Will Not Effective for IRA Bene
Hopefully we all know this:
IRS has privately ruled that where an individual completed a form for naming his IRA beneficiary by indicating “as stated in wills,” the trust named as beneficiary in his will was not the IRA’s beneficiary and the trust’s beneficiaries were not the designated beneficiaries of the IRA. IRS reached this result because the IRA beneficiaries were not identifiable under the plan, as required under applicable Code Sec. 401(a)(9) regs. PLR 200846028
Permalink Submitted by Bruce Steiner on Thu, 2008-11-20 22:07
It would have been a closer case if the Will in fact named a beneficiary for the IRA. For example, if the Will said “I leave my IRA no. ______ at [name of financial institution] to X.” But in this case, the Will didn’t name a beneficiary for the IRA. So even if you can designate a beneficiary of your IRA by reference to your Will, in this case, the IRA owner didn’t do so. I don’t know why they went for a ruling on this.
Permalink Submitted by Al Fry on Thu, 2008-11-20 22:12
As you have said previously, Bruce, many PLRs are a waste of time and money, since we pretty much know the answer we’ll get. I quote you in my seminars when I talk about annuity PLRs.