King & Wood, P.A.

Don’t Leave Grandchildren a Tax Bill

“It is becoming harder for older Americans to leave retirement savings to their grandchildren without sticking them with a big tax bill.”

Changes in tax laws have made estate planning a top priority when it comes to leaving retirement savings accounts to heirs, says a recent article from The Wall Street Journal, “How to Leave Grandkids Your Retirement Savings—and Not a Huge Tax Bill.”

Heirs who are not spouses have to empty inherited retirement accounts within 10 years of the death of the original owners, with few exceptions. Before the law changed in 2020, heirs had decades to do this, enjoying tax-free growth.

For many families, these changes require drawing up new trusts and changing estate plans to maximize the family’s after-tax wealth. Some also make a series of Roth conversions or significant generation-skipping lifetime gifts.

How much is at stake? Americans held $12.5 trillion in IRAs as of March 31, and about half of households headed by someone 65 and older have an IRA.

A gradual conversion from traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs makes sense for many, so children and grandchildren can inherit the money tax-free. The taxes are being paid upfront. Once the money is in the Roth, it grows tax-free, and heirs can take it out tax-free when they inherit.

If the inheritance occurs during the grandchildren’s or parents’ highest earning years, they can cause a massive tax bill. Minor grandchildren might need to file a tax return to report the IRA payout, and the income could be taxed at the parent’s rate.

For many grandparents, the solution is to make lifetime gifts to grandchildren as soon as they are born, from paying for diapers and preschool to setting up 529 college savings plans and having trusts created and funded to save estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes.

Leaving an IRA outright to grandchildren, even with the ten-year payout period, is usually not a good idea. They may see the inheritance as a windfall and go through it quickly. Having conversations about your intention for their use of the money is a good idea. However, it’s not legally binding.

Inherited IRAs also come with administrative headaches. You can’t convert an inherited traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, add money to an inherited IRA, or combine an inherited IRA with your own IRA.

Leaving an IRA in a trust may seem complicated. However, it's a worthwhile move if there are concerns about how parents or grandchildren might handle an inheritance. A trustee would distribute the money based on the terms set in the trust. This prevents the scenario of a young adult inheriting more money than they’ll know what to do with.

Your estate planning attorney will be able to help your family minimize the tax impact of inheritance with a comprehensive plan.

Reference: The Wall Street Journal (July 9, 2023) “How to Leave Grandkids Your Retirement Savings—and Not a Huge Tax Bill”

Prepare Now for Coming Estate Tax Changes

“One of the most significant changes Americans will soon see is the sunsetting of tax laws under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017.”

The TCJA nearly doubled the lifetime estate and gift tax exemption from $5.6 million for individuals (and $11.18 million for married couples) to $11.18 million and $22.36 million for married couples), indexed for inflation after 2018. Right now, the exemption stands at $12.92 million per person and $22.84 million for couples, as reported in a recent article, “How To Prepare Clients Now For Looming Estate Tax Changes” from Financial Advisor.

All this changes on January 1, 2026, resulting in a roughly 50% reduction over the next few years. Individuals could see their federal estate tax exemption dipping to approximately $7 million, while couples could see a decrease to $14 million.

In anticipation of this drastic change, estate planning attorneys are reviewing plans now with clients to implement an appropriate course of action in less than three years. This is especially important for clients who might not have been impacted by estate tax laws in the past but who will be in 2026 because of a combination of the lowered amount and any growth in their assets.

Here are some strategies for preparing for the new lowered levels:

Review the complete estate plan with an estate planning attorney. Without a proper estate plan, it’s easy to lose sight of the value of all assets and may be entirely in the dark concerning estate tax liabilities. For instance, a boomer who hasn’t reviewed their estate plan in twenty years could see an enormous change in the size of their assets, possibly bringing them across the $7 million estate tax exemption threshold. Failing to address this could risk financial security in retirement and significantly impact their heirs.

Create a strategy with the information you have now. First, review your estate plan with an eye to moving assets out of the estate. You should then consider the overall goals and time horizons to determine the best way forward. There are several optimal strategies, including using annual gift tax exclusion, which as of 2023, is up to $17,000 per person.

The use of trusts is a well-known facet of estate planning. Which type of trust is used depends upon your specific situation. Trusts generate income and protect access to assets used for living expenses, reduce taxation on the estate, protect assets from creditors and keep a family’s financial assets and affairs private upon death.

Other strategies to consider:

Allocating assets to a 529 education plan, allows you to put money aside for the education of loved ones. It can be used for education from kindergarten to college, graduate coursework and more. There is also an option of accelerating gifting by giving up to five years of contributions in one year per individual.

Suppose you wish to pass assets to grandchildren, instead of gifting them during their lifetimes. Consider generation-skipping trusts, which allow you to create a separate fund for grandchildren under age 37.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to estate planning. However, a discussion with your estate planning attorney will clarify your wishes and allow you to plan for the future.

Reference: Financial Advisor (May 8, 2023) “How To Prepare Clients Now For Looming Estate Tax Changes”

What Strategies Minimize Estate Taxes?

“With 2022 bringing very little change to trust and estate law, 2023 remains a prime opportunity to take advantage of the favorable tax landscape.”

The gift and estate tax benefits from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) are still in effect. However, many provisions will sunset at the end of 2025, according to a recent article “Trust and estate planning strategies” from Crain’s New York Business.

The most important aspect for estate planning was the doubling of the estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions. Adjusted for inflation, the current federal estate, gift and GST exclusion is $12.92 million in 2023. This is more than double the pre-TCJA amount, which will return in 2026, unless Congress makes any changes.

While these levels are in effect, there are strategies to consider.

• Maximize gifting up to the 2023 annual exclusion of $17,000 per taxpayer, or $34,000 for married couples.
• Depending on the value of the entire estate, consider strategies to keep it below the current exemption among of $12.92 million or $25.84 (married). If the estate is less than the exemption amount, no federal estate tax will need to be paid.
• Plan charitable giving, including charitable IRA rollovers to make the most of the deduction on 2023 income tax returns. Qualified charitable distributions made directly from an IRA could be used to satisfy Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) and exclude them from taxable income.
• Set up 529 Plan accounts for children and/or grandchildren and consider making five years of annual exclusion gifts. Take into account any gifts made during the year to children and/or grandchildren when doing this.
• Submit tuition or any non-reimbursable medical expenses directly to the school or medical provider to avoid having these amounts count towards the annual or lifetime gift tax exemption.
• Discuss the use of a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT), an irrevocable trust created for a certain period of time. Assets are placed in the trust and an annuity is paid out every year. When the trust expires and the last annuity payment is made, assets pass to beneficiaries outright or remain in a trust for beneficiaries.
• Ask your estate planning attorney if a Qualified Personal Residence Trust is a good fit for you. This is an irrevocable trust allowing homeowners to transfer their home at a significantly discounted rate.
• Explore intrafamily lending, which is used to transfer partial earnings to family members without lowering the lifetime estate tax exemption or triggering gift taxes.
• Re-evaluate insurance coverage, which can provide opportunities to defer or avoid income taxes, or both, and provide assets to pay estate taxes or replace assets used to pay estate taxes.

Not all of these steps will be appropriate for everyone. However, understanding the options and discussing with your estate planning attorney will ensure that you are using the most effective strategies to achieve wealth preservation.

Reference: Crain’s New York Business (Feb. 13, 2023) “Trust and estate planning strategies”

Can a 529 Plan Help with Estate Planning?

“You can set up a 529 savings plan account for any beneficiary. You can also set up accounts for as many beneficiaries as you want.”

Parents and grandparents use 529 education savings plans to help with the cost of college expenses. However, they are also a good tool for estate planning, according to a recent article, “Reap The Recently-Created Planning Advantages Of 529 Plans” from Forbes.

There’s no federal income tax deduction for contributions to a 529 account. However, 35 states provide a state income tax benefit—a credit or deduction—for contributions, as long as the account is in the state’s plan. Six of those 35 states provide income tax benefits for contributions to any 529 plan, regardless of the state it’s based in.

Contributions also receive federal estate and gift tax benefits. A contribution qualifies for the annual gift tax exclusion, which is $16,000 per beneficiary for gifts made in 2022. Making a contribution up to this amount avoids gift taxes and, even better, doesn’t reduce your lifetime estate and gift tax exemption amount.

Benefits don’t stop there. If it works with the rest of your estate and tax planning, in one year, you can use up to five years’ worth of annual gift tax exclusions with 529 contributions. You may contribute up to $80,000 per beneficiary without triggering gift taxes or reducing your lifetime exemption.

You can, of course, make smaller amounts without incurring gift taxes. However, if this size gift works with your estate plan, you can choose to use the annual exclusion for a grandchild for the next five years. Making this move can remove a significant amount from your estate for federal estate tax purposes.

While the money is out of your estate, you still maintain some control over it. You choose among the investment options offered by the 529 plan. You also have the ability to change the beneficiary of the account to another family member or even to yourself, if it will be used for qualified educational purposes.

The money can be withdrawn from a 529 account if it is needed or if it becomes clear the beneficiary won’t use it for educational purposes. The accumulated income and gains will be taxed and subject to a 10% penalty but the original contribution is not taxed or penalized. It may be better to change the beneficiary if another family member is more likely to need it.

As long as they remain in the account, investment income and gains earned compound tax free. Distributions are also tax free, as long as they are used to pay for qualified education expenses.

In recent years, the definition of qualified educational expenses has changed. When these accounts were first created, many did not permit money to be spent on computers and internet fees. Today, they can be used for computers, room, and board, required books and supplies, tuition and most fees.

The most recent expansion is that 529 accounts can be used to pay for a certain amount of student debt. However, if it is used to pay interest on a loan, the interest is not tax deductible.

Finally, a 2021 law made it possible for a grandparent to set up a 529 account for a grandchild and distributions from the 529 account are not counted as income to the grandchild. This is important when students are applying for financial aid; before this law changed, the funds in the 529 accounts would reduce the student’s likelihood of getting financial aid.

Two factors to consider: which state’s 529 is most advantageous to you and how it can be used as part of your estate plan.

Reference: Forbes (Oct. 27, 2022) “Reap The Recently-Created Planning Advantages Of 529 Plans”

What Do Your Kids Want to Inherit?

“While it might seem too soon to think about this uncomfortable topic, it’s still something that needs to be carefully planned to make everyone’s life a little easier as they handle the grief of losing a loved one.”

Nearly everyone needs a will, also known as a last will and testament, to list all properties and assets and how they should be distributed postmortem. While the decisions are all yours, it’s helpful to know what personal possessions your children may or may not want to receive as part of their inheritance, as explained in the article “12 Things Your Kids Actually Might Want to Inherit” from Entrepreneur.

Making a list of things you want your children to inherit will save a lot of time, especially if you have a lot of possessions you want to give to them. You might think they want your collection of fine china and glassware, silverware and Grandma Helen’s sculptures. However, you might be wrong.

Wanting your children to have these items so they stay in the family isn’t wrong. However, it’s more than likely they’ll be donated after you die. If you want to make your children’s lives a little easier, here are twelve things they actually might want:

Cash money. Cash is the ideal asset, since it can be easily divided. Cash also provides an easy way to give your children a chance to invest in stocks or real estate or a means of starting a business.

Annuities. An inherited annuity has several advantages, including tax benefits, especially if they are non-qualified annuities paid for with after-tax dollars. By annuitizing an annuity, heirs may convert it into a steady and dependable income stream to help cover living expenses. They can choose to do this for a pre-defined period of time or for life, if the original annuity contract was created as a multi-life annuity.

Recipes. There are any number of ways to create a cookbook, from a simple bound folder to a hard-cover book likely to be shared and talked about, bringing warm memories to all.

Family Photos. Whether you take the time to organize them or not, videos and photos are your family’s history. Keep them in a water-proof bin and protect them for the future generations, until you’re ready to hand them over.

Trusts. Trusts are not just for wealthy people. Trusts are an all-purpose tool for passing assets across generations, controlling how they are used and minimizing estate tax liability. A trust is a legal entity to hold a variety of assets. A trust allows you to set down what you want done with the money, from paying for college to buying a first home. You name a trustee who is in charge of managing the trust and making sure your wishes are followed.

Furniture. Today’s young adult is more likely to want authentic furniture with family history than the latest knockdown furniture from Ikea. They also know how expensive good furniture is and may welcome saving money when furnishing their first home.

Vinyl Records. While collectors may value pristine records, the albums you listened to with scratches and skips will be prized by younger listeners. They evoke happy memories and hold sentimental value.

Life Insurance. If you want to leave money for your family but worry about the impact of taxes, life insurance is a good option. Your estate planning attorney will be able to explain who the beneficiary should be, or if you need to set up a trust to benefit your children.

Real Estate. Real estate is a strong investment with a track record of growth. Keeping a vacation home in the family for future generations requires extra planning. For many families, even a simple cabin by the lake is a touchstone of family history.

A Business. Family-owned businesses are often passed to the next generation. An established business has value up front and, if all is well with the business, provides income. A succession plan will be needed. Be realistic: if your children have never set foot in your office or expressed interest in the business, selling it may be a better move.

Investment Accounts. Stocks, bonds or other investment accounts can be gifted to children while you are living or after you die. Like cash, this asset is easily divided and relatively easy to give.

Education Funds. You can start a College Savings Account 529 for individual children when they are born or open one at any time to help with college expenses. Having financial help for college could be the difference between the burden of college loans or being able to explore different careers without the constant worry that a six-figure debt brings.

Your estate planning attorney will be able to explore all of the different ways to transfer wealth to the next generation while you are living and after you pass.

Reference: Entrepreneur (Oct. 30, 2022) “12 Things Your Kids Actually Might Want to Inherit”

Are 529 Plans Part of Your Estate?

“People tend to think of ‘529’ education-savings plans as an excellent way to save and invest tax-free for college or schooling costs, and they are.”

Estate planning attorneys, accountants and CPAs say that 529s are more than good ways to save for college. They’re also highly flexible estate planning tools, useful far beyond education spending, that cost practically nothing to set up. In the very near future, the role of 529s could expand greatly, according to the article “A Loophole Makes ‘529’ Plans Good Wealth Transfer Tools. Here’s How to Use Them” from Barron’s.

Most tactics to reduce the size of an estate are irrevocable and cannot be undone, but the 529 allows you to change the beneficiaries of a 529 account. Even the owners can be changed multiple times. Here’s how they work, and why they deserve more attention.

The 529 is funded with after tax dollars, and all money taken out of the account, including investment gains, is tax fre,e as long as it is spent on qualified education expenses. That includes tuition, room and board and books. What about money used for non-qualified expenses? Income taxes are due, plus a 10% penalty. Only the original contribution is not taxed, if used for non-qualified expenses.

Most states have their own 529 plans, but you can use a plan from any state. Check to see if there are tax advantages from using your state’s plan and know the details before you open an account and start making contributions.

Each 529 account owner must designate a single beneficiary, but money can be moved between beneficiaries, as long as they are in the same family. You can move money that was in a child’s account into their own child’s account, with no taxes, as long as you don’t hit gift tax exclusion levels.

In most states, you can contribute up to $15,000 per beneficiary to a 529 plan. However, each account owner can also pay up to five years’ worth of contributions without triggering gift taxes. A couple together may contribute up to $150,000 per beneficiary, and they can do it for multiple people.

There are no limits to the number of 529s a person may own. If you’re blessed with ten grandchildren, you can open a 529 account for each one of them.

For one family with eight grandchildren, plus one child in graduate school, contributions were made of $1.35 million to various 529 plans. By doing this, their estate, valued at $13 million, was reduced below the federal tax exclusion limit of $11.7 million per person.

Think of the money as a family education endowment. If it’s needed for a crisis, it can be accessed, even though taxes will need to be paid.

To create a 529 that will last for multiple generations, provisions need to be made to transfer ownership. Funding 529 plans for grandchildren’s education must be accompanied by designating their parents—the adult children—as successor owners, when the grandparents die or become incapacitated.

The use of 529s has changed over the years. Originally only for college tuition, room and board, today they can be used for private elementary school or high school. They can also be used to take cooking classes, language classes or career training at accredited institutions. Be mindful that some expenses will not qualify—including transportation costs, healthcare and personal expenses.

Reference: Barron’s (May 29, 2021) “A Loophole Makes ‘529’ Plans Good Wealth Transfer Tools. Here’s How to Use Them”

The SECURE Act and Your Retirement

“While most of us had stockings and menorahs on our minds, President Trump on Dec. 20 signed the Secure Act that makes the most significant changes in retirement accounts we’ve seen in years.”

For anyone who has saved a high six- or seven-figure balance in their retirement accounts, the SECURE Act will definitely affect their retirement plans. That includes 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and other workplace plans, as well as traditional IRAs and Roth IRA accounts. The article “How the new Secure Act affects your retirement” from the Daily Camera provides a clear picture of the changes.

Stretch IRAs are Curtailed. Anyone who inherited an IRA (traditional or Roth) from a parent before 2020, may take Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from those accounts over their own life expectancy. Let’s say a parent died when you were 48—you could stretch those distributions out over the course of 36 years. This option gave heirs the ability to spread income and the taxes that come with the income out over decades—with little distributions having little impact on taxes. If you inherited a Roth IRA, you could benefit from its tax-free growth over your entire lifetime.

All that’s changed now. A non-spousal heir (or one who is disabled, chronically ill or a minor child) now has ten years in which to take their distributions. They have to pay ordinary income taxes on the amount they take out, over a far shorter period of time. Newly inherited Roth IRAs have the same rules, but usually there are no taxes due. If a minor inherits an IRA, once they reach the age of majority, they have ten years in which to take their distributions.

A Small Break for Required IRA Distributions. Until the SECURE Act, retirees had to start taking their RMDs out of IRAs soon after turning 70½. The new age for taking RMDs is now 72 for those who are younger than age 70½ at the end of 2019. This won’t alter the plans of most retirees, since they usually start taking those distributions well before age 72 to cover expenses. Roth IRAs have another benefit: they continue to escape distribution requirements, unless they are inherited.

No Age Cap for Traditional IRA Contributions. Workers may now continue to contribute funds into a traditional IRA at any age. Before the SECURE Act, workers had to stop contributing funds once they turned 70½. Note that you or your spouse are still required to have earned income to put funds in a traditional or Roth IRA.

Other Changes. There are many more changes from the SECURE Act and thought leaders in the estate planning community will be reviewing and analyzing the law for months, or perhaps years, to come. Some of the changes that are widely recognized already include the ability to withdraw $5,000 penalty-free from retirement plan accounts per newly born or adopted child, although in most cases, income tax will need to be paid on the withdrawal.

Section 529 educational savings accounts can be used, up to a lifetime limit of $10,000 per student, to pay off student loans. In most states, this will be considered a non-qualified withdrawal and state income taxes will be due, but at least the money can be used for this purpose.

Lastly, there are new tax credits available to smaller companies that set up new retirement plans, and there are new rules regarding including part-time employees in company sponsored 401(k) plans.

The changes from the SECURE Act, particularly regarding the loss of the IRA Stretch, have created a need for people to review their estate plans, if they included leaving large retirement accounts to their children. Speak with your estate planning attorney to ensure that your plan still works.

Reference: Daily Camera (Jan. 11, 2020) “How the new Secure Act affects your retirement”

 

SECURE Act Means It’s Time for an Estate Plan Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

SECURE Act Means It’s Time for an Estate Plan Review

“Congress passed an important retirement-savings law called Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement, or the SECURE Act of 2019.”

The most significant legislation affecting retirement was signed into law on Friday, Dec. 20, 2019. After stalling for months, Congress suddenly passed several bills, as attachments to budget appropriations, as reported by Advisor News’ article “SECURE Act, Signed by Trump, A Game-Changer For Retirement Plans.”

Here are some of the key points that retirees and those planning their retirements need to know:

Changes to Age Limits for IRA and 401(k) Accounts. The age for taking Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) has increased from 70½ to 72 years. Adding a year and a half for investors to put away money for retirement gives a little more time to prepare for longer lifespans. The change recognizes the prior limits were arbitrary, and that Americans need to save more.

However, the SECURE Act also brought about the demise of the “stretch” IRA. Americans who inherit an IRA must now withdraw the money within 10 years of the account owner’s death, along with paying taxes. Surviving spouses and minor children are still exempt. The exempt heirs can still spend down inherited IRA accounts over their lifetime, which is an estate planning strategy known as the “stretch.”

Small Business 401(k)s. The SECURE Act expands access to Multiple Employer Plans, known as MEPs, so that employers can pool resources and share the costs of retirement plans for employees. This will cut administration and management costs and ideally, will allow more small businesses to offer higher-quality plans available to their employees.

The law also enhances automatic enrollment and auto-escalation, letting companies automatically enroll employees into a retirement plan at a rate of 6%, instead of 3%. Employers can now raise employee contributions to a maximum of 15% of their annual pay, although workers can opt out of these plans at any time.

Annuities Options. The SECURE Act now allows 401(k) plans to offer annuities as a retirement plan option. Experts have mixed opinions on this. Annuities are a type of life insurance that convert retirement savings into lifetime income. However, fees are often high, and if the insurance company closes its doors, those lifetime income payments may vanish. Under the new law, employers also have what’s called a “safe harbor” from being sued, if annuity providers go out of business or stop making payments to annuity purchasers. Being freed from liability may make employers more likely to offer annuities, but that may put 401(k) investors at more risk, say consumer advocates.

529 Plans and Saving for Children. The new law expands 529 accounts to cover many more types of education, from registered apprenticeships, homeschooling, private elementary, secondary or religious schools. Up to $10,000 can be used for qualified student loan repayments, including for siblings.

Reference: Advisor News (December 23, 2019) “SECURE Act, Signed by Trump, A Game-Changer For Retirement Plans”

How Should I Prepare for My Child’s Future?

 

“A recent survey by TD Ameritrade made headlines, with its finding that 1 in 5 young Americans (Generation Z, defined by the researchers as ages 15-21, and young millennials, ages 22-28) may opt out of college. A deeper look shows that much of what drives that thinking, is the price and debt that come with it.”

It’s been a common path for millennials and their predecessors to go to a four-year college and get a job. If they were short on funds, they’d take out some loans. However, there have been some signals that this norm is changing.

With worries about a student debt crisis and with the experience of recent graduates, new college-age students are increasingly turning to alternatives to the established route to create their own debt-free future.

Kiplinger’s recent article entitled “How to Stay Flexible in Saving for Your Child's Future” says that student debt is leading to obstacles, when it comes to achieving major milestones of financial freedom. Of the young millennials surveyed, nearly half (47%) said they delayed purchasing a home because of  their debt, 40% delayed saving for retirement and 31% waited to move out of their parents’ home. A total of 28% of parents said they delayed saving for their own retirement, to pay for their children’s education.

Saving for a child’s future now looks different than when these 18-year-olds were born.  It certainly will be the case, when they leave the nest. As a result, it’s critical for parents to try to give them help, by learning how to adapt to the changing times.

With the gig economy and digitally enabled side jobs, parents have more flexibility to maintain their financial goals, while preserving their personal lives.

When considering flexibility, especially when saving for a child’s education, it’s actually one of the big benefits of a 529 plan. Although you’re responsible if you make a withdrawal that isn’t for a qualified education expense, the penalties aren’t too steep. Federal income tax is imposed on the plan’s growth, plus a 10% penalty on the growth. Therefore, depending on the amount withdrawn, the penalty may be very little.

Nonetheless, the tax penalties may worry parents enough that even when their goal is to save for their child’s education, they want to spread their savings into multiple accounts. This has some clear advantages, when the child decides not to go to college after high school. The good news is that there are plenty of options to account for both possibilities.

• Other investment accounts: You could also create a brokerage account with money earmarked for a child. This gives parents complete flexibility in how the money is used. The money can be used for expenses other than education, but the downside is not having the tax benefits of the 529 plan (tax deferral and potential tax-free growth).
• Trusts: a trust allows parents to keep complete control over the funds and lets parents provide instructions to the trustee, on how the trust can be used.
• Custodial accounts: These accounts are managed by a guardian (or custodian), until the child is an adult. These accounts are pretty easy to set up but don’t have the restrictions that can be placed on trust funds.

The digital world has changed everything, including how we plan for our children and their future. Be flexible and make your plans accordingly.

Reference: Kiplinger (Dec. 27, 2019) “How to Stay Flexible in Saving for Your Child's Future”

 

Should I Name a Minor as an IRA Beneficiary?

“IRAs provide better opportunities for long-term growth than other assets you could leave to a minor.”

People often leave assets to minors, but is making a minor an IRA beneficiary a really bright idea?

There are many ways to give assets to those for whom you want to leave a legacy. You can leave tangible assets. However, the age of the person to whom you leave the gift will frequently decide the form of, and the conditions under which, they receive the property. Let’s look at some of the advantages and potential negatives of leaving an IRA to a minor.

Investopedia’s recent article, “Designating a Minor as an IRA Beneficiary,” explains that there are several reasons why someone might want to give an IRA to a beneficiary who is not yet an adult. One of the most obvious is that IRAs can provide much greater flexibility and potential for long-term growth than, for example, savings bonds. IRAs also don’t have to be used for higher education or any other specific purpose in order to avoid taxation. Young beneficiaries also get the benefit of a lower required minimum distribution (RMD) over their lifetimes, as the beneficiary’s life expectancy is used when calculating their RMDs.

For example, if you died and left $100,000 of IRA money to a one-year-old granddaughter this year, her current life expectancy would be 81.6 years. Assuming that the funds in the account grow at 8% to 10% per year, she could withdraw several million dollars from the account during her lifetime. If the money were in a Roth IRA, she’d probably also save at least a million dollars in taxes.

If you leave an IRA to a minor, there must be an appointment of a guardian to manage the account, until the child reaches adulthood. Minors can’t own legal property of any kind in their name. Instead, you can appoint a guardian to manage the property on their behalf, until they reach the age of majority (18 or 21, depending on the state). If you do not do this, the court will appoint one for you—and that could be a person who may have very different thoughts about how the account should be managed and invested.

The law prohibits IRA custodians from dealing directly with minors in any capacity. A will doesn’t solve the problem because wills only deal with probate assets, and IRAs are exempt from probate. The minor’s parents or another relative can petition the court for guardianship, if you fail to make an appointment. However, this can be expensive, time-consuming and really unnecessary.

There are a couple of different ways that your beneficiary can receive the IRA. One option is to put the distributions inside a custodial account, like an UGMA or UTMA account. However, there could be adverse tax consequences for the minor’s parents (or whoever claims the minor as a dependent on a tax return) if the minor’s income is above a certain threshold. That’s because the parent or guardian must pay tax on the excess at their top marginal tax rate. This also gives the minor sole custody of the property at the age of majority, but she may not be prepared at that time to handle a large sum of money.

Another possibility is to put the money into a 529 plan. This will let the assets grow tax free, until they’re used to pay for qualified higher education expenses.

A more comprehensive solution may be to use a revocable living trust as the beneficiary for the IRA. The minor is named the beneficiary for the trust, and the guardian would be appointed as the trustee. A big benefit of a trust is that you can provide specific instructions as to how you want the guardian to handle the IRA distributions for the minor.

There are several available options, so talk with an experienced estate planning attorney about what makes the most sense for you and your family.

Reference: Investopedia (September 7, 2019) “Designating a Minor as an IRA Beneficiary”