The IRA may be liquidated quickly.
An inherited IRA can provide a lot of security. However, it can also become a problem, if it is not handled correctly, according to CNBC in “Leaving an IRA to a loved one? How to avoid a tax bomb.” You can structure the distribution, so your children or grandchildren receive the best benefits.
Naming a trust as an IRA beneficiary is a good way to protect large IRAs, since it provides some means of control. By naming a trust, you can protect heirs who are minors, vulnerable to creditors, not able to handle large sums of money or disabled. Trusts only need $12,750 of taxable income in 2019 to be subject to the top tax rate of 37%.
If you don’t structure the trust right, you could accelerate the liquidation of the IRA at warp speed.
Most people think of their spouse, when it comes to naming a beneficiary for an IRA. If your spouse doesn’t needs the funds, you should consider providing for the next generation, who will live in a world of “You’re on your own” retirement planning.
IRA Trusts can also provide asset protection for beneficiaries who inherit them. Except for spousal rollovers, inherited IRAs are within the grasp of a beneficiary’s creditor, unless protected within a trust.
What are the pitfalls? Not all IRA custodians allow you to list a trust on the beneficiary form. The tax code has very specific conditions, when trusts are the beneficiaries of retirement accounts. Be very careful with what you do with charities as beneficiaries. IRAs can be great tools for charitable giving, but must be handled with great care to avoid tax problems. If you fail to follow the rules, your heirs could face huge tax bills. For a trust to be viable as a designated beneficiary, it must meet a four-step test:
It must be valid under your state’s laws.
It must be an irrevocable trust, or one that will become irrevocable upon your death.
Beneficiaries must be identifiable from the trust document.
The IRA custodian or trust administrator must have received a copy of the trust by October 31 of the year after the death of the IRA’s owner.
The beneficiaries must be people, not charities and not your estate. If your beneficiaries are not people, then your IRA may not have a designated beneficiary. In that case, your heirs can’t stretch the IRA by taking required minimum distribution,s based on the longer life expectancy of a child or a grandchild.
Worse—if your trust fails to meet the test, it is subject to the same rules as if there was no designated beneficiary at all. That means it’ll be depleted faster than you may have wished. If you die before you start taking RMDs (70½) then the IRA must be distributed within five years after death. If you die after you start taking RMDs, then distributions pay out over what would have been your life expectancy.
An estate planning attorney can advise you in creating an estate plan that fits your unique circumstances and can include a trust that works best for you.
Reference: CNBC (Dec. 9, 2018) “Leaving an IRA to a loved one? How to avoid a tax bomb”
