Multiple RMD's... How do I handle them?

[vikingrdh46]

Hi. This is my second year of dealing with RMD issues. I have identified four(4) income sources (1099-R's from IRA's and one fixed annuity) for RMD liability and know the amount of RMD liability from each of them (known RMD totaling ~$60,500). My question is what IF I DID NOT identify ALL the RMD liability sources for this tax year and cannot calculate my actual TOTAL RMD liability because, e.g. I had to call one of the known income sources to get the RMD info? What if there are others unknown to me at this time?

A possible counter to this potential, in my opinion, is to apply ONE of the known income sources (~$85,000) that exceeds the known RMD liability to ALL the total RMD I am liable for, known and unknown. This single income source shows an calculated RMD of $43,408 by itself. I am able, via TurboTax, to apply ALL of the ~$85,000 toward all known RMD liablities of ~$60,500. This would exceed the known RMD liability by ~$24,500. What happens to these potentially excess funds? I am hoping, nothing... as long as enough was designated to cover RMD liabilities. There is no way that any other unknown RMD liabilities could exceed this $24,500 buffer.  I would, of course, tell TurboTax to apply NONE of the calculated RMD from the other 3 income sources via TurboTax toward the total RMD liability.   Is this a reasonable means to deal with multiple sourced known and unknown RMD liabilities?  RDH

[macuser_22]

You can always take *more* than the RMD.    There is no difference whatsoever between a RMD and a regular distribution from an IRA.  A RMD is simply the *minimum* amount that must be withdrawn.

For tax purposes you only have one Traditional IRA that is the aggregate total of all existing Traditional IRA, SEP IRA or SIMPLE IRA accounts that you have.  The RMD is calculated for each account based on the 2017 Dec 31 year end value of that account and then all account RMD's  added together for the total RMD.  The RMD can be taken from any one or several of those accounts.

RMD's for IRA's are totally separate and cannot be combined with RMD's from other qualified retirements accounts such as 401(k)'s and other employer retirement plans or pensions.

The answer to the RMD question does not go on your tax return, it is simply to make sure you do not owe any penalty for not taking the RMD or use it for an ineligible rollover.

The question is just to be sure that the requirement was met.