I would want to confirm:Like I said the spousal inherited IRA rules are a bit complex so I'm struggling to understand why they thought he couldn't do anything with the funds.
Is there anything I'm missing or additional questions I should ask him?
While wife was living, were there only two tax-deferred (ie., non-Roth) IRAs between them?
Did the wife have an Inherited IRA from a third person? (If so, that can never be combined with another IRA except another IRA that was originally owned by the same third party person.)
Currently, are there still only two tax-deferred IRAs? Consider that IRAs can be held at more than one custodian.
I agree with the previous poster that if there really was money withdrawn that was more than their combined RMDs, consider converting the excess to Roth. And convert even more than that since this is probably the last year your friend can file as MFJ. Since the space in each tax bracket for Singles is half as much as the space for MFJ, he may be pushed into higher tax brackets starting next year.
Statistics: Posted by celia — Fri Nov 15, 2024 2:14 am