IRS rules IRAs weren’t “inherited.”

When an IRA owner dies, how the IRA rollover to the new owner is categorized may lead to tax issues, and the need for required minimum distributions (RMDs). In a private letter ruling (PLR), the IRS let a taxpayer roll over her deceased spouse’s Roth IRAs and regular IRA from a trust into her own Roth IRAs and regular IRAs, thus avoiding RMDs on the Roth IRAs, and making her the owner of the regular IRA for RMD computations. Though she was the trust’s sole beneficiary, the IRS found the IRAs weren’t inherited. (PLR 201707001)