Joint Beneficiary required?

L1: Joint Beneficiary required?

I am preparing a SEPP Plan.
I am maried and my spouse is my beneficiary on the IRA I plan to use in the SEPP.
Does the IRS REQUIRE that I use our joint life expectancy when calculating the SEPP?
Thanks,
Joe
2011-08-15 13:38, By: Joe, IP: [64.134.175.19]

L2: Joint Beneficiary required?
No. You can use the single life expectancy calculations and still leave your spouse as your beneficiary.
2011-08-15 14:49, By: Gfw, IP: [24.148.10.164]

L3: Joint Beneficiary required?
You will also generate a larger SEPP distribution using individual rather than joint calculations because your individual life expectancy is less than a joint life expectancy. There is no reason to ever use joint calculations,
except possibly when doing the one time switch to the MD method and you want the calculation lowered as much as possible.
Another problem with joint calculations is that your IRA must have that person listed as beneficiary and if there is more than one beneficiary, the age of the oldest beneficiary must be used.

2011-08-15 16:43, By: Alan S., IP: [67.61.144.221]