King & Wood, P.A.

Using Retirement Funds in a Financial Crisis

“U.S. has been making it easier for people to access long-term savings for emergencies, trading future financial security to stay afloat.”

For generations, the tax code has been a public policy tool, used to encourage people to save for retirement and what used to be called “old age.” However, the coronavirus pandemic has created financial emergencies for so many households that lawmakers have responded by making it easier to tap these accounts. The article “Should You Tap Retirement Funds in a Crisis? Increasingly, People Say Yes” from The Wall Street Journal asks if this is really a good idea.

This shift in thinking actually coincides with trends that began to emerge before the last recession. People were living and working longer. Unemployment and career changes later in life were becoming more commonplace, and fewer and fewer people devoted four decades to working for a single employer, before retiring with an employer-funded pension.

For those who have been affected by the economic downturns of the coronavirus, withdrawals up to $100,000 from retirement savings accounts are now allowed, with no early-withdrawal penalty. That includes IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts) or employment-linked 401(k) plans. In addition, $100,000 may be borrowed from 401(k) plans.

Americans are not alone in this. Australia and Malaysia are also allowing citizens to take money from retirement accounts.

Lawmakers are hoping that putting money into pockets now may help households prevent foreclosures, evictions and bankruptcies, with less of an impact on government spending. With trillions in retirement accounts in the U.S., these accounts are where legislators frequently look when resources are threatened.

However, there’s a tradeoff. If you take out money from accounts that have lost value because of the market’s volatility, those losses are not likely to be recouped. And if money is taken out and not replaced when the world returns to work, there will be less money during retirement. Not only will you miss out on the money you took out, but on the return, it might have made through years of tax-advantaged investments.

The danger is that if retirement accounts are widely seen as accessible and necessary now, a return to saving for retirement or the possibility of putting money back into these accounts when the economy returns to normal may not happen.

IRA and 401(k) accounts began to supplant pensions in the 1970s as a way to encourage people to save for retirement, by deferring income tax on money that was saved. By the end of 2019, IRAs and 401(k) types of accounts held about $20 trillion in the US.

Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research has estimated that even before the coronavirus, early withdrawals were reducing retirement accounts by a quarter over 30 years, taking into account the lost returns on savings that were no longer in the accounts. For many people, taking retirement funds now may be their only choice, but the risk to their financial future and retirement is very real.

Reference: The Wall Street Journal (June 4, 2020) “Should You Tap Retirement Funds in a Crisis? Increasingly, People Say Yes”

 

How a Charitable Remainder Trust Works

 

“The most well-known ‘death’ tax is the Federal Estate and Gift Tax. However, the reality is that few people really have to worry about the cost of federal estate taxes.”

The least popular beneficiary is almost always the federal government. Most people are concerned that their estate will need to pay taxes and do what they can through estate planning to keep federal estate tax liability to a minimum. However, with federal estate and gift tax exemptions at $11.58 million per person this year, and twice that when properly used with the spousal exemption, most people don’t need to worry about the federal estate tax, explains The News Enterprise in the article “New federal law resurrects Charitable Remainder Trust.”

The passage of the SECURE Act, effective January 1, 2020, made big changes in how we need to plan for taxes for beneficiaries. Federal estate and gift tax exemptions did not change, but anyone who inherits a retirement account is likely to find fewer options than before the SECURE Act.

Charitable remainder trusts have been used for many years to avoid high capital gains taxes on appreciated assets. Appreciated assets are placed into trusts and no taxes are due on the transfer.  The donor also gets a charitable tax deduction. The amount in the trust grows, while paying out a small amount to beneficiaries in installment payments.

With the passage of the SECURE Act, non-spousal beneficiaries, with certain exceptions, must withdraw the entire amount of the qualified retirement account within ten years. Generally, beneficiaries may not roll the account into their own qualified account, and there are no required annual distributions. However, there’s a ten-year window to empty the account. Taxes are due on every withdrawal, whether it takes place over ten years or as a single withdrawal.

By using a CRT, the full amount of the account may be transferred into the CRT, no taxes are due, and the donor (or the donor’s estate) gets a charitable deduction.

The trust is simply an instrument created, so that a beneficiary may receive regular payments, which may include the donor, beneficiaries or multiple beneficiaries, over the span of their lives, or in a set number of years, with the remainder interest of at least ten percent of the initial contribution paid to a qualified charity at the end of the trust.

This effectively creates a stretch for the IRA, with withdrawals being taxed to the beneficiary, over a longer time span. With only ten percent being required to be donated to a charity, those who plan on making a donation to a charity anyway receive a benefit, and their beneficiaries can receive a lifetime income stream.

Speak with your estate planning attorney to learn how a CRT could be part of your estate plan.

Reference: The News Enterprise (June 2, 2020) “New federal law resurrects Charitable Remainder Trust”

 

Retirement Fund Withdrawals Can Affect Social Security Benefits

“Social Security provides a guaranteed source of income in retirement, but what many don't realize is that you're not guaranteed to keep it all.”

Coordinating income in retirement takes a bit more thought than just collecting a paycheck. Take too much from Peter, you’ll end up paying Paul. Some retirees end up owing taxes on their Social Security benefits. If you want to avoid this scenario, master the details as explained in the article “Will My Retirement Fund Withdrawals Affect My Social Security Benefits?” from The Motley Fool.

It all depends upon your income. This is defined as your adjusted gross income, or AGI, plus nontaxable interest plus half of your annual Social Security benefits. The AGI is a person’s income for the year, minus certain tax deductions, like self-employment taxes and contributions to tax-deferred retirement accounts. Withdrawals taken from traditional IRAs or most 401(k)s, which are tax-deferred retirement accounts, do count towards the AGI. However, Roth retirement account withdrawals do not. The only nontaxable interest in your combined income calculation would be tax-exempt bond funds.

For example, a single person with an AGI of $20,000 with $1,000 in non-taxable interest and a $12,000 annual Social Security benefit would have a combined income of $27,000 ($20,000 plus $1,000 plus $6,000 totals $27,000).

Single taxpayers with a combined income of more than $25,000 and married couples filing jointly with a combined income of more than $32,000 could pay taxes on as much as 50% of their Social Security benefits. Single adults with a combined income greater than $24,000 and married couples filing jointly with a combined income greater than $44,000 could owe taxes on as much as 85% of their benefits.

But wait—here’s a detail you need to know. Because you could owe taxes on 50% or 85% of your benefits does not mean you’ll actually pay this much. There’s a Social Security benefit tax formula that will help you understand how this works. Your estate planning attorney or your accountant can help you figure out how this might impact your retirement finances.

Can you avoid these taxes? With the right plan, maybe. Most retiree’s sole source of income is Social Security and withdrawals from retirement accounts. Being smart with those withdrawals, can reduce the likelihood of owing taxes on Social Security benefits.

If you know that you are approaching one of the Social Security threshholds, try to avoid withdrawing more money from tax-deferred retirement accounts. If you have Roth accounts, try to live from them, because they don’t impact your tax status. Another alternative is to pinch pennies for a while, or simply take the plunge and pay the taxes.

Delaying Social Security benefits as long as you can, up to age 70, is another way to reduce the likelihood of owning taxes on benefits. Yes, you can start taking Social Security at age 62, but you must wait to claim your full benefits until you reach your full retirement age. If you start taking benefits early, you’ll get less than your full benefit, and that smaller amount will be permanent.

You can’t pay taxes on benefits that you’re not receiving. Delaying benefits will increase their size, which will reduce the amount to be withdrawn from tax-deferred accounts. This will lower your AGI.

It’s possible that you may not be able to avoid paying taxes on Social Security benefits. However, knowing your unique situation in advance and planning accordingly, will be better than living with a reduced budget because you didn’t know and didn’t plan.

Reference: The Motley Fool (Jan. 17, 2020) “Will My Retirement Fund Withdrawals Affect My Social Security Benefits?”