Nonqualified Retirement Income

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
February 16, 2023
1 reply
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I retired in 2015 and began withdrawing from my personal rollover IRA. However, when my late husband died in 2008, I began receiving 1/2 of his Ohio State Teacher's Retirement System pension on a monthly basis and continue to do so. Is the STRS pension I started receiving before I retired considered as nonqualified retirement income?

ThomasM125

Level 15

It would likely not be a non-qualified retirement income. To be non-qualified, the retirement plan would have not adhered to regulations established by the Employee Retirement Savings Act (ERISA). Since it is a government plan, it is likely a qualified plan.

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xoxo232Author

Level 4

Thomas,

Thank you for your reply, but let me clarify. The STRS pension that I receive each month began long before my own retirement. It is not my own retirement benefit. It belonged to my late husband who began receiving it upon his retirement in about 1995 until he died in 2008 at which point I was still working. As his designated married survivor, I qualified to continue receiving 1/2 of his benefit each month after his death in 2008. Finally, when I personally retired in late 2015, I began to withdraw money each month from my own personal rollover IRA. The more I consider it, I don't see how this continuation of STRS benefits can qualify as "retirement" income on my personal tax return. In my case, it ends up not mattering anyway since my own IRA withdrawals are substantial enough to qualify for the maximum $200 Retirement Income credit on my Ohio State tax return. Nevertheless, I would still like a definitive answer for the record.

Thank you again.