RMD Reporting 2024

[JimP7]

I have 2 separate IRA accounts with 2 different companies.  One account is much larger than the other.  However, I took the majority of the RMD from the smaller account.  When asked for the RMD for the larger account, the amount is more than what I withdrew, and I am then penalized a significant amount for not taking all of the RMD for the year.  The accounts should be combined for the total amount required, but it is not.  Is this a bug, or are there any workarounds that could be done so that I am not penalized because I have taken all of the required RMD's for the year.

[jsryan793]

Neither of your IRA custodians know about your other account.  They will calculate the RMD amount only for the assets in that account.   You need to total the value of all your IRAs and divide by the RMD divisor for your specific age and situation.  The custodians will not have the information to do that.  Also, be careful, most custodians, if you have multiple IRA accounts (maybe you some assets in a type of managed strategy and some not), will calculate the RMDs for each account and not provide you a total RMD.

[wa1fhy]

I played around with this because I will be in the same situation next year with RMDs from multiple accounts.  I agree with you that TT should only ask what your total RMD is after you have entered all the distributions from your multiple accounts.  

But TT doesn't appear to want to do it logically.  Instead, they ask for the RMD separately on each account.  What seems to work is this (given as an example):

Suppose you have $10,000 in one account and $15,000 in another account.  Let's say your RMD divisor factor is 25, so that your total RMD is (10,000 + 15,000) / 25 = $1,000.  But you decide to take $100 out of account #1 and $900 out of account number 2, meaning that you have satisfied your RMD.  When TT asks for your account #1 information, simply put in $100 as your RMD.  When TT asks for your account #2 information, put in $900 for your RMD.  These RMD numbers are, of course, a lie - but then you avoid TT computing a penalty on account #1. 

The IRS only cares that your total RMD has been met and you have correctly reported your 1099-R income.  I don't know why TT makes things this cumbersome.  I suspect there are millions of people with multiple retirement accounts that mix distributions to arrive at the correct total RMD.

Just my opinion (I could be wrong).

[JohnB5677]

Yes, You absolutely have the right concept.

• When you are asked "Let's get more information about your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD)."
• Record the TOTAL RMD required for all accounts.

As you go through the interview 

You will then get a follow-up question

Just a few more details about your RMD

Answer

Yes, I took out the entire remaining amount during the correction window

@wa1fhy