Beneficiary of IRA Distribution New York

[jjkneeshaw]

New York State Taxes asks if the retirement distribution I received from a 1099-R was as the beneficiary of someone who died. The person died in 2015 and I inherited the IRA at that time. I was required to take RMD's because the decedant had started them. If I answer yes to the question, It wants to know the decedents DOB, Total Pension (not a pension - it is an IRA), exclusion claimed on decedents taxes (none since there are no tax returns after 2016), and my % of total distribution.   This question seems to only apply to the first year after the person was deceased and may have claimed the exclusion. Is this the case? Should I answer NO to inherited? Or Do I get the NYS exclusion every year since they are not claiming it since they have no taxes?

[AmyC]

No, you get your share of the exclusion each year.  If 2 of you inherited, you would be entitled to half of the $20,000 exclusion.

[jjkneeshaw]

Thank you for responding. So does that mean if my pension is $70,000 and the required RMD from the inherited IRA is $8,700 and I am the only beneficiary, that NY should exclude $28,700? Turbotax only shows me $20,000 for pension and annuity exclusion.

[MarilynG1]

New York only excludes 20K of Pension Income, no matter if there is RMD included in the distribution, or it's inherited.  

Here's more info from NY Dept. Taxation and Finance.

@jjkneeshaw 

[IthacaSB]

I have been searching for this! I took a distribution in 2024 from my "bene-IRA", and also have my own pension payments from my employer. The questions that come up, in the case of an inherited "bene-IRA" are not answerable because it states "if other beneficiaries also received part of this pension, enter the total amount all beneficiaries received," and then asks for the total  amt of decedent's pension and the % that I received.

1) It's not a pension, it's an IRA.

2) As a recipient of an inherited IRA, I am not privy to know how many others (or who they are) that received part of the total, nor do I know the total.

3) Since my own actual pension amt for the year is greater than $20,000, seems that no matter what I say to these questions, it makes no difference since I can only exclude $20,000 at any rate.

Wonder if I should just say NO to the original question of whether this income was from an inherited pension?

[AmyC]

Since your pension is larger and you are entitled to the full $20k reduction without the inherited IRA, you can say no and skip those questions.

The inherited IRA deduction is based on the number of beneficiaries of the IRA. If you and 3 siblings each got 25%, then you could only exclude 25% of the allowed $20,000 on the money. Since you have no idea how many people may have inherited the money, you aren't able to calculate your portion. Thankfully, it doesn't matter for you.

@IthacaSB