The Tax Professionals Blog — RMD

Waiving the Required Retirement Minimum Distribution Penalty

Posted by Lee Reams Sr. on

The penalty, called the excess accumulation penalty, for failing to take the required minimum distribution from IRAs and qualified plans is 50% of the amount that should have been withdrawn but wasn’t. Not all trustees (financial institutions) remind their clients to take the distribution, and it is quite easy for elderly individuals to overlook or not understand the distribution rules, resulting in a potentially severe penalty. However, the IRS does have a liberal policy for having the penalty waived.

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Retirement and Qualified Longevity Annuities

Posted by Lee Reams Sr. on

IRS Regulations finalized in 2014 provide some relief for individuals who want to stretch out their retirement funds by generally allowing taxpayers to use up to the lesser of 25% or $125,000 of their retirement account to purchase a qualified longevity annuity contract (QLAC) within the account.  The amount used to purchase the QLAC is subtracted from the account balance and would thus reduce the RMD from the retirement account each year until a specified time in the future when distributions must begin from the annuity. 

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