RMD for Inherited IRA

Jan 18, 2011 6 Replies

Extracted from Publication 590


Miscellaneous Rules for Required Minimum Distributions

...



More than one IRA. If you have more than one traditional IRA, you must

determine a separate required minimum distribution for each IRA. However, you can total these minimum amounts and take the total from any one or more of the IRAs.


There is no distinction between inherited and non inherited IRAs in the above statement. If I Use a withdrawal from an inherited IRA to satisfy my RMD for the non inherited IRA, I will prolong the life of the consolidation. What does the IRS say about this tactic?


John B.

Nice try. If it's an inherited IRA, and maintained as such, it's titled a bit differently than a traditional IRA. You can't mix your funds with it, and it has its own RMD. What you propose is not allowed. Joe

Can you give me a reference?

Your RMD for any year is based on the total balances of all IRA accounts as of 12/31 of the prior year. As all IRAs are not alike, you should always compute the RMD for each IRA account and then add all the individual RMDs together to arrive at the required amount for the year. You may then withdraw the amount from any combination of your IRA accounts. The reason the IRS and I tell people to do this is that the life expectancy may be different for the IRAs you own. E.g., you may own an IRA that you inherited from another individual who had already started taking RMDs and you had a longer life expectancy. You would use your age in Table I of Pub 590 to determine the divisor for that account. You may also own your own IRA with your spouse who is more than

10 years younger than you, as the sole beneficiary. You would have to use Table II in Pub 590 to determine the divisor for that account. Add the two RMDs together to determine the annual requirement. Take it out of your IRAs any way you want.

Regulation 1.408-8, A9

Phil Marti VITA/TCE Volunteer Clarksburg, MD

Beautiful Phil, I was confident in my answer, but was having trouble finding the reg. Thanks.

Thanks all. I knew that there must be a reason that it was not allowed.

John B.

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