IRA BDA's - Probate Estate Expenses - Decedent vs Estate Tax Filing

[Steverino78]

I am PR of my brother's probate.  Pertinent details:  He died late January 2024 age 60; Two weeks prior to death, he withdrew $4k from his IRA; Vast majority of his assets were in his IRA; He died intestate.

2023 Tax filing:  Because he was alive throughout 2023, I filed his taxes (via his SS#) as PR of his estate.

2024 Tax filing:  The 2024 $4k IRA distribution induces a 2024 tax liability.  (I realize this should have been paid in sync with the withdrawal.  His estate had no liquidity until late 2024.) 

Upon notice of death, his IRA was converted to an IRA-BDA, still untouched and parked in SPAXX at Fidelity. 

(I will henceforth refer to this as the Mothership.) The five sibling beneficiaries (including myself as PR) have not yet established their respective BDA accts.  Point-being:  It is my understanding that the existing Mothership IRA-BDA is owned by the Estate (and hence, identifified by the IRS via the IRS-provided Estate EIN).  (?)

Prior to the Mothership being emptied into the five soon-to-be orbitting satellite BDA's, I (as PR) need funds from this Mothership to pay Estate and Probate expenses.  These Estate-obligated expenses will induce a tax liability, assumedly levied against the Estate.  

So... 

As he was alive for three weeks of 2024, will I be filing his 2024 return for the last time via his SS#? 

Or, am I now expected to file via the IRS-provided Estate EIN? (I believe via Form 1041?)

Or, am I expected to file two returns, acknowledging his three living weeks of 2024 and posthumous Estate?

Seems clear the Estate must pay both his $4k pre-death distribution and the forthcoming Mothership IRA-BDA distribution.  But the circumstances for withdrawal were different.  Hence, these questions. 

Thank you in advance for reading to the end.  🙂

[dmertz · Accepted solution]

If your brother had sufficient income in 2024 or there were taxes withheld form the IRA distribution, you'll need to file a 2024 tax return for your brother.  Any tax liability would be an expense of the estate.

If the IRA-BDA was established for the benefit of your brother's estate, it implies that your brother had not designated any beneficiaries for the IRA.  However, if your brother did designate beneficiaries, the IRA-BDA has been established and maintained for the benefit of those beneficiaries, not the estate, and the estate has no direct involvement with the IRA-BDA.  (Given that the IRA-BDA has not yet been subdivided, I'm guessing that there were no designated beneficiaries, but you need to confirm that with Fidelity.)

If the IRA-BDA is maintained for the benefit of the estate, you can request distributions and use the funds to pay the estate expenses.  Such a distribution would be reportable on an estate income tax return Form 1041 (if income to the estate, including these distributions, is sufficient to require filing).  If instead the siblings are the beneficiaries of the IRA-BDA, any distributions would have to be paid to these beneficiaries and the estate would need to ask the beneficiaries to cover the estate expenses.  Distributions paid to one of these beneficiaries would be reportable by that beneficiary on that beneficiary's individual tax return and taxable to that beneficiary.

If beneficiaries were designated, the IRA must be split into the respective shares by December 31, 2025 for each beneficiary to use their own age for determining RMDs.

[Steverino78]

I will plan on submitting a 2024 standard 1040 return under my deceased brother's SS#, signing as PR just as I did for his 2023 return.  I should theoretically receive the 1099-R corresponding to his early January 2024 (predeath) $4400 IRA distribution.  I did a dry run through Turbotax, mocking up a 1099.  As this $4400 was his only income and the Single Filer Standard Deduction is $14,600, it appears there will be no tax due.  

The Fidelity IRA was a very recent rollover from my brother's company plan.  As such, he had not yet provided any beneficiaries.  In this light, your description of the IRA-BDA being established for the benefit of the estate appears to match the circumstances.  I will be discussing with the Fidelity specialist to confirm we are all on the same page.  However, Fidelity appears obligated to inform that the customer is responsible for tax implications.  Nevertheless, I'm certain Fidelity will confirm the absence of any beneficiaries.  

All this said, it appears I have the freedom (and obligation) to withdraw IRA-BDA funds to pay remaining Estate/Probate expenses.  I will submit the 1041 using the EIN the IRS has provided at the time the IRA-BDA was created.  Hereto, it seems I should expect to receive a 1099-R for the estate distributions utilized for estate expenses and the closing of the probate.  

The thought has now occurred to me that these Estate BDA withdrawals will be occurring in 1st Q, 2025 and as such, inducing the obligation for a 2025 return. (?)  I'd presume a 1099-R documenting these 2025 withdrawals won't be created until late January 2026.  I was hoping to extricate myself from all aspects at the time the probate is closed (hopefully) this Spring.  Wishful thinking?  

Very grateful for the assistance.

[dmertz]

"The Fidelity IRA was a very recent rollover from my brother's company plan.  As such, he had not yet provided any beneficiaries."

I'm going to guess that the company plan was a SEP plan or a SIMPLE-IRA plan (both are IRA-based plans) that was moved to the IRA-BDA by trustee-to-trustee (Fidelity-to-Fidelity) transfer, not by rollover.  If the company plan was instead a 401(k), 403(b), 457(b) or the federal TSP, the funds would have to have been moved by distribution and rollover and only an individual beneficiary can do that, and the estate would not be involved.  Fidelity's specialist would know this and not permit the funds to be moved to an IRA-BDA if the company plan was not an IRA-based plan.

With the estate being the beneficiary and your brother dying before reaching his required beginning date for RMDs, the IRA-BDA is subject to the 5-year rule for distributions.  This means that no annual RMDs are required and the account must simply be fully drained by the end of 2029.  The estate can assign respective shares of the IRA-BDA out to IRA-BDAs for the beneficiaries of the estate, moved only by trustee-to-trustee transfer, but this does not change the distribution requirement under the 5-year rule.  Each of the separate IRA-BDAs will still be subject to the 5-year rule.  Depending on the amount involved, the beneficiaries might want to spread distributions out over several years rather receiving all of the taxable income in 2029.

[dmertz · Accepted solution]

An estate can use a calendar tax year or a fiscal tax year.  A fiscal tax year is one that ends on the last day of any month other than December.  The estate can even file a return for a short tax year if the end date is less than 12 months after the date of death.  A fiscal-year filing would likely have to be done before the Form 1099-R is issued near the end of January 2026, so you would have to prepare the return just using the transaction information.

Unless the funds are needed by the estate to pay an estate income tax liability (which would be unusual if the income is passed through to estate beneficiaries on Schedules K-1), make sure to have no taxes withheld from an IRA distribution paid to the estate.  Credit for such tax withholding cannot be passed through to estate beneficiaries.