tax filings and ability to withdraw from their retirement accounts for disaster-related expenses.The IRS usually postpones certain tax deadlines for individuals affected by federally-declared disaster areas. On October 1, the IRS announced disaster tax relief for all individuals and businesses affected by Hurricane Helene, including the entire states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina and parts of Florida, Tennessee and Virginia. Generally, the IRS extended the deadline to file certain individual and business tax returns and make tax payments until May 1, 2025. It is likely the IRS will provide similar relief for victims of Hurricane Milton.
The recent final required minimum distribution (RMD) regulations include a new rule change that may be beneficial for IRA owners who name trusts as beneficiaries. In the new regulations, the IRS allows separate accounting for RMD purposes for more trusts. This can be helpful when a trust has beneficiaries who can potentially have different payout periods under the RMD rules.
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:
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.
