RMD Rules for Disabled and Chronically Ill Beneficiaries of Retirement AccountsRMD Rules for Disabled and Chronically Ill Beneficiaries of Retirement Accounts

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act’s proposed Treasury regulations (proposed regs) provide some guidance regarding the treatment of required minimum distributions (RMDs) from retirement accounts for disabled and chronically ill beneficiaries. Beneficiaries of individual retirement accounts and Roth IRAs¹ who are disabled or chronically ill (D/CI) are considered “eligible designated beneficiaries” (EDBs) and are part of a class of individual beneficiaries that may use the life expectancy method to take RMDs from these inherited accounts. In addition, trusts for disabled and chronically ill beneficiaries get special treatment under the proposed regs.

I was fortunate to be part of the task force at the Ame...