Andy Ives, CFP®, AIF®
IRA Analyst
QUESTION:
I inherited a Roth IRA from a sister who was one year younger than me. If I choose to stretch distributions over my life expectancy, which chart do I use, and whose age do I use for the first required minimum distribution (RMD)?
ANSWER:
You qualify as an eligible designated beneficiary (EDB) on this inherited Roth IRA under the “not more than 10 years younger than the decedent” EDB category. As such, you have the option to take stretch annual RMDs over your own single life expectancy. Use your age (on your birthday) in the year after the year of your sister’s death. Find the corresponding factor from the Single Life Table. That is your first RMD factor. Then, subtract 1.0 from the first factor for the next year, and 1.0 from the previous year’s factor for each year thereafter.
QUESTION:
A client rolled over $7,500 of her 529 account to a Roth IRA in 2026. Can she also contribute $7,500 to her Roth IRA, assuming she has the earned income?
ANSWER:
A beneficiary of a 529 account with unused dollars (money that will not be used for higher education) can roll over up to $35,000 to a Roth IRA. This is a lifetime limit, and only an amount up to the annual Roth IRA contribution amount can be rolled over in any given year. Whatever amount that is rolled over counts toward the annual contribution limit. So, if your client already rolled over $7,500 in 2026, she cannot contribute additional funds to a traditional or Roth IRA for this year as she has already hit the maximum annual contribution total.
If you have technical questions you would like to have answered, be sure to submit them to mailbag@irahelp.com, to be answered on an upcoming Slott Report Mailbag, published every Thursday.
https://irahelp.com/inherited-roth-iras-and-contributions-todays-slott-report-mailbag/