The SECURE Act brings consequences for conduit trusts, according to Thompson.
“Many testamentary estate plans in place today include conduit trusts as beneficiaries for IRAs because this type of trust is guaranteed to qualify as a see-through trust,” she said. “But this structure requires that all distributions from the retirement plan are immediately disbursed to the beneficiary. Few if any estate plans in place today containing standby conduit trusts have contemplated a mandatory lump-sum distribution within 10 years to the trust beneficiaries.”
The SECURE Act also bumped the age for taking required minimum distributions from retirement savings from 70½ to 72 (an easier benchmark age to understand, Mioli said), and the age limit for making IRA contributions is gone.
For business-owning wealthy clients, the new law gives employers more time to set up retirement plans for employees, according to Charlene Wehring, a CPA and advisor with Avantax Wealth Management in Bellville, Texas. “They have until the due date of the tax return, including extensions,” she said. “This goes into effect for plans beginning after December 31, 2019.”
The act also allows unrelated small businesses to share the administrative and financial responsibilities of establishing and preserving a retirement plan, among other changes.