missed RMD for several years

[Capricorn51]

My wife is older than I, and I have a small IRA (in Vanguard) in her name. I missed the first four years of RMD. Do I need to go back and redo four years of tax forms, or can I just "catch up" on the RMD's with my return for 2018 and pay the penalty for the four years?

[mhalley]

I believe you need to file form 5329 for each year of rmds missed. My understanding is that the irs is pretty good about forgiving the penalty. Here is a previous thread on missed rmds.

viewtopic.php?t=115324

[Earl Lemongrab]

I will point out that you don't have an IRA in her name, nor did you miss any RMDs. That's her account and her responsibility. I don't say that to be picky, but to emphasize that she needs to be part of the process. After all, what if you're out of the picture in the future?

[Shallowpockets]

I believe you need to file form 5329 for each year of rmds missed. My understanding is that the irs is pretty good about forgiving the penalty. Here is a previous thread on missed rmds.

viewtopic.php?t=115324

Hmmm. So, the upshot is that you can pretty much ignore RMD requirements and let your money grow for many more years and then just file for forgiveness?
Sounds so not like the IRS.
I did read the other thread you noted. Seems like ignorance of RMDs is a valid excuse.

[sport]

I believe you need to file form 5329 for each year of rmds missed. My understanding is that the irs is pretty good about forgiving the penalty. Here is a previous thread on missed rmds.

viewtopic.php?t=115324

Hmmm. So, the upshot is that you can pretty much ignore RMD requirements and let your money grow for many more years and then just file for forgiveness?
Sounds so not like the IRS.
I did read the other thread you noted. Seems like ignorance of RMDs is a valid excuse.

This would seem to be a big risk. If the IRS does not grant forgiveness, the penalty is 50% of the late withdrawal in addition to the income taxes. Its not a chance I would be willing to take.

[Alan S.]

The IRS will grant almost every waiver request they get once the late RMDs are made up.

But if the late RMDs are not distributed, there is no waiver granted. The IRS has been vowing to increase RMD oversight for years, and is getting some help from IRA custodians in notifying people of their RMDs, especially from the likes of VG and Schwab.

However, an IRA custodian cannot FORCE OUT an RMD because of the RMD aggregation rules, and they do not know how many other IRAs you may have elsewhere, so the final control is between the IRA owner and the IRS. The IRS receives a statement of the year end value for all IRAs and all they need to do is determine what the RMD should be (they know your age) and devise a system that alerts them if a 1099R is not received for a distribution close to that amount. It would be very easy once the IRS has the discipline to do it, and once the IRS detects RMD shortfalls before YOU detect and correct those shortfalls, the waivers could just stop being granted. 50% is a huge penalty to pay, especially for several years.