RMDs Suspended

The Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 (WRERA) suspended required minimum distributions (RMDs) for 2009.  If you’re not familiar with RMDs, these are distributions that you are required to take from your traditional IRA and employer sponsored plans (401Ks) beginning at age 70 ½.

This is a one-time suspension of RMDs, effective for 2009 only.  This suspension was created in response to the sharp declines in the stock market, with the purpose of allowing individuals to keep the funds invested in their IRAs instead of being forced to take distributions when the market, and thus their account values, were significantly down.

Many people took their RMD in 2009 either because they weren’t aware of the change, or they had their RMD setup for automatic withdrawals and they failed to modify withdrawal instructions with their broker or financial institution.

Reversing Unwanted RMDs

Thankfully, the 60-day rollover rule allowed many people to reverse unwanted RMDs, if caught in time.  The 60-day rollover allows taxpayers to roll funds received (from RMDs or other IRA distributions) back into an IRA or other qualified plan within 60 days to avoid the tax bill from the original distribution.

Unfortunately, many people missed the opportunity to do a 60-day rollover either because they didn’t know they could, or they weren’t aware that they didn’t have to take their RMD until after the 60 days had passed.

Relief For Taxpayers Who Missed the 60-Day Rollover Period

As a result, the IRS issued Notice 2009-82 which provides relief to people who missed the 60-day rollover window, allowing them to roll unwanted RMDs back into their IRAs, but only through November 30, 2009.  This relief is retroactive (the notice wasn’t issued until September 24, 2009), so people who took RMDs as early as January can use this exception to return the funds back to their IRA account.

This relief may not help everyone who took unwanted RMDs however.  The following people will not benefit from this exception to the 60-day rollover rule:

• IRA owners who took more than one distribution from their IRA in 2009.  The 60-day rollover only allows you to roll one distribution back into your IRA per year, so people who took their RMD in monthly or quarterly installments will only be able to roll one of those distributions back into their IRA.
• IRA beneficiaries: the suspension of 2009 RMDs applies to both IRA owners and beneficiaries, but the 60-day rollover rule (and the exception created by Notice 2009-82) only applies to IRA owners.  So if you inherited an IRA (and you are not the spouse of the IRA owner), and you took an RMD distribution in 2009, you can not roll that distribution back into the IRA.

How to Rollover the Funds

So far we’ve talked about rolling any unwanted RMDs back into your IRA account, but that’s not your only option.  Regardless of where the RMD came from, you have three options for rolling them back over, including:

• Rolling the funds back into an IRA (does not have to be the same IRA you took the distribution out of)
• Converting the funds into a Roth IRA (income limits apply for 2009), or
• Rolling the funds into a qualified plan (not all qualified plans accept rollovers)

Who Should Rollover RMDs Back Into Their IRAs?

Rolling unwanted RMDs back into your IRA may not be the best option for everyone.  People who want tax deferral or who want to convert traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs in 2010 should consider rolling any unwanted RMDs back into their IRAs, along with those who want to use their IRAs for charitable contributions.

However, people who rely on their RMDs to meet living expenses, or those who believe that taxes are going up (and expect to be in a higher tax bracket later) should not roll their RMDs back into their IRA.  In addition, if you’ve already done a 60-day rollover this year, you can’t do another rollover.

Bottom line, consult with your tax advisor to determine if you would benefit from rolling any unwanted RMDs back into your IRA.  But hurry, the deadline for completing rollovers (unless you are within the 60-day period) ends on November 30^th.

Congress approved legislation this week that will provide some relief to Americans over 70 1/2 who have suffered significant losses in their IRA accounts.  The bill will temporarily suspend the excise tax that is levied when seniors fail to the the required minimum distribution (RMD) from their retirement accounts.

This penalty is waived for 2009, which means that seniors will not be required to take withdrawals from their tax deferred retirement accounts during 2009, which will hopefully give these accounts time to recover before the 2010 required distribution.  Unfortunately, this law does not apply to 2008 when it would have made the most difference to investors who have lost significant amounts in their accounts.

If you’re not familiar with the RMD, basically taxpayers who are age 70 1/2 must take annual required minimum distributions from their tax-deferred retirement accounts, including traditional IRAs, 401Ks and 403Bs.  The amount is based on your life expectancy and the prior December 31 balance of your account.  Failure to withdraw this amount and you will be levied a 50 percent penalty on the amount that you should have withdrawn… and this is in addition to your regular income tax!

Surprisingly, there is still talk that the RMD for 2008 will be suspended.  If relief is passed for 2008, taxpayers who have already taken their distributions will be allowed to re-contribute those funds so they don’t have to pay taxes on them.  We should know by mid next week if the 2008 RMD is also suspended.

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 allows IRA owners age 70 1/2 or older to make direct transfers of up to $100,000 per year from their IRA to a charity. The provision became available for IRA distributions taken after Aug. 17, 2006 and originally only applied through the end of 2007.  Note: the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 extends this law to include 2008 and 2009.

Distributions can be made from taxable funds in an IRA or Roth IRA, but not from employer plans or SEP and SIMPLE IRAs. The distribution will not be taxable to you, but you don’t get to deduct the charitable contribution on your tax return. This is more advantageous to taxpayers because even though you get a charitable deduction if you take the IRA withdrawal and report that amount in income, many taxpayers do not itemize, and therefore they don’t always get to take advantage of the deduction.

The direct transfer from the IRA to the charity can also satisfy a person’s required minimum distribution for the year. If you are charitably inclined, it may be best to contribute from the IRA, at least up to the RMD amount thereby avoiding that amount being included in income. This will lower your adjusted gross income (AGI) and might avoid or lessen the amount of Social Security benefits that are taxed.

The reduction in AGI can also increase tax deductions, exemptions or credits that are pegged to AGI either in terms of specified amounts or as a percentage of AGI. The distributions are deemed to come from income first if the IRA has non-deductible contributions. This contrasts with the normal pro-rata rule that applies to other IRA distributions where there are after-tax funds in the IRA.

If you want to take advantage of this provision for 2008, then you must make a direct IRA transfer to the charity before year end. The distribution must be made directly from the IRA custodian/trustee to the charity. It cannot be distributed to the IRA owner, who subsequently writes a check to the charity. If that is done, then the provision will not apply and the distribution will be taxable. However, you may be able to take a tax deduction for the contribution (under the regular rules that applied before this provision became effective).

Finally, to qualify for this provision, you must have documentation to substantiate the donation (something in writing from the charity showing the date and amount of the contribution, and certifying that nothing of value was obtained in exchange for the contribution). It is generally a good idea to send the charity a letter notifying them of the amount of the contribution and where the contribution is coming from as well as requesting verification of receipt of the gift.

Charities must fall under IRS code section 170(b) to be eligible. Donor advised funds, charitable remainder trusts and private foundations are ineligible. The IRS has not yet provided guidelines regarding coding for 1099 forms or 1040 reporting. Until guidelines are published, many firms are relying on advice from the Investment Company Institute. For instance, the IRA owner is responsible for maintaining documentation to verify with the IRS that requirements were met. The IRA owner is responsible for verifying the charity is a qualified charity for this purpose. The IRA owner is also responsible for verifying their compliance with the annual limit of $100,000.

Most firms will report the distribution as a normal distribution, but will advise the IRA owner to make a note of “charitable distribution” on their records. The IRA owner must provide instructions to waive withholding since the distribution will not be taxable.

The IRA owner is responsible for any reporting the IRS requires regarding the nature of the distribution. For most securities-based accounts including mutual funds, the IRA owner must obtain a signature guarantee on the request form since the distribution is being sent to someone other than the shareowner at the address of record.

It’s a good idea to consult with your financial planner before making your donation.

December 2008 — This column is produced by the Financial Planning Association, the membership organization for the financial planning community, and is provided (and edited) by Kristine McKinley, CPA, CFP, a local member of FPA.

Kristine McKinley is a fee-only financial planner located in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.  Kristine provides retirement planning, tax preparation and planning, investment reviews and comprehensive financial planning on a fee-only, as needed basis.  To schedule your complimentary introduction meeting, please contact Kristine at kristine@beacon-advisor.com.