DISTRIBUTIONS OVER BENEFICIARY LIFE EXPECTANCY
01.Core Concepts
• Recalculate • Only available to the spousal beneficiary • Using the life expectancy factor for the current distribution year • Reduce by one • Non-spouse beneficiary • Uses the life expectancy factor for the distribution year following the year of the plan participant / account owner’s death • Subtract one each year for the following years’ distributions. BENEFICIARY DISTRIBUTION FOR A SPOUSE (RECALCULATE) VS. NON-SPOUSE (REDUCE BY ONE) BENEFICIARY Summary from Example 17.1 Mona and Monique are twin sisters who were age 75 when Mona’s spouse, Micah, died at age 76 in 2025. Micah owned two IRAs, IRA 1 and IRA 2, each with a value of $200,000 when he died. Mona is the beneficiary of IRA 1 and Monique is the beneficiary of IRA 2. In 2026, the year following the year of Micah’s death, Mona and Monique each roll the funds to an inherited IRA to distribute over their lifetime. Using the Single Life Table for each of them, their factor is 14.1 years in 2026.