cliff666 writes,

<<"The IRS formulas for calculating the size of the distribution may give a number that is more than you wish to take out each year. Splitting the IRA and taking a distribution from only one of them provides more flexibility. ">>

Crosenfield: I don't see how this would be true. You must take the same total amount whether you take it from one IRA or all of them. You can eliminated the IRAs one by one if you like.
The size of distribution required has nothing to do with the number of IRAs, so it is difficult to see where there would be any more flexibility.
Best wishes, Chris

Cliff666: My understanding is that to the IRS, you have one IRA. Your withdrawal is based to the sum of how ever many accounts you may choose to have for your IRA. They aren't stupid.

It depends on what kind of IRA distributions you are talking about. For required minimium distributions (RMDs) at age 70-1/2 you must add all of your traditional IRAs together to make the calculation if you have more than one.

For SEPP distributions before age 59-1/2, you can split your IRA into several accounts and only make a SEPP distribution from one of them.

intercst