By Andy Ives, CFP®, AIF®
IRA Analyst
QUESTION:
My father passed away in November 2021. I became disabled in April 2022. Am I now an eligible designated beneficiary (EDB) that can use the stretch rule for distributions? I receive disability payments, so the SSA knows my disability start date. I have read dozens of articles all with conflicting information. Thank you for any advice.
ANSWER:
The status of an IRA beneficiary is determined on the day of death of the IRA owner. When your father passed away in November of 2021, you were not disabled. Consequently, you were a non-eligible designated beneficiary (NEDB) and are subject to the 10-year rule. Your beneficiary status as an NEDB is locked in for the IRA inherited from your father and cannot be changed. For that specific inherited IRA, you cannot reclassify yourself as an EDB. However, as a disabled individual, you could qualify as an EDB if you were to inherit another IRA in the future.
QUESTION:
Andy,
As a frequent reader of the mailbag and an occasional participant on some of Mr. Slott’s webinars, I wanted to be sure I’m understanding your response to a mailbag question. This relates to the answer you gave to a 9/11/25 mailbag question regarding Roth conversions. The 67-year-old is planning annual Roth conversions prior to reaching RMD age. You stated, “Since you are over age 59½ and have had a Roth IRA for 5 years, you never have to worry about another Roth 5-year clock again.”
My home office, as well as multiple online sources, indicate that each conversion has its own 5-year clock, even if you are over age 59½.
ANSWER:
Based on the specific scenario in that 9/11/2025 mailbag question, my response was accurate. The person was over age 59½ and had owned a Roth IRA for 5 years. As such, there would never be another 5-year conversion clock to worry about. But let’s change the details. Assume a person is over age 59½ and never had a Roth IRA. In such a situation, that person would have to wait 5 years for the earnings on the conversion to be tax free. It is important to recognize that each Roth conversion has its own details that must be considered. However, despite what many on-line sources indicate, I can say with 100% confidence and accuracy that once a person is over age 59½ AND has owned a Roth IRA for 5 years, there will never be another 5-year conversion clock to worry about.
If you have technical questions you would like to have answered, be sure to submit them to mailbag@irahelp.com, to be answered on an upcoming Slott Report Mailbag, published every Thursday.
https://irahelp.com/ira-beneficiaries-and-roth-conversions-todays-slott-report-mailbag/