RMD Multiple Deaths

[michele]

Grandfather dies leaves Ira to granddaughter in 2008. Granddaughter dies in 2012 and leaves IRA to  husband. Can husband use wife's date of birth to figure RMD. Wife was a few years younger than husband. This is a new client preparer did not think the RMD amounts were right.

thanks

Michele

[qbteachmt]

You want to read the rules and provisions that were in place before the SECURE Act. Example:

https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-beneficiary

The grandfather's death doesn't impact the husband's inherited IRA from his spouse. Don't try to link something that would not be applicable. That first inheritance is non-spousal, but now you are dealing with the spousal one.

[George4Tacks]

Was grandfather taking distributions before his death? Was wife taking distributions before her death? ... There are many possibilities. I found https://www.montereyprivatewealth.com/blog-01/inheriting-inherited-ira to be quite interesting. 

[michele]

Yes grandfater was taking distributions then Grandaughter started taking distibutions whe was only in her 40's when she passed

thx

[rbynaker]

I *think* the "subsequent beneficiary" is still grandfathered under the pre-SECURE Act rules (because the original beneficiary died in 2012--if the original beneficiary died instead in 2020, we'd have different rules to follow).

Under the pre-SECURE Act rules, the subsequent beneficiary essentially steps into the shoes of the deceased original beneficiary and continues subtracting 1 from the original beneficiary's life expectancy when the account was inherited.  So if the original factor was 43.6 years, the original beneficiary would take 1/43.6 of the account in the first year, then 1/42.6 in the second year, then 1/41.6 in the third year, and so on.  The subsequent beneficiary continues with 40.6, 39.6, 38.6, etc. (wiggle the numbers as needed to fit your set of facts.)

If we walk back in time we can find a Pub 590 from 2012:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/p590--2012.pdf

Jump to page 37 and find this in column 2:

Other designated beneficiary. Use the life expectancy listed in the table next to the beneficiary's age as of his or her birthday in the year following the year of the owner's death. Reduce the life expectancy by one for each year since the year following the owner's death. If the designated beneficiary dies after  September 30 of the year following the year of the owner's death, continue to use the designated beneficiary's remaining life expectancy to determine the distribution period; do not use the life expectancy of any subsequent beneficiary.

Rick