On the surface, the value of an individual retirement account is self-explanatory. You contribute into an individual retirement account so that you have a nest egg to draw from during your golden years. However, when circumstances are right, an individual retirement account can also be useful from an estate planning perspective.
Let’s look at the details.
Traditional Individual Retirement Accounts
You would contribute into a traditional individual retirement account with pretax earnings. This provides an immediate advantage, because your taxable income is being reduced by the amount of the contributions into the account.
That’s the good news, but the bad news is that the withdrawals that you take would be subject to taxation. You can begin to take penalty free withdrawals when you are 59.5 years of age.
With a traditional individual retirement account, you are required to take mandatory minimum distributions when you are 70.5 years old. This is because the taxman wants to get some money eventually.
Since you have to take mandatory distributions, and the distributions are taxed, the estate planning benefits are limited. However, a beneficiary could take only the minimum that is required by law after your passing. Though these distributions would be taxed, the beneficiary could still take advantage of tax-deferred growth.
Roth IRAs
The estate planning benefits of a Roth individual retirement account would be greater. You contribute into a Roth IRA after you pay taxes on the income, so the distributions that are made are not subject to regular income taxes. Plus, you do not have to take mandatory minimum distributions at any time, because taxes have already been paid.
If the beneficiary is someone other than your spouse, the beneficiary would be required to take mandatory minimum distributions. The amount of the distributions would be based on the life expectancy of the beneficiary, but they would not be subject to taxation.
Once again, the beneficiary could choose to take only the minimum that is required. This is called “stretching the IRA.” If the beneficiary stretches the account, the tax free growth would be maximized.
Download our Free IRA Report
We have provided a basic explanation of the estate planning value of individual retirement accounts in this blog post. To obtain more comprehensive information, download our in-depth special report.
This report is being offered to our readers free of charge at the present time, and you can get your copy through this page: IRA Report.
Schedule a Consultation
Our firm offers IRA consultations, and we would be glad to answer any questions that you may have about individual retirement accounts or any other estate planning concerns.
To set up an appointment, send us a brief message through our contact page: Sacramento CA Estate Planning Attorneys.
- The Consequences of Not Having an Estate Plan - March 23, 2023
- Estate Planning for Same-Sex Couples: Key Considerations - March 21, 2023
- The Role of Trusts in Estate Planning - March 19, 2023
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.