2025 IRA Quick Reference Guide

Your Essential Guide to IRA Rules, Updates, & Best Practices

The 2025 IRA Quick Reference Guide, authored by Denise Appleby, MJ, APA, CISP, CRC, is a must-have resource for financial professionals, tax advisors, and individuals looking to navigate the complexities of IRA regulations easily.

This comprehensive, easy-to-use guide compiles the latest rules, limits, and strategies, helping you stay informed and compliant with the most recent IRS regulations, including SECURE 2.0 and the final RMD regulations.

What’s Inside?

🔹 2025 IRA & Employer Plan Contribution Limits – Understand annual limits and eligibility rules.
🔹 Roth vs. Traditional IRA Comparison – Side-by-side feature and tax treatment breakdown.
🔹 Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) & Beneficiary Rules – Stay updated on SECURE Act changes.
🔹 Portability & Rollover Rules – Learn what can be transferred and how to avoid costly mistakes.
🔹 Early Withdrawal Penalties & Exceptions – Avoid unnecessary taxes and penalties.
🔹 Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) & Tax Reporting Forms – Essential tax guidance for advisors and clients.

Why Choose This Guide?

🔹 Concise & Easy-to-Navigate – Designed for quick reference and practical use.
🔹 Expert Insights – Created by a renowned retirement expert with 25+ years of experience.
🔹 Essential for Compliance – Helps professionals stay updated with the latest IRS regulations.

Don’t leave your IRA planning to chance—stay informed and make smarter financial decisions with this trusted industry resource!

📖 Get Your Copy Today!

** VERSION 2025 IS NOW AVAILABLE!  **

** §1.401(a)(9) TABLE UPDATED FOR 2022+   |   ** SECURE ACT UPDATES INCLUDED!  **

Retirement Strategies LIVE (RSL) is a web application that will show how a traditional IRA will project through the course of the lifetime of the owner(s) and beneficiaries.  The application also includes 9 strategies that let you compare side-by-side impacts on projections.  This easy-to-use web application allows for quick entry and an impressive PDF output.

Choose between several strategies:

1. Traditional IRA

2. Conversion in a single year, conversion taxes paid by a portfolio asset

3. Conversion in multiple years, conversion taxes paid by a portfolio asset

4. Conversion in a single year, conversion taxes paid by converted asset

5. Conversion in multiple years, conversion taxes paid by converted asset

6. Purchase Life Insurance, Death Benefit paid to portfolio asset

7. Name a CRUT as an IRA Beneficiary

8. Name a CRAT as an IRA Beneficiary

9. Qualified Charitable Distributions

The IRS has waived the 50% penalty for missed RMDs for 2021/2022, for those who inherited IRAs 2020+, and were subject to a distribution under the 10 year rule.  IRS Notice 2022-53

Changes were implemented for SECURE Act 2.0!

Changes were implemented for IRS Proposed Regulations regarding Required Minimum Distributions on 5/27/2022!

** VERSION 2024 IS NOW AVAILABLE!  **

** §1.401(a)(9) TABLE UPDATED FOR 2022+   |   ** SECURE ACT UPDATES INCLUDED!  **

Retirement Distributions LIVE (RDL) is a web application that calculates the required minimum distributions (RMDs) for several qualified plan types, such as:

• Conventional IRAs
• Roth IRAs

Retirement Distributions LIVE (RDL) includes seven models illustrating RMDs and SEPP calculations. The current models are based on different scenarios, such as during the owner's lifetime, spousal rollover, non-spousal beneficiaries. The application inputs allow for contribution streams to the qualified plan, as well as additional distribution options outside of the RMD calculations. The program generates high-quality data-driven reports and has been updated to reflect the changes to §1.401(a)(9) that went into effect 01/01/2022.

The IRS has waived the 50% penalty for missed RMDs for 2021/2022, for those who inherited IRAs 2020+, and were subject to a distribution under the 10 year rule.  IRS Notice 2022-53

** VERSION 2025.00 NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD! **

** CHANGES for SECURE Act 2.0 (12/2022) INCLUDED! **

** CHANGES for IRS Proposed Regulations 2022 INCLUDED! **

** CHANGES for IRS Notice 2022-6 EFFECTIVE 1/18/2022 INCLUDED! **

** CHANGES TO §1.401(a)(9) TABLES EFFECTIVE 1/1/2022 INCLUDED! **

** SECURE ACT AND CARES ACT UPDATES INCLUDED! **

Download now!

Retirement Plan Analyzer is priced at $595 for a single initial license, including twelve months of coverage (updates sent as released based on tax law changes). Future annual renewal coverage is $206 for a single license.

A current desktop version of Windows is required.

We guarantee your satisfaction with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

For multiple licenses or enterprise licensing, please call 803-781-9595.

The IRS has waived the 50% penalty for missed RMDs for 2021/2022, for those who inherited IRAs 2020+, and were subject to a distribution under the 10 year rule.  IRS Notice 2022-53

Changes have been implemented for SECURE Act 2.0 (12/2022) and IRS Proposed Regulations regarding Required Minimum Distributions (6/21/2022 - in version 2022.20).

** VERSION 2025.01 NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD!  **

Brentmark's Retirement Distribution Planner (RDP) (Desktop) is a detailed and robust program that calculates the required minimum distributions for several qualified plan types, such as IRA, Roth IRA, 401(k), Roth 401(k), with some key features:

• Contribution streams for the plan type selected and the ability to choose the maximum allowed in the current year.
• Distribution streams that can be used to pay for expenses incurred from the plan. In the years an RMD would be calculated, the program determines if the distribution entered satisfies the required amount.
• Less than 5% Owner of a company allows the plan owner to defer RMDs until after they retire.
• Pre-59.5 Distribution calculations also include the option to use the Amortization, Annuitization, or Minimum Distribution methods.
• Ability to illustrate inherited plans, including spousal rollover and non-spousal beneficiaries.
• Ability to select between the beginning or end of the year for distributions.
• Updated for SECURE Act of 2019
• Updated for CARES Act of 2020
• Updated for changes to §1.401(a)(9) that go in effect 1/1/2022
• Updated for IRS Notice 2022-6 (SEPPs) dated 1/18/2022
• Updated for IRS Proposed Regulations 2/2022
• Updated for SECURE Act 2.0 12/2022

The Retirement Distributions Planner is now available in both a desktop application or our new LIVE online single user/enterprise formats.  Both versions have been updated to reflect changes made by the SECURE ACT.

What’s New for 2023

• Quick Reference: Substantially Equally Periodic Payments/SEPP/72(t): 

Quick reference Guide          

The IRS issued Notice 2022-6, in which they provide guidance on distributions made under a substantially equal periodic payment (SEPP)/72(t) program.

Distributions taken under a SEPP/72(t) program are exempt from the 10% early distribution penalty that applies to early distributions from IRAs and employersponsored retirement plans.

Notice 2022-6 applies to SEPP/72(t) payments that commence on or after January 1, 2023, and may also be applied to those that commence in 2022.

Notice 2022-6 restates some of the previously existing SEPP/72(t) rules and explains what has changed.

• IRA Beneficiary Options: Eligible Designated Beneficiary & Designated

Beneficiary under the SECURE Act, as explained by the proposed RMD regulations that were published on February 24, 2022.

On February 24, 2022, the IRS issued proposed amendments to the income tax regulations (proposed regulations) that govern required minimum distributions (RMDs) for IRAs and accounts/benefits under employer plans. These regulations propose to update RMD regulations to reflect the amendments made by the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act), enacted on December 20, 2019. While it was expected that the regulations would include clarifications, it has a few surprises that make it necessary for advisors to revise related advice to their clients.

Interpretations by the Proposed RMD Regulations

The proposed RMD regulations include a few surprises such as requiring designated beneficiaries to take annual RMDs when the account owner dies on or after the RBD. Confirmation that certain provisions of the existing regulations still apply was also provided. Changes that affect the guides in this publication are reflected accordingly.

• IRS Notice 2023‐53: IRS Waives Excise Tax for 2021 and 2022 RMDs for beneficiaries subject to the 10‐year rule

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act) introduced a new 10-year rule for certain beneficiaries who inherit IRAs after 2019. Language from the SECURE Act suggested that distributions during the first nine years after the account owner’s death were optional, though the entire balance must be distributed by the end of the 10th year. However, the proposed RMD regulations, published in February of 2022, explain that some beneficiaries must also take annual life expectancy RMDs under this new 10-year rule. In response to complaints from beneficiaries subject to the 10-year rule plus the annual life expectancy RMD requirement but did not take RMDs for 2021 and 2022, the IRS published Notice 2022-53, under which they waived the 50% excise tax that would otherwise apply.

You benefit from this waiver only if you are one of the following two types of beneficiaries:

a. You are a designated beneficiary who inherited an IRA from the owner in 2020 or 2021, and the IRA owner died on or after their required beginning date (RBD). The RBD is April 1 of the year that follows the year the IRA owner reached age 72 (70 ½ if they reached age 70 ½ by December 31, 2019). Generally, a designated beneficiary is a beneficiary who is a person or a qualified see-through trust.

b. You are a successor beneficiary of an IRA for which the original beneficiary is an eligible designated beneficiary taking annual life expectancy distributions, and you inherited that beneficiary IRA in 2020 or 2021.

** DOWNLOAD PDF NOW! **

ULTIMATE IRA GUIDE: A Compilation of IRA Guides for 2022

by: Denise Appleby, CISP, CRC, CRPS, CRSP, APA

NEW FOR 2022

** Updated for The CARES Act **

** Updated for The SECURE Act **

• Charts and tables that summarize the IRA rules in an easy to understand and user-friendly manner.
• Frequently asked questions and clearly written responses.
• Rollover and transfer rules for retirement accounts.
• IRA Beneficiary distribution options.

** PLEASE NOTE: This file will be delivered to you as a link to download the .pdf file.  There is no physical book to be delivered. **

Brentmark Presents: Denise Appleby, MJ, CISP, CRC, CRPS, CRSP, APA

10 Key Rules for Mastering the SEPP Exception to the 10% Early Distribution Penalty for IRAs and Employer Plans Based on IRS Guidance Published in 2022.

Introduction

The IRS recently issued Notice 2022-06, in which they provide guidance on distributions made under a substantially equal periodic payment (SEPP) program. Distributions taken under a SEPP program are exempt from the 10% early distribution penalty that applies to early distributions from IRAs and employer-sponsored retirement plans. Notice 2022-06 applies to SEPP payments that commence on or after January 1, 2023, and may also be applied to those that commence in 2022. Notice 2022-06 restates some of the existing SEPP rules and explains what has changed. This booklet covers the 10 key elements of Notice 2022-06.

The Purpose of SEPPs

Distributions taken from an IRA or account under an employer-sponsored retirement plan (employer plan) before the owner of the account (account owner) reaches age 59 ½ (early distributions) are subject to a 10% additional tax (early distribution penalty) unless an exception applies. The purpose of a SEPP program is for distributions taken under the program to qualify for an exception to this early distribution penalty.