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Kelson Retirement Case

Decent Essays

b. Consequences of Naming Ms. Dutton as the Sole Beneficiary When the sole beneficiary of a retirement account is the spouse of the owner, the requirements for how the account must be distributed is dependent upon whether the owner has passed away before the date upon which distributions were required to have begun or after this time. When the owner has died before the date upon which the distributions were required to begin, the spouse is provided with three options as to how the distributions will occur. I will discuss each option below and provide an analysis of how this would be applied to Ms. Dutton upon the occurrence of this course of events. The first option will treat the surviving spouse the same as any other beneficiary and require …show more content…

Treas. Reg. § 1.401(a)(9)-3, A-3(b)(2); See also I.R.C. § 401(a)(9)(B)(iv). The required distributions will be calculated in the same manner as provided in the first option above, by dividing the account balance by the divisor calculated each year from the single life expectancy table based on the spouse’s life expectancy. See Treas. Reg. § 1.401(a)(9)-9, A-1. This option provides Mrs. Dutton with some potential deferral of the income tax burden of receiving the retirement account, provided you die before age 70 ½, combined with the requirement for her to begin receiving the funds before her own required distribution date. The two options above provide for the same consequence upon the surviving spouse’s subsequent death. The distributions from the account must continue based on her, the surviving spouses, life expectancy divisor calculated in her year of death. In subsequent years, the divisor will not be recalculated as it was when she is alive but will instead be simply reduced by one. Treas. Reg. § 1.401(a)(9)-5, A-5(c)(2); T.D. 8987. This means that if the surviving spouse dies at the age of 66, the divisor will be reduced from 20.2 to 19.2 instead of 19.4 as it would were she still

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