One-per-year rollover limitation?

That's two rollovers.

Ira Smilovitz, EA Leonia, NJ

Thank you for your interpreation. Assuming you are correct, I am interested in pursuing this with the IRS in some manner, in the hopes of getting an alternative interpretation, at least in the context of the CARES Act.

I would appreciate your guidance on how to proceed.

1. Do I want to request a determination letter or a private letter ruling?

According to one website, the difference between a DL and PLR depends on when the action in question is performed.

I will submit the request __before__ making any rollovers pursuant to the CARES Act (i.e. rolling over waived RMDs from multiple IRAs before July 15).

Is there any other form of request that I can pursue?

I am interested in an IRS interpretation that applies to everyone, including myself, who has followed IRS rules for satisfying the RMD requirements for multiple IRAs, and who want to "reverse" those withdrawals pursuant to the RMD waiver and the 60-day rollover extension in the CARES Act.

1. What are the fees for the request?

According Appendix A(A)(1) of IRB 2020-1, the 2020 fee is $275 for a DL.

The fees for a PLR under Appendix A(A)(3) et seq are significantly higher. And it is not clear to me which, if any, of those situations applies for my purposes.

1. Can you provide authoritative citations for your interpretation; specifically, that withdrawals from two Traditional IRAs cannot be combined and treated as a single rollover?

I would like to include such citations in my request to the IRS.

I am looking for applicable language in the IRS code (26 USC), IRS regulations (26 CFR), or other IRS documentation (IRB, IRS Notice, DL, PLR, etc).

However, I would settle for an explicit example from the IRS Pubs that matches the facts (again: two Traditional IRA withdrawals that are combined and treated as a single rollover). I might have overlooked it.

Thanks again.

And I forgot to ask:

1. How long should I expect the IRS to respond to any request that I submit?

I need to execute __some__ rollover before July 15, less than 3 months from now.

Generally the best way to proceed is to find a qualified tax professional (CPA or Enrolled Agent) to help.

If you want an interpretation by the IRS that will hold water, you will have to ask for a letter ruling, and pay a filing fee of $10,000 for the privilege. This doesn't even count the lawyer's fees you will have to incur if you want to request a letter ruling in a way that will optimize the chance of getting the ruling that you want.

You will not get any response from the IRS until many, many months after July 15. There is no one opening the mail during the shutdown. See the following for the current status of IRS functions:

Ira Smilovitz, EA Leonia, NJ

You are probably wasting your time and money. The one rollover rule derives from a US Tax Court decision that the IRS acquiesced to. As the US Tax Court is a national court, the decision affects everyone. The IRS published guidance twice. Below is the court decision and the two IRA announcements. It is quite clear when you read them, that the one 60 day IRA to IRA rollover per year means exactly what it says. You are allowed only one.... doesn't matter how many IRA accounts you have and which ones you use.

Thanks. You're too quick (smile). Yes, I realized that the time and cost wouldn't be worthwhile, not to mention the unlikelihood of a timely, much less favorable response. I really wanted to do this for everyone (as well). I don't know what motivates the IRS to generate a clarifying Notice (like Notice 2020-23).

The bottom line is: IMHO, enforcing the one-per-year rollover limitation while waiving RMDs and extending the 60-day rollover window disadvantages taxpayers with multiple IRAs, who followed IRS rules when taking RMDs before the CARES Act. Those are now likely multiple regular withdrawals, only one of which can be rolled over before July 15.