Thank you for taking the time to reply. Correct: the estate is not a beneficiary. But from my reading of Kitces blog, if the beneficiaries never took the full RMD (e.g., never told the acct custodian which stock to sell from a brokerage IRA to raise the cash for the distribution), it would be the estate that owed the penalty. And that if the IRS pursued it after the estate was closed out, they'd come after the executor (hello). So, I'd prefer if I could file the 5329 with the 1041 to make it very clear that the estate is the one waived of the penalty, rather than hoping that some beneficiary in Timbuktu would actually file it and understand how to work with the IRS regarding any further communication.
But, if the beneficiary proposed above filed the 5329, I can see at least 2 options for how to fill out lines 52-54 given the deceased's remaining 2019 RMD was, say, $10k, the other beneficiaries took $9.5k in 2019, and this beneficiary completed the RMD taking $1000 (more than was needed) in 2020. Option 1: line 52: $10k; line 53: $0 with an annotation that other beneficiaries took $9.5; line 54: $0 with the annotation "RC ($500)." Option 2: line 52: $500; line 53: $0; line 54: $0 with the annotation "RC ($500)." Thoughts?
