Life and Death Planning for Retirement Benefits

Introduction This book is the professional advisor’s guide to required minimum distributions, rollovers, Roth conversions, and dozens of other tax code creations that our clients must navigate if they own an IRA or participate in a qualified retirement plan. With this book, you can help your clients defer or reduce taxes, avoid penalties, and preserve their retirement benefits. The tax rules governing retirement benefits grow ever more complex. Every day I hear of individuals who have stumbled on these rules and dropped their retirement benefits into the hands of the IRS. Yet with proper care and attention all the pitfalls can be avoided. The purpose of this book is to explain, for the benefit of my fellow estate planning lawyers, and all tax and financial services professionals involved in helping individuals plan for distribution and preservation of their retirement benefits, as many of the applicable rules and planning considerations as I can fit into 600 pages. Don’t let these rules trap you or your clients. Keep this book by your desk and get the facts. Find what you need quickly using the Index, Table of Contents, and Road Maps (see back cover). If you don’t find the answer you’re looking for, or you don’t understand it, or you disagree with it, please email me at author@ataxplan.com . Limitations of this Book Many important aspects of planning for retirement distributions are not covered in this book, including investment alternatives and financial planning considerations generally. This book also does not cover: § 457 plans; qualified domestic relations orders (QDROs); stock options and other nonqualified forms of deferred compensation; ESOPs; creditors’ rights; state tax issues; and community property. This book is designed to explain estate planning and tax planning issues for the benefit of estate and financial planners who are counseling individuals (and their beneficiaries) who have assets in retirement plans. It does not cover issues which are of concern to plan administrators, but do not have a significant impact on planning decisions for the individual participant. This book deals with the federal tax law applicable to retirement benefits. Planners will need to determine what impact, if any, state law has with respect to their clients.