The tax code allows a taxpayer to plan his financial affairs so as to pay the least amount of tax that is legally owed. This allows individuals to take advantage of favorable tax provisions. But the lack of bipartisanship engaged in by Congress is making it harder and harder for individual taxpayers to plan effectively. Congress does this by delaying the passage of key tax provisions until the end of the tax year.
An important deadline is fast approaching. This October 31st deadline applies to trusts that are beneficiaries of retirement assets of individuals who died last year. A trust beneficiary cannot use stretch distributions from inherited retirement assets unless the trust meets four qualifications explained below.
You inherited an IRA or a Roth IRA. Since you are not age 70 ½ yet, you did not think you had to take required distributions (RMDs) or maybe your advisor told you that. WRONG!!!A non-spouse beneficiary generally must take his first required distribution in the year after the account owner's death.Here are the rules for a beneficiary that is named on the beneficiary form (or is named through the document default provisions). These rules do NOT apply to beneficiaries who inherit through an estate. They may be the same for a beneficiary who inherits through a trust, but that is a way more complicated situation and you should be working with a knowledgeable advisor to determine how RMDs to the trust will be calculated.We are going to assume that you have set up a properly titled
I hear this a lot. "The contribution is to a non-deductible IRA." Or, "I have a non-deductible IRA." There is no such thing as a non-deductible IRA. There are non-deductible contributions made to an IRA. Think about it. Even if a contribution is made to a non-deductible IRA, it will not remain entirely non-deductible for long. There are some sort of earnings on the account – even if it is invested in a money market IRA. Would you make a contribution to an IRA that guaranteed no earnings for as long as you had any funds in the account?
An IRA account owner is trying to keep things simple or just does not get around to changing a beneficiary form. Only one person ends up being named on the beneficiary form. The account owner exacts a promise from that person that they will make sure that the account is split between all the children, or all the grandchildren, or all the siblings or whoever is important to the account owner. The unwitting beneficiary agrees to this since, after all, it is only fair that the account be split.
You have a Roth 401(k), 403(b), 457(b) or federal government Roth TSP. You have left your job and want to move those funds to a Roth IRA. What 5-year rule applies to the rolled over funds? The answer follows.
A client is setting up a 72(t) distribution schedule – substantially equal periodic payments that will be exempt from the 10% early distribution penalty. Her first distribution won't be made until September and she would like to take monthly payments. But she also wants the full distribution for the first year, not just four payments. Can she do this? We answer this question below.
When you open a new IRA, certain forms and paperwork must be filled out. Failure to do so can result in large IRS penalties and other harsh tax consequences as a recent court case showed.
The unofficial end of summer comes with the Labor Day weekend...where did time go? Time does in fact fly, which makes planning for your future today more important. After all, tomorrow will be here before we know it. This week's Slott Report Mailbag includes questions (and our answers) on the Roth IRA 5-year rules and the best ways to leave an inheritance to younger beneficiaries.
Let's assume you have an IRA or retirement plan or annuity or even life insurance. All of those things have a beneficiary form. They do not pass through your will and they are not probate assets as long as you have completed or updated the beneficiary form.
