dmertz
Level 15

Retirement tax questions

TurboTax's phrasing of the questions regarding inherited IRAs is unnecessarily confusing and misleading.  It might help to understand that these questions are being asked in relation to the particular Form 1099-R being entered.

 

With regard to the code-4 Form 1099-R, answer Yes, it is a distribution from an inherited IRA (that's what code 4 means, so it's redundant for TurboTax to ask), that the distribution was from the the IRA inherited from "Your spouse,", and answer "I did not put the money into my own IRA account."  (This distribution was not rolled over.  It was not permitted to be rolled over.)

 

With regard to the code-7 Form 1099-R, answer No, it is not a distribution from an inherited IRA.

 

The 2022 RMD for Dad would have been calculated on Dad's 2021 year end balance using Dad's age in 2022 and the Uniform Lifetime table (or, if Mom is more than 10-years younger than Dad, the Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy table).  It's more common that this distribution would have been made after the trustee-to-trustee transfer to Mom's IRA to avoid the need to open and then close an intermediate inherited IRA for Mom's benefit and would have been included on the code 7 Form 1099-R instead of on the separate code-4 Form 1099-R.

 

The 2022 RMD for Mom would have been calculated on Mom's 2021 year end balance using Mom's age in 2022 and the Uniform Lifetime table (or, if Dad was more than 10-years younger than Mom, the Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy table).

 

Because Mom assumed ownership of the IRA inherited from Dad, the 2023 RMD is calculated from the combined 2022 year-end balance using Mom's age in 2023 and the Uniform Lifetime table.

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