Changing an Inherited IRA

Yes. A spouse who inherits an IRA may treat it as his/her own in all respects. As to whether the account need be retitled to take advantage of this, I don't answer.

must either change the title or roll the inherited IRA into her own. The other options appear to be making a contribution, which I assume she can't, or failing to take an RMD based on beneficiary rules, which wouldn't serve her purpose.

Phil Marti VITA/TCE Volunteer Clarksburg, MD

I don't believe there are enough facts to render an opinion given the age of the taxpayer. This IRA was inherited by a surviving spouse who was age 89 at the time. We don't know the age of the decedent but it is is likely that he was already beyond the required beginning date for RMDs and may have been older or younger than the survivor. We don't know if the surviving spouse was the sole beneficiary and had the option to treat it as her own. We do know that she made an overt act (the name change to a beneficiary IRA) to treat it as a beneficiary IRA. The law says that she should have been taking RMDs given her age in Table 1 or the age of the decedent in the year of death from Table I reduced by one for each year after death, whichever is longer. Surviving spouses who treat the IRA as their own, use Table II that has much longer lives. So... she renamed it as a beneficiary IRA; and assuming she started to take RMDs as a beneficiary; she has not treated it as her own; and there would be no going back. If she took RMDs using her life expectancy as a surviving spouse, then she has treated it as her own and needs to have it renamed. If she hasn't taken any RMDs, then you can make the argument that she can still treat it as her own by having it renamed; taking the missing RMDs based on her life in Table II and paying the 50% penalty on the missed RMDs.