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March 2020

How the Secure Act Could Benefit You

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Late last year, new legislation was signed into law that will usher in some of the most sweeping changes to retirement plans in decades. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement (or SECURE) Act was originally passed by the House of Representatives last spring. It failed to pass the Senate then, but the legislation was included in the year-end spending bill that was passed on December 20, 2019.

The SECURE Act became effective on January 1, 2020, and it will inevitably affect many retirement savers, for better or worse. Here are a few of the most significant provisions that you should be aware of:

No more age restriction on traditional IRA contributions

Before the Secure Act, you could not make contributions to a traditional IRA for the year during which you reached age 70 1/2 or any later year. (There’s no age restriction on Roth IRA contributions, and the Secure Act does not change that.)

New law: For tax years beginning after 2019, the Secure Act repeals the age restriction on contributions to traditional IRAs. So, for tax years beginning in 2020 and beyond, you can make contributions after reaching age 70½. That’s the good news.

Key point: The deadline for making a contribution for your 2019 tax year is April 15, 2020, but you cannot make a contribution for 2019 if you were age 70 1/2 or older as of Dec. 31, 2019. Thanks to the new law, you can make contributions for tax year 2020 and beyond.

Side effect for IRA qualified charitable distributions

After reaching age 70 1/2, you can make qualified charitable contributions of up to $100,000 per year directly from your IRA(s). These contributions are called qualified charitable distributions, or QCDs. Effective for QCDs made in a tax year beginning after 2019, the $100,000 QCD limit for that year is reduced (but not below zero) by the aggregate amount of deductions allowed for prior tax years due to the aforementioned Secure Act change. In other words, deductible IRA contributions made for the year you reach age 70 1/2 and later years can reduce your annual QCD allowance.

You generally must begin taking annual required minimum distributions (RMDs) from tax-favored retirement accounts (traditional IRAs, SEP accounts, 401(k) accounts, and the like) and pay the resulting income tax hit. However, you need not take RMDs from any Roth IRA(s) set up in your name.

Before the Secure Act, the initial RMD was for the year you turned age 70 1/2. You could postpone taking that initial payout until as late as April 1 of the year after you reached the magic age. If you chose that option, however, you must take two RMDs in that year: one by the April 1 deadline (the RMD for the previous year) plus another by Dec. 31 (the RMD for the current year). For each subsequent year, you must take another RMD by Dec. 31. Under an exception, if you’re still working as an employee after reaching the magic age and you don’t own over 5% of the outfit that employs you, you can postpone taking RMDs from your employer’s plan(s) until after you’ve retired.

New law: The Secure Act increases the age after which you must begin taking RMDs from 70 1/2 to 72. But this favorable development only applies to folks who reach 70 1/2 after 2019. So, if you turned 70 1/2 in 2019 or earlier, you’re unaffected. But if you will turn 70 1/2 in 2020 or later, you won’t need to start taking RMDs until after attaining age 72. As under prior law, if you’re still working after reaching the magic age and you don’t own over 5% of the employer, you can postpone taking RMDs from your employer’s plan(s) until after you’ve retired.

Key point: If you turned 70 1/2 in 2019 and have not yet taken your initial RMD for that year, you must take that RMD, which is for the 2019 tax year, by no later than 4/1/20 or face a 50% penalty on the shortfall. You must then take your second RMD, which is for the 2020 tax year, by Dec. 31, 2020.

Now for the bad news

Stricter rules for post-death required minimum distributions curtail ‘Stretch IRAs’: The Secure Act requires most non-spouse IRA and retirement plan beneficiaries to drain inherited accounts within 10 years after the account owner’s death. This is a big anti-taxpayer change for financially comfortable folks who don’t need their IRA balances for their own retirement years but want to use those balances to set up a long-term tax-advantaged deal for their heirs.

Before the Secure Act, the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules allowed you as a non-spouse beneficiary to gradually drain the substantial IRA that you inherited from, say, your grandfather over your IRS-defined life expectancy.

For example, say you inherited Grandpa Dave’s $750,000 Roth IRA when you were 40 years old. The current IRS life expectancy table says you have 43.6 years to live. You must start taking annual RMDs from the inherited account by dividing the account balance as of the end of the previous year by your remaining life expectancy as of the end of the current year.

So, your first RMD would equal the account balance as of the previous year-end divided by 43.6, which would amount to only 2.3% of the balance. Your second RMD would equal the account balance as of the end of the following year divided by 42.6, which translates to only 2.35% of the balance. And so, on until you drain the inherited Roth account.

As you can see, the pre-Secure Act RMD regime allowed you to keep the inherited account open for many years and reap the tax advantages for those many years. With an IRA, this is called the “Stretch IRA” strategy. The Stretch IRA strategy is particularly advantageous for inherited Roth IRAs, because the income those accounts produce can grow and be withdrawn federal-income-tax-free. So, under the pre-Secure Act rules, a Stretch Roth IRA could give you some protection from future federal income tax rate increases for many years. That’s the upside.

Unfortunately, the Secure Act’s 10-year rule puts a damper on the Stretch IRA strategy. It can still work, but only in the limited circumstances when the 10-year rule does not apply (explained below). This development will have some well-off folks and their estate planning advisers scrambling for months (at least) to react. That’s especially true if you’ve set up a “conduit” or “pass-through” trust as the beneficiary of what you intended to be a Stretch IRA for your heirs.

Key point: According to the Congressional Research Service, the lid put on the Stretch IRA strategy by the new law has the potential to generate about $15.7 billion in tax revenue over the next decade.

Effective date: The Secure Act’s anti-taxpayer RMD change is generally effective for RMDs taken from accounts whose owners die after 2019. The RMD rules for accounts inherited from owners who died before 2020 are unchanged.

Who is affected?

The Secure Act’s anti-taxpayer RMD change will not affect account owners who drain their accounts during their retirement years. And account beneficiaries who want to quickly drain inherited accounts will be unaffected. The change will only affect certain non-spouse beneficiaries who want to keep inherited accounts open for as long as possible to reap the tax advantages. In other words, “rich” folks with lots of financial self-discipline.

The Secure Act’s anti-taxpayer RMD change also will not affect accounts inherited by a so-called eligible designated beneficiary. An eligible designated beneficiary is: (1) the surviving spouse of the deceased account owner, (2) a minor child of the deceased account owner, (3) a beneficiary who is no more than 10 years younger than the deceased account owner, or (4) a chronically-ill individual (as defined).

If your grandfather dies in 2020 or later, you can only keep the big Roth IRA that you inherit from him open for 10 years after his departure.

Under the exception for eligible designated beneficiaries, RMDs from the inherited account can generally be taken over the life or life expectancy of the eligible designated beneficiary, beginning with the year following the year of the account owner’s death. Same as before the Secure Act.

So, the Stretch IRA strategy can still work for an eligible designated beneficiary, such as an account owner’s much-younger spouse or recently born tot. Other non-spouse beneficiaries (such as an adult child, grandchild, niece or nephew) will get slammed by the new 10-year account liquidation requirement. So, if your grandfather dies in 2020 or later, you can only keep the big Roth IRA that you inherit from him open for 10 years after his departure. Bummer!

10-year rule specifics: When it applies, the new 10-year rule generally applies regardless of whether the account owner dies before or after his or her RMD required beginning date (RBD). Thanks to another Secure Act change explained earlier, the RMD rules do not kick in until age 72 for account owners who attain age 70 1/2 after 2019. So, the RBD for those folks will be April 1 of the year following the year they attain age 72.

Following the death of an eligible designated beneficiary, the account balance must be distributed within 10 years.

When an account owner’s child reaches the age of majority under applicable state law, the account balance must be distributed within 10 years after that date.

The bottom line: As you can see, the Secure Act includes both good and bad news for folks who don’t enjoy paying taxes. The new law includes more important tax changes that I’ve not covered here.

3 examples of new RMD rules for non-spousal retirement account beneficiaries

Example 1: David dies in 2020 and leaves his IRA to designated beneficiary Diane, his sister, who was born eight years after David. Diane is an eligible designated beneficiary. Therefore, the balance in the inherited IRA can be paid out over her life expectancy. If David dies before the account is exhausted, the remaining balance must be paid out within 10 years after her death.

Example 2: Diane dies in 2020 and leaves her IRA to designated beneficiary David, her brother, who was born 12 years after Diane. David is not an eligible designated beneficiary because he is more than 10 years younger than Diane. The balance in the inherited IRA must be paid out within 10 years after Diane’s death.

Example 3: Michael dies in 2020 at age 85. He lives his $2 million Roth IRA to his 24-year-old spouse Melissa. Since Melissa is an eligible designated beneficiary, the new 10-year rule does not apply to her. As a surviving spouse, she can retitle the inherited Roth account in her own name. Then she will not have to take any RMDs for as long as she lives. So, this is a situation where the Stretch IRA strategy still works well (although not quite as well as before the Secure Act for reasons that are too complicated to explain here).

Example 4: Michael dies on Dec. 15, 2019. He left his IRA to designated beneficiary Melissa, his beloved niece, who is 30 years younger than Michael. Because Michael died before 2020, the balance in the inherited IRA can be paid out over Melissa’s life expectancy under the pre-Secure Act RMD rules. If Melissa dies on or after 1/1/20, the balance in the IRA must be paid out to her designated beneficiary or beneficiaries or the heir(s) who inherit the account within 10 years after Melissa’s death.

If you think this is something you should consider, reach out to us to get your Free Retirement review to see how we can help you maximize your “401k” Federal Savings Plan in regards to using the New Secure Act.  Contact us or give us a call at (877) 733-3877 x 1 to schedule your review today!

4 Common Retirement Planning Mistakes Federal Employees Should Avoid

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Once you are done with your job responsibilities, you want to spend the remainder of your life, i.e. the retirement period relaxing, chilling, traveling around the world, or spending more time with your loved ones. If you are a federal employee and want to enjoy federal retirement benefits to the full, it’s important that you smartly and strategically plan your retirement. Mistakes committed during the process can cost big and lead to a financial crisis post-retirement. Here are a few mistakes that you should avoid to ensure a secure financial future- Read More

Retirement Claims Backlog Falls By Only 1.5 Percent Last Month

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After the annual spike in retirement claims submitted by federal employees at the beginning of the year, the Office of Personnel Management was only able to reduce its backlog by a few hundred claims last month.

The agency received 17,134 retirement claims in January, a huge increase compared to this time last year, when it received 13,264 claims, and the 9,273 it received in February.

Meanwhile, OPM processed 10,059 claims in January and 9,627 in February, bringing its backlog inventory to 23,629 by the end of February—only down from 23,983 in January, a reduction of 1.5%.

It took an average of 58 days to process a single claim in January and 54 days in February.

The figures come from OPM’s monthly claims processing progress report available on the OPM website.

If you think your ready for retirement, and would like a Free Retirement Review, visit our Contact Us page to Request and Schedule your review today or call (877) 733-3877

Budget Proposes Cutting and Simplifying Federal Employee Leave and More

By | Benefits, Federal Pay, Retirement | No Comments

The Trump administration this week revived a proposal to consolidate most of the categories of paid leave available to federal employees into one pool, and reduce the overall number of leave days available to them.

Currently, in addition to 10 paid federal holidays, federal workers receive up to 13 sick days annually, as well as anywhere from 13 to 26 vacation days, depending on their length of service. In the White House’s fiscal 2021 budget request, unveiled Monday, President Trump proposed creating a single consolidated category of leave from which employees can pull as needed.

Although the administration said the new system would be easier for employees to use and agencies to manage, it noted that the total number of days available to federal workers would decrease, although it did not say by how much. The plan would require the passage of legislation by Congress.

“The 2021 budget proposes to transition the existing civilian leave system to a model used in the private sector to grant employees maximum flexibility by combining all leave into one paid time off category,” budget documents stated. “While the total leave days would be reduced, the proposal adds a short term disability insurance policy to protect employees.”

The administration did not expand on what this new “insurance policy” would look like.

The consolidated leave system would remain separate from the newly enacted paid parental leave program, which provides new parents up to 12 weeks of paid leave after the birth, adoption or foster placement of a new child. Signed into law as part of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, this new benefit will be implemented by Oct. 1.

The proposal appeared verbatim in the Trump administration’s fiscal 2020 budget proposal, but lawmakers elected not to include it either in their spending bills or in separate legislation.

Meanwhile, the Office of Personnel Management on Monday issued its annual call to federal health insurers to send their benefit and rate proposals for next year’s Federal Employees Health Benefits Program enrollment period. The agency asked insurance companies to focus both on plan quality and affordability, as well as to address a number of trending issues in medical care.

Additionally, OPM asked insurers to identify so-called “low-value care” that will no longer be covered, specifically procedures like unnecessary diagnostic testing. The agency also asked companies to highlight how to improve both the quality and utilization of tobacco cessation benefits.

This is just another area where the Government wants to take more benefits from you the employee.  If you would like to know more, or would like to have a Retirement consultation, please let us know.  You can Contact Us and schedule your review here.