Rmd

[Brian EA]

Taxpayer forgot to take the Required Minimum Distribution for 2018. After consulting her broker, she had two disbursements in 2019; one for last year and one for this year.
My question is; since she forgot to take it last year, should I include the first disbursement in 2018 or report both in 2019?
Because of her age and memory I am almost sure that the penalty will be waived.
Thanks for your response
Brian

[kathyc2]

Report in the year received- both in 2019. Complete the 5329 requesting waiver where it most likely be waived.

[Brian EA]

Should that waiver be completed now or next year when the income is reported?
Thanks

[Uncle Sam]

I suggest that you speak to the broker to see that for 2019 she gets TWO 1099-Rs,not both of them lumped into one 1099-R so you can distinguish which distribution was for which year..
I've had that problem once before.

[Uncle Sam]

The reason I believe each year's distribution IS relevant is because SHOULD IRS question what amount should have been a prior year distribution vs current year, at least there's a trail to guide you. It's very unlikely that both years would have exactly the same amount of RMD. I had an experience this year - not directly related to the current question on this thread, but an 89 year old SHOULD HAVE TAKEN RMDs from an IRA she never told me about, and when I asked (on a 3-way call with the custodian) about annual RMD calculations I was advised "We don't have that data"

[kamckinley]

Should that waiver be completed now or next year when the income is reported?
Thanks

The distributions will be reported in the year received. Form 5329 and the waiver request should be completed as soon as possible. Don't have the client pay the penalty with the waiver; as others mentioned, the penalty will probably be waived.

Have the client talk to the broker about getting the RMD setup automatically with the broker so this doesn't happen again.