RMD reporting.

[pauljburn]

I am filing as married filing jointly. The RMD I take more than satisfies the RMD for both me and my wife. Does my wife have to take an RMD or will my RMD satisfy for both of us since it is a joint return?

[Opus 17]

Each retirement account is owned by only one person. As such, you each must individually satisfy the RMD rules.  

[pauljburn]

Thanks.

[denromich]

I want to file online as I have done in previous years and ignore anything that does not have a 1099-R but I have a wife that wants to file form 5329 through a mail in tax return and a letter explaining why her RMD was not done last year and was done in this tax year but the financial institutions only send a 1099-R with an amount for all RMDs in the calendar year.

[Opus 17]

@dmertz ??

[dmertz]

Assuming that your wife did not reach age 70½ in 2019 which would allow your wife's first RMD to be delayed until as late than April 1 without the RMD being considered late, your wife's 2019 RMD taken in 2020 requires your 2019 tax return to include Form 5329 Part IX with explanation for her requesting a waiver of the 50% excess accumulation penalty for 2019.  The distribution itself will be reported on your 2020 tax return.

If your wife received no distributions reported on a 2019 Form 1099-R, it will be extremely difficult to get TurboTax to include the required Form 5329 in your e-filing.  If this is the case, it will be much easier to file by mail and include a manually prepared Form 5329 for her with explanation.