One of the most important decisions about an IRA is naming the beneficiary or beneficiaries. There are many candidates for the biggest mistake made by IRA owners, and one of the leading contenders is the failure to name a beneficiary or naming the wrong beneficiary.
If no beneficiary is named, the estate is the beneficiary. When an estate or another non-individual is a primary beneficiary, the entire IRA must be distributed within five years after the original owner’s passing. The estate (if it is the beneficiary) will owe income taxes on the distributions, in addition to any estate taxes due on the value of the IRA. An IRA owner should never fail to designate at least one qualified individual as primary beneficiary and should never name the estate or other non-individual as a primary or contingent beneficiary if there is any interest in allowing heirs to use the tax deferral of the IRA. (There is an exception for certain types of trust.)
The choice of beneficiary was more critical before the 2001 and 2002 regulations, because it also affected the calculation of required minimum distributions during the owner’s life. The beneficiary decision also was irreversible once RMDs began, at least for purposes of computing the RMDs. Now, there is more flexibility and the decision does not have as much of an effect on the computation of the RMDs. The major consideration in naming the beneficiary is: Who should receive the IRA in light of the goals, tax issues, and any other factors that are important to the owner?
After deciding on the primary beneficiary or beneficiaries, the owner also should name contingent beneficiaries. These are people who inherit if the primary beneficiaries are not available or disclaim the inheritance. Naming contingent beneficiaries can be part of a good strategy. The estate executor names the Designated Beneficiary of an IRA by the end of September of the year after the owner passed away. The DB’s age determines the required minimum distributions for the IRA. The Designated Beneficiary must be on the list of primary or contingent beneficiaries.
Naming contingent beneficiaries allows the executor and heirs to adjust the estate plan if circumstances have changed. Primary beneficiaries who believe it is best for the family that someone else inherit the IRA can disclaim their rights. Disclaimers can continue until the “right person” is available to be named Designated Beneficiary. That cannot happen unless contingent beneficiaries are named.
Customized Beneficiary Forms
When naming beneficiaries, it can be best not to use the Beneficiary Designation forms provided by IRA custodians. A number of estate planners draft their own forms and have them reviewed by the custodians.
The custom beneficiary form allows the owner to name more than one primary beneficiary and leave them unequal shares, something that often is difficult or not possible with standard forms. A custom form ensures that the form lists all the beneficiaries the owner wants named and, if there are disclaimers or premature deaths, the beneficiaries will succeed each other in the desired order.
While a standard form might work for many people, those with multiple beneficiaries or less-than-standard situations should consider having their estate planners draft custom forms and file them with the IRA custodian.
The IRA owner also should consider who would receive the share of a beneficiary who dies prematurely-either before inheriting a share of the IRA or after distributions to heirs begin. Should the share go to the children of the beneficiary, or should it be shared by the other primary beneficiaries? Or should it go to a different contingent beneficiary?
The choice is up to the IRA owner, but it has to be stated in the designation form. Otherwise, most IRA custodians have a default position they implement absent instructions from the IRA owner. State law also might establish a default position. The IRA owner should consider the issue and make the choice clear in the designation form.
Another issue: Suppose a beneficiary or contingent beneficiary is young or cannot be trusted to handle the IRA properly. Then, it might be appropriate to name a trust as the beneficiary of the IRA. Naming a trust also is appropriate when the intended beneficiary has special needs.
A trust that is an IRA beneficiary must have precise terms in order to take advantage of the IRA’s tax deferral. With the wrong trust terms, the IRA balance must be distributed and taxed on an accelerated schedule. The help of an experience estate planner is needed.
When there are multiple objects of affection, one option is to name them as joint primary beneficiaries. An alternative is for the IRA owner to split the IRA into separate IRAs, naming a separate beneficiary and group of contingent beneficiaries for each. IRS regulations allow beneficiaries who jointly inherit an IRA to split it. Yet, not all beneficiaries know about this right or are able to agree to execute it. The owner might find it wise to split the IRA now rather than leaving that to the estate administration process.
As we have emphasized in the past, an estate owner who plans to leave something to charity should consider using the IRA to do so. Unlike other beneficiaries, the charity will fully benefit from the IRA. Charities are tax-exempt. A charity can withdraw the entire IRA balance and not owe income taxes on it. In addition, naming a charity as beneficiary avoids the estate tax. The IRA is included in the estate, but there is an offsetting charitable contribution deduction for the amount left to the charity.
Because non-charitable heirs benefit more by receiving non-IRA assets, leaving the IRA to a charity can be a good deal for all involved. When the estate owner plans to leave part of the estate to charity and there are enough non-IRA assets for other beneficiaries, the owner should consider leaving all or part of the IRA to charity while leaving the other assets to non-charitable beneficiaries.
When considering IRA beneficiaries as part of an estate plan, there are a couple of other strategies we discussed in the past you should consider.
One strategy is to avoid all this by emptying your IRA early. Distribute all or most of the IRA, pay the taxes, and invest the after-tax amount. That gives you more flexibility over how to give away the balance and probably gives the heirs a larger after-tax amount in the long term. This can be appropriate for someone with a large IRA and other income or assets to maintain the standard of living.
Another strategy is to convert the traditional IRA into a Roth IRA. This does not avoid the choice of beneficiary, but it makes the distributions tax free. Keep in mind it costs money to convert to a Roth IRA.
We have discussed the details of both of these strategies in past issues. They are on the web site Archive, and you also can find discussions in my book, The New Rules of Retirement.
Designating IRA beneficiaries is a neglected step in many estates. Take care to designate beneficiaries with care and use a custom beneficiary designation form if necessary. Taking these steps can increase the after-tax wealth of your heirs by tens of thousands of dollars. A will or living trust has no influence on who inherits your IRA or other qualified retirement account. Only the beneficiary desig-nation form counts. Make your designations carefully, update them as needed, keep copies of all forms, and be sure the executor knows where the forms are.
RW August 2009.
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