Timothy Sumer

The passing of the 2019 Secure Act changed the rules about when non-spouse beneficiaries must begin taking money from inherited retirement accounts. Starting in 2020, instead of stretching withdrawals over your lifetime, most investors inheriting an IRA from a parent were subject to a new "10 year rule." This meant annual required minimum distributions (RMDs) were out. Instead, beneficiaries had to take the money - in full - in 10 years. In early 2022, the IRS proposed new changes, and if enacted, some inherited IRA beneficiaries will need to take RMDs again and could face big penalties. Unless a non-spouse beneficiary qualifies for an exception¹, previous guidance stipulated that funds from an inherited 401(k), IRA, 403(b), or other qualified retirement plan (including Roth IRAs) must be taken in 10 years following the year of death. Original guidance indicated disbursements within this 10-year window were optional. Now, proposed regulations from the IRS further co...

If you “love” your 401(k) plan at work, you’ll be pleased with today’s IRS announcement about contribution limits. The amount that you can contribute to your 401(k) will be higher in 2022, increasing to $20,500 from 2021’s limit of $19,500. This new limit also applies to 403(b) plans, most 457 plans and Thrift Savings Plans. The IRS defines 403(b) plans as being for “certain employees of public schools, employees of certain Code Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations and certain ministers,” while 457 plans are deferred-compensation retirement plans available for government and non-government employers. Thrift Savings Plans are retirement and savings plans for federal employees and those in the uniformed services. Note that people who are age 50 and up can contribute a “catch-up contribution” to the retirement plans listed above in 2022 of $6,500, which has not increased from 2021. By adding the overall increase to the catch-up contribution, a 50-year-old (or older) partic...

How much can you save for retirement in 2021 in tax-advantaged accounts? How does $58,000 sound? The Treasury Department has announced inflation-adjusted figures for retirement account savings for 2021. The basic salary deferral amount for 401(k) and similar workplace plans remains flat at $19,500; the $6,500 catch-up amount if you’re 50 or older also remains the same; but the overall limit for these plans goes up from $57,000 to $58,000 in 2021. That helps workers whose employers allow special after-tax salary deferrals, and self-employed folks who can save to the limit in solo or individual 401(k)s or SEP retirement plans. For the rest of us, IRA contribution limits are flat. The amount you can contribute to an Individual retirement account stays the same for 2021: $6,000, with a $1,000 catch-up limit if you’re 50 or older. There’s a little good news for IRA savers. You can earn a little more and get to deduct your IRA contributions. Plus, the phase-out income limits for ...

Dear Liz: My husband and I have a combination of traditional and Roth IRAs naming our children and grandchildren as beneficiaries. With the passage of the Secure Act requiring distribution of inherited IRAs within 10 years, we want to revise our plan of leaving all of the investments to our children, as such inherited income would affect their tax bracket also. Do you have recommendations to alter the inherited IRAs to avoid this issue? Our annual fixed income puts us at the top of our tax bracket, meaning we usually cannot manage a traditional IRA to Roth conversion. Answer: The Secure Act dramatically limited “stretch IRAs, ” which allowed people to draw down an inherited IRA over their lifetimes. Now most non-spouse inheritors must empty the accounts within 10 years if they inherited the IRA in 2020 or later. There are some exceptions if an heir is disabled, chronically ill or not more than 10 years younger than the IRA owner, says Mark Luscombe, principal analyst for Wolt...