I am about to inherit a Traditional IRA and Roth IRA from my mother. I wanted to park these funds with Alliant Credit Union. From what I understand I will have to set up a totally separate inherited IRA account. I also understand it is important that this be a Trustee to Trustee transfer especially for the Traditonal IRA.

My question to the board...has anyone had any experience they can share about Trustee to Trustee transfers with Alliant Credit Union either when Alliant was on the receiving or disbursing end of the transfer. Did Alliant seem to have their act together? Did it go thru smoothly?

I don't currently have a ROTH IRA so I guess I will also be looking at setting one up with again a Trustee to Trustee transfer. I presume you can set these accounts up with no balances so you can give instructions to the individual handling my mom's estate to transfer the funds into account number XXX even though it has a zero balance.

Thanks for any input.

Sorry for your loss.

From what I understand I will have to set up a totally separate inherited IRA account. I also understand it is important that this be a Trustee to Trustee transfer especially for the Traditonal IRA.
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I don't currently have a ROTH IRA so I guess I will also be looking at setting one up with again a Trustee to Trustee transfer.

Please be aware - since you are a non-spousal beneficiary, both types of IRAs (Roth and Traditional) must be set up as separate inherited IRAs, and cannot be set up as your own IRA. It's clear that you understand that about the traditional IRA, but your commentary about not already having a Roth IRA indicated that you might not understand it about the Roth.

Additionally, you must either start taking RMDs from the both types of IRAs, or totally empty them within 5 years. Since Roth IRAs typically don't have RMDs, many people are unaware of this requirement.

Sorry, I don't have any experience with Alliant, so no help on the actual transfer.

AJ

Thank you so much for making me aware of this! So really the Roth IRA looses some of its luster because it has to be liquidated over time. It makes sense because the IRS doesn't want the tax free gains to theoretically continue forever. I am just starting to learn and brush up on some of this. I am a retired accountant by trade(not CPA) and will be reading the IRS Pubs etc to bone up on this topic.

I know my mom made her 2012 RMD before death on the traditional IRA. It looks like I have to start taking an RMD on the Roth IRA starting in the year following the year of death or face a 50% excise tax penalty. So glad you gave me a heads up on this!

Is it correct to assume that if I do a direct Trustee to Trustee transfer there will be no Form 1099R send to me from the sending Trustee? I can't figure out if the sending Trustee will also furnish a Form 5498 to me with an amount in Box 5 or if just the decendent receives a Form 5498 with the Fair Market Value at the date of death in Box 5 from the sending Trustee.

I assume I would get a Form 5498 for a year end 2012 balance(Box 5) and a 1099R for any distributions made to me in 2012 from my (Recipient) Trustee.

If you don't know the answers that's fine but you certainly seem up to speed on this so I wanted to pick your brain some more. Many thanks.

I am just starting to learn and brush up on some of this. I am a retired accountant by trade(not CPA) and will be reading the IRS Pubs etc to bone up on this topic.

Pub 590 is a good start http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590.pdf

Is it correct to assume that if I do a direct Trustee to Trustee transfer there will be no Form 1099R send to me from the sending Trustee?

No, assuming it's more than $10. While reviewing the IRS pubs, you can take a look at the instructions for 1099-Rs, too: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1099r.pdf

AJ