QCDs and RMD Requirements of Inherited IRAs: Today’s Slott Report Mailbag

Thursday, January 20, 2022

By Sarah Brenner, JD
Director of Retirement Education
Follow Us on Twitter: @theslottreport

Question:

Hello.  Thanks in advance for fielding my question.

My mother died in 2021 in her 90’s. She was using $100,000 of her traditional IRA RMD as a QCD. In order to fulfill her 2021 charitable commitments, I did a QCD after her death.

Because I am not 70 ½ yet, my CPA tells me I need to include the IRA withdrawal in my income and take a charitable deduction because the assets had already moved to my inherited IRA account.

Is this correct?  Is there an exception I am missing here?

Thanks!

Answer:

Unfortunately, your CPA is correct. An IRA beneficiary can do a qualified charitable distribution (QCD). However, to be eligible the beneficiary must be age 70 ½ or older. If you are not old enough to do a QCD, your distribution would be treated as taxable. If you are eligible, you could then take a charitable deduction.

Question:

Hi,

I cannot seem to find the answer anywhere, so perhaps you could address this in one of your newsletters.

More and more now there are inherited IRAs of different types requiring RMDs.  I know you can treat them as combined for calculating RMDs, but what if they’re different types? For example:

Inherited Traditional IRA – RMD $3000

Inherited Roth IRA – RMD $3500

Can I just take all $6500 out of the traditional and leave the Roth to grow and vice versa? Or must I take the RMDs out from each separately since they are not like type?

Best,

Ev

Answer:

Hi Ev,

You are right that many beneficiaries are inheriting more than one IRA. If required minimum distributions (RMDs) are due, they may be able to be aggregated. However, this is only possible when the IRAs are the same type and inherited from the same decedent. In your example, if a beneficiary inherits both a traditional and a Roth IRA, those RMDs could not be aggregated.

 

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