On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed the SECURE Act into law, which makes changes to certain retirement plans. The SECURE Act has received a lot of publicity due to the provisions affecting inherited individual retirement accounts (IRAs). However, that’s not the only notable change of interest to individuals. This alert summarizes those provisions of the greatest interest to our private clients.
Modification of required minimum distribution (RMD) rules for beneficiaries of inherited IRAs or qualified plans
Upon the death of a traditional IRA owner or qualified plan participant, RMDs could be paid over the life expectancy of the designated individual beneficiary. Often referred to as a “stretch payment,” payment of RMDs over the life expectancy of a much younger beneficiary (such as a taxpayer’s child or grandchild), resulted in smaller annual distributions, thereby providing the opportunity for the continued deferral of tax on the retirement account assets while they continued to appreciate.
Prior to the SECURE Act, if a traditional IRA owner or qualified plan participant died without naming an individual as a designated beneficiary and the IRA owner or qualified plan participant had not yet reached the required beginning date, the taxpayer’s remaining interest in the retirement plan was required to be distributed no later than the end of the fifth calendar year following the death of the taxpayer (the five-year rule).
The SECURE Act does away with the favorable tax deferral of stretch payments. Instead, non-spouse beneficiaries of traditional IRAs or qualified plans of taxpayers who die after December 31, 2019, must now deplete the plan’s assets on or before the end of the 10th calendar year following the death of the taxpayer. Further, this 10-year rule also applies to plans that previously would have been subject to the aforementioned five-year rule.
Eligible designated beneficiaries are not subject to the new 10-year rule. Eligible designated beneficiaries include the surviving spouse, minor children, certain chronically ill or disabled beneficiaries, and individual beneficiaries who are not more than 10 years younger than the deceased IRA owner or qualified plan participant. Eligible designated beneficiaries may continue to receive RMDs over their life expectancy, provided however, that the account balance must be distributed within 10 years of the death of the eligible designated beneficiary or, in the case of an eligible beneficiary who was a minor child, within 10 years of such child reaching the age of majority.
Insights
RMD age increased to age 72
Prior to the SECURE Act, taxpayers were generally required to begin receiving RMDs from their traditional IRAs and certain qualified retirement plans beginning on April 1 of the year following the year they reached age 70 ½.[1] The SECURE Act increased this RMD age to age 72 for all distributions required to be made after December 31, 2019. That is, individuals who attain age 70 ½ after December 31, 2019, will not be required to take mandatory distributions until April 1 of the year following the year in which they attain age 72.
Insights
Penalty-free withdrawals from certain retirement plans for expenses related to child birth or adoption
Distributions from traditional IRAs and qualified retirement plans are generally included in income in the year received. With rare exception, distributions before age 59 ½ are subject to a 10-percent early withdrawal penalty on the amount includable in income. A common exception to the early withdrawal penalty is for distributions made in certain cases of emergency or financial hardship.
The SECURE Act provides an additional exception to the 10-percent early withdrawal penalty for a distribution of up to $5,000 from a defined contribution retirement plan or IRA made after December 31, 2019 which is used for expenses related to a qualified birth or adoption. To qualify for the penalty-free exception, the distribution must be made during the one-year period beginning on the date on which the child is born, or the adoption is finalized. Eligible adoptees are any individual (other than a child of the taxpayer’s spouse) who has not attained age 18 or is physically or mentally incapable of self-support. Qualified birth or adoption distributions may generally be repaid to the retirement plan at any time.
Insights
Repeal of maximum age for traditional IRA contributions and coordination with Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs)
Prior to the enactment of the SECURE Act, beneficiaries were required to be under age 70 ½ as of the end of the taxable year to be eligible for a deduction for qualified contributions to traditional IRA accounts. The SECURE Act repealed this maximum age limitation for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2019, ensuring that taxpayers of any age are now eligible to make qualified contributions to traditional IRA accounts and obtain a deduction for their qualified contributions.
Insights
QCDs permit taxpayers to make a charitable contribution up to $100,000 from their traditional IRA and exclude that distribution from the taxpayer’s gross income. For taxable years beginning after December 31, 2019, QCDs that are excluded from a taxpayer’s gross income are reduced (but not below zero) by the excess of: (1) the total amount of deductions allowed to the taxpayer for contributions to a traditional IRA in taxable years ending on or after the date the taxpayer attains age 70 ½ over (2) the total amount of reductions for all tax years preceding the current tax year.
Insights
Reinstatement of the kiddie tax previously suspended by the TCJA
Before the TCJA was enacted, for taxable years beginning before December 31, 2017, the net unearned income of a child was taxed at the parents’ tax rates if the parents’ rates were higher than the child’s. The TCJA suspended this so-called “kiddie tax” for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, and before January 1, 2026, and instead provided that the net unearned income of a child was taxed at the same rates as estates and trusts.
The SECURE Act reinstates the kiddie tax. As a result, for tax years beginning after December 31, 2019, the unearned income of a child is no longer taxed at the same rates as estates and trusts. Instead, the unearned income of a child will be taxed at the parents’ tax rates if such rates are higher than the child’s tax rates.
Insights
A Section 529 education savings plan (a 529 plan, also known as a qualified tuition program) is a tax-exempt program established and maintained by a state, or one or more eligible educational institutions
(public or private). Any person can make nondeductible cash contributions to a 529 plan on behalf of a designated beneficiary. The earnings on the contributions accumulate tax-free. Distributions from a 529 plan are excludable up to the amount of the designated beneficiary's qualified higher education expenses.
Before 2019, qualified higher education expenses didn't include the expenses of registered apprenticeships or student loan repayments.
But for distributions made after Dec. 31, 2018 (the effective date is retroactive), tax-free distributions from 529 plans can be used to pay for fees, books, supplies, and equipment required for the designated beneficiary s participation in an apprenticeship program. In addition, tax-free distributions (up to $10,000) are allowed to pay the principal or interest on a qualified education loan of the designated beneficiary, or a sibling of the designated beneficiary.
Taxable non-tuition fellowship and stipend payments are treated as compensation for IRA purposes
Before 2020, stipends and non-tuition fellowship payments received by graduate and postdoctoral students were not treated as compensation for IRA contribution purposes, and so could not be used as the basis for making IRA contributions.
Starting in 2020, the new rules remove that obstacle by permitting taxable non-tuition fellowship and stipend payments to be treated as compensation for IRA contribution purposes. This change will enable these students to begin saving for retirement without delay.
Tax-exempt difficulty-of-care payments are treated as compensation for determining retirement contribution limits
Many home healthcare workers do not have taxable income because their only compensation comes from “difficulty-of-care” payments that are exempt from taxation. Because those workers do not have taxable income, they were not able to save for retirement in a qualified retirement plan or IRA.
For IRA contributions made after Dec. 20, 2019 (and retroactively starting in 2016 for contributions made to certain qualified retirement plans), the new rules allow home healthcare workers to contribute to a retirement plan or IRA by providing that tax-exempt difficulty-of-care payments are treated as compensation for purposes of calculating the contribution limits to certain qualified plans and IRAs.
Conclusion
Of the changes discussed above, the elimination of the stretch payout method, the increase in RMD beginning age, and the penalty-free withdrawals for expenses related the qualifying birth or adoption of a child, apply to both traditional IRAs and certain employer-sponsored qualified plans such as a 401(k). The repeal of the maximum age for traditional IRA contributions and coordinating changes to QCDs apply only to traditional IRAs.
[1] Taxpayers may defer withdrawals from a qualified plan until retirement from the company sponsoring the plan, provided the taxpayer is not a 5% or greater owner of the company.
For questions or assistance, please contact us at 717-569-2900.