Death at Spouse at Year-End, following year RMD question
81 year old husband died end of last year, leaving his wife as beneficiary. He took the RMD as required by 12/31/18. As of 12/31/18, the IRA was still in his name and the RMD notice uses his life expectancy for the RMD to be taken in 2019. Spouse will roll to her IRA, using her own life expectancy instead of an inherited IRA. Should custodian re-issue the RMD notice once the account is re-titled to the wife’s IRA? I’m a bit confused on the RMD need for 2019. I think it should be based on her age as the IRA owner, but I’m unsure since she was not the IRA owner as of 12/31/18. Thanks!
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Mon, 2019-08-26 16:37
Yes, if the surviving spouse assumes ownership or rolls over the inherited IRA to her own in any year after spouse’s death, the surviving spouse is treated as owning the IRA the entire year. Therefore, her 2019 RMD will be calculated using the Uniform Table and her attained age in 2019. There is no need for the custodian to re issue any RMD notice or Form 5498 for 2019 since these forms were issued prior to the custodian being aware of the death. Correct notices should be issued for 2020.