RMDs - what is the definition of "retirement"

As I understand it, RMDs are not required to be taken until one retires. For a taxpayer who qualifies as a Real Estate Professional, spends well over 750 hours per year on his real estate activities, has no wage income but only rental income, is this taxpayer "retired"?

Reply to
Taxed and Spent
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Reply to
Stuart O. Bronstein

In article <XnsAC178F7268773spamtraplexregiacom@130.133.4.11> you write:

Are you sure? I thought the new rule is it has to be distributed over

10 years, but any schedule during the 10 years is allowed.
Reply to
John Levine

"John Levine" snipped-for-privacy@taugh.com wrote

Reply to
Stuart O. Bronstein

Thank you. That is actually how I remembered it from long ago, but somewhere (I can't find it now) I read something that made it sound like RMDs were not required if you had not yet retired, regardless of your age. I knew that wasn't how it was in the past, but things change. Not this, so thanks for letting me know.

Reply to
Taxed and Spent

Hmn. I have an IRA inherited from someone who died in July 2019, but the IRA wasn't distributed until this March. If it matters, the decedent took his 2019 RMD, and was not my spouse.

Looking at Pub 590-B, it looks like the old rule applies, any time over 5 years, or over my life expectancy from Table I.

Reply to
John Levine

To answer the specific question, you need to know what type of retirement plan the taxpayer has. RMDs from IRAs cannot be deferred simply because you are not retired. RMDs from 401(k) accounts may be deferred if you are still employed by the employer who established the plan *if* the plan document allows it. (Not all do)

Ira Smilovitz, EA Leonia, NJ

Reply to
ira smilovitz

One is not required to take an RMD from an "employer" retirement plan (IRA is not an employer plan), for as long as one continues to work for that same employer. This is true if the plan document allows it, on top of the tax rule.

Maria U. Ku, CPA Oakland, CA

Reply to
mariakucpa

You are correct that the old rule applies. You didn't state whether the owner died on or after the RBD or before the RBD. Your answer implies the owner died before the RBD as the 5 year rule does not exist for beneficiaries whose IRA owner died on or after the RBD.

Reply to
Alan

He was way past the RBD and had been taking his RMD for a long time. Staring at Pub 590-B now I see the bit about RBD, so in my case I have to take RMD based on my life expectancy.

Adding to the confusion, there were two beneficiaries 50/50, but my half has already been split out into a separate account so I believe we each have RMDs from our accounts based on our respective ages.

Reply to
John Levine

...but not in 2020 unless you want to take a distribution.

Reply to
Alan

I'll just add - keep in mind, the Inherited RMD calculation is different from the RMD for one's own account.

For inherited, you find the divisor the first year, but never return to the table, you simply subtract '1'.

e.g. you are 50, and the divisor is 34.2. Next year, the divisor is

33.2. At 60, it's 24.2, not the 25.2 from the table. The IRA will be depleted when you are 84. It starts as a minor difference, but with large sums, it's an important point to consider.
Reply to
JoeTaxpayer

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