RMDs From IRAs

January 02, 2019

RMDs From IRAs

rmds from iras I’ve made the observation before – IRAs are like belly-buttons: just about everyone has one these days, and quite often they have more than one.

Wait a second, maybe they’re not quite like belly-buttons after all.

Oh well, you get the point – just about everyone has at least one IRA in their various retirement savings plans, and these accounts will eventually be subjected to Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) when the owner of the account reaches age 70½.

So what are RMDs from IRAs, you might ask? When the IRA was first developed, it was determined that there must be a requirement for the account owner to withdraw the funds that have been hidden from taxes over the lifetime of the account. Otherwise the IRS would never benefit without the taxes that are levied against the account withdrawals. To facilitate the forced withdrawals, a schedule was prepared approximating the life span of the account owner year after year. This schedule prescribes a minimum amount to be withdrawn each year that the account owner is alive, until the account is exhausted.

A participant in a traditional IRA (Roth IRAs are not subject to RMD rules by the original owner) must begin receiving distributions from the IRA by April 1 of the year following the year that the participant reaches age 70½. In other words, assuming that the participant reaches age 70 during the months of January through June of 2019, the participant reaches age 70½ during the 2019 calendar year. Therefore, the first RMD must be withdrawn before April 1, 2020.

On the other hand, an individual who reaches age 70 during the latter half (July through December) of 2019 does not reach age 70½ until the 2020 calendar year. As such, this individual’s first RMD must be withdrawn by April 1, 2021.

After that first year’s RMD is withdrawn, the second year’s RMD must be taken by December 31 of the same year. In our examples above, the first participant must make a RMD withdrawal by April 1, 2020, and another by December 31, 2020. The second example participant must make a RMD withdrawal by April 1, 2021 and another by December 31, 2021. For all subsequent years, the RMD must simply be withdrawn by December 31 in order to be credited for that year.

If you don’t want to double up the distributions for your first and second RMDs, you can take the first RMD by December 31 of the year you reach age 70½. By taking your first and second RMDs as originally described, you will be taxed on both distributions in a single year. This might result in adverse taxes to you.

Calculation of RMDs from IRAs

Calculation of the RMDs from IRAs is fairly straightforward, although there is some math involved. For the first year of RMD, the participant could be age 70 or 71, depending on when the birthday falls. IRS determines your applicable age based on your age at the end of the year. According to the Uniform Lifetime Table (See IRS Publication 590 for more detail on other tables), the distribution period for a 70-year-old is 27.4, and 26.5 for a 71-year-old.

Jerry has IRAs worth $100,000 at the end of the previous year and will be 70 at the end of the current year. Jerry will divide the balance of $100,000 by 27.4 to produce the result of $3,649.64 – the RMD for his first year.

Each subsequent year, Jerry reviews the balance of his accounts on December 31 of the previous year. Jerry looks up the distribution period from the Uniform Lifetime Table for his attained age for the current year. He then takes the balance and divides by the factor for his current year, producing the RMD amount. Then Jerry just has to take a distribution of at least that amount (the RMD) during the calendar year.

Note, I made a point of indicating that you calculate your RMD based on the balance of all of your IRAs. This is because the IRS considers all of your traditional IRAs as one single account for the purpose of RMDs. You are required to take RMD withdrawals based on the overall total of all accounts. This withdrawal can be from one account, evenly from all accounts, or in whatever combination you wish as long as you meet the minimum distribution for all accounts that you own.

It’s different for RMDs from non-IRA retirement accounts. With the exception of 403(b) plans, employer plans cannot be aggregated to determine RMDs. But that’s a subject for another time.

Another point that is extremely important to note: taking these distributions is a requirement. Failing to take the appropriate distribution will result in a penalty of 50% (yes, half!) of the RMD that was not taken. As you can see, it really pays to know how to take the proper RMDs from IRAs. The IRS has very little sense of humor about it.

Understand that the examples I’ve given are for simple situations, involving the original owner of the account and no other complications. In the case of an inherited IRA or other complicating factors, or if the account is an employer’s qualified plan rather than an IRA, many other factors come into play that will change the circumstances considerably. If you need help on one of these more complicated situations, it probably would pay off in the long run to have a professional help you with the calculations.

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