The Internal Revenue Service has published final regulations to address some of the changes to the required minimum distribution rules under the amendments to section 401(a)(9) made by sections 114 and 401 of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act). “Required Minimum Distributions,” TD 10001, 89 F.R. 58886 (7/19/2024).

These final regulations do not address some of the changes made by the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (Division T of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, Public Law 117–328, 136 Stat. 4459
(12/29/2022)), and so new proposed regulations have been published. “Required Minimum Distributions+,” REG-103529-23, 89 F.R. 58644 (7/19/2024).

One significant issue that is resolved by the new final regulations is whether required minimum distributions to an “eligible designated beneficiary,” which must be completed within 10 years, can be deferred for 10 years (like distributions subject to the 5 year limit can be deferred). It was originally thought that no distributions were required during the 10 year period, but under the final regulations the eligible designated beneficiary of an employee who had reached the required beginning date must continue to receive distributions based on the age of the deceased employee, and then receive the balance of the account at the end of the 10 years. (See “IRS Publication 590-B To Be Corrected” for some of the history of the confusion on this issue.)

The SECURE Act changes to section 401(a)(9) were summarized as “New (and Old) Minimum Required Distribution Rules Summarized” (1/28/2020), which will be updated as required by the new final and proposed regulations.