Retirement Benefits

By Michael T. Lahti

As reported in TaxNotes , taxpayers can now contribute all or part of their federal income tax refunds to a new tax-free myRA retirement savings vehicle that the Treasury Department officially rolled out November 4. "What makes myRA special is that it reduces many of the common barriers to saving that are an obstacle for many people to get started," Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told reporters during a conference call.

Earners can now also transfer funds from their bank accounts on a one-time or recurring basis into their new myRA accounts, which were launched nationally after an almost yearlong pilot program, Lew said. "You don't have to worry about fees or minimum requirements, you don't have to worry about investment options, you don't have to worry about losing money, and if there's an emergency, you can have access to the money you put away at any time," Lew said.

By Stephen T. O’Neill

Most of Lahti, Lahti & O'Neill, P.C.’s clients are pretty well situated in terms of having saved enough for retirement. But even if you count yourselves as part of that group, you may still be uncertain about the following:

• How to optimize tax-deferred stretch-out of retirement plan distributions for yourself and your loved ones.

• Whether your IRA and Qualified Retirement Plan beneficiary designations are set up in a way that optimally achieves the unfortunately often conflicting goals of income tax deferral and estate tax minimization.
• Whether IRA and Qualified Retirement Plan death benefits should be made payable outright to your beneficiaries, or instead be left in trust for one or more, or perhaps even all of such beneficiaries.