Hello,

My wife and I file our income tax jointly. She reaches 70 and 1/2 this year, and I won't for another year. She has an IRA account with about $50K in it, and I have two totalling about $250K. When she reaches 70 and 1/2 this year, can she just pay her RMD on her $50K account, or does filing "jointly" somehow mean we need to pay the RMD on our entire IRA totals?? (Obviously next year when I hit 70 and 1/2, we would both pay on the entire amounts.)

thanks for your advice on this....

Don Schager

They are separate. Each person has to take her RMD from her own IRA. Filing a joint return does not change that. A distribution from the spouse's IRA cannot be used to satisfy the husband's RMD. So, each spouse is responsible for making a RMD withdrawal based on his or her own individual tax-deferred retirement savings account (i..e., IRA and 401(k) plan) balances. Just as these accounts have been funded separately over a couple's working years, the individual balances of a husband and wife must be handled separately for the purposes of an RMD withdrawal calculation.

thanks!! very succinct......I could't find this info elsewhere.....