Good news! You can look forward to somewhat smaller required minimum distributions (RMDs) from your IRA and company retirement savings plan beginning in 2022. That’s because, on November 6, the IRS released new life expectancy tables that are used to calculate RMDs. The new tables are not effective until 2022. RMDs are waived for 2020, and RMDs for 2021 will be calculated under the current tables.
Question:
Our estate planning attorney prepared trust documents a few years ago and he advised us to name the trust as a beneficiary. This was done after discussion with him regarding a situation in case our son(s) divorce their wives. The trust is prepared so that our sons are designated beneficiaries.
I've been reading your Slott Report article that advises against naming a trust as IRA beneficiary. Please let me know how to make sure half of the inherited IRA funds don't go to our son's divorced spouse.
Thanks in advance.
The October 19, 2020 Slott Report article, "Don't Overlook After-Tax Contributions!," explained how after-tax contributions in company plans work and discussed the dollar limits on them. This article will explain how distributions of after-tax contributions are taxed and can be rolled over separately.
If you have both pre-tax deferrals and after-tax contributions in your 401(k), you can’t just take out your after-tax funds to avoid paying taxes on the withdrawal. Instead, a pro-rata rule treats part of your distribution as taxable.
With the popularity of Roth 401(k) contributions, after-tax employee contributions have gotten short shrift. But, if your plan offers them, after-tax contributions are worth considering because they can significantly boost your retirement savings.
What are they? After-tax contributions are elective deferrals made from already-taxed salary. You make after-tax contributions to your plan the same way you make pre-tax or Roth contributions (if offered). Unlike earnings on Roth 401(k) contributions, earnings on after-tax contributions are always taxable.
Question:
Sir,
I inherited an IRA from my sister two years ago. She was collecting RMDs at 78.
My question involves collecting my sister’s RMD. Does the 10-year withdrawal go into effect now or do I use the table under my age, which is 73?
Charles
With the recent economic downturn, you may be more concerned than ever about keeping retirement plan funds safe from creditors.
If you participate in a plan covered by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), you can sleep well at night. Your plan accounts are completely shielded from creditors – whether or not you’ve declared bankruptcy. (Not surprisingly, there is an exception allowing the IRS to recoup unpaid taxes.)
Think of a top hat, and you’ll likely conjure up images of Franklin Delano Roosevelt or the temporarily-deceased Mr. Peanut or Rich Uncle Moneybags from Monopoly. But a “top hat plan” is also the informal name of a type of section 457(b) plan for management employees (hence the name “top hat”) of private tax-exempt companies such as hospitals. A top hat plan is different from the more common type of 457(b) plan for state and local government workers.
Question:
Ed and team,
I am sure my question has been asked by others. Now under the SECURE Act with no more stretch features to an inherited IRA, if a person dies and leaves his IRA to a child and that child waits 9 years and 11 months after the year of death and named his children (taxpayer’s grandchildren) as his successor beneficiaries, do they have only one month to clean out the IRA or does the 10 year period begin all over.
In Notice 2020-68, issued September 2, 2020, the IRS gave limited guidance on certain retirement provisions of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (the “SECURE Act”). The SECURE Act was signed into law on December 20, 2019.
Notice 2020-68 does not address one of the most significant SECURE Act changes: the elimination of the stretch IRA for most non-spouse beneficiaries and its replacement with a 10-year payout period.
Question:
I had taken an RMD in January 2020 from an IRA account. Then in July, I returned a portion back to the same IRA. Now I want to return another portion back to the IRA.
Are multiple transactions for reversal allowed?
Thanks for your quick reply in advance.
Piyush
Answer:
Hi Piyush,
You are allowed to pay back an IRA distribution with multiple partial rollovers.
