What the act says about required minimum distributions (RMDs)
Frequently Asked Questions
To help provide relief for individuals required to take RMDs, the CARES Act waived the requirement to take required minimum distributions. It allows participants to cancel 2020 RMD payments and restart them in 2021.
They have the flexibility to cancel payouts of the RMD amount for 2020 (request must be received in good order by 1 p.m. (ET) on December 28th) or repay it (request must be submitted in good order by 4 p.m. (ET) on December 30th) if one has already been received. This can be done by logging in to their account on TIAA.org and visiting the Manage Transactions page. TIAA will restart recurring payments automatically in 2021.
In this situation, they can keep the distributed amount, although technically the distribution is not an RMD. Or, they have the option to repay it back into a plan that accepts rollovers or into an IRA. In some cases, the money has to be repaid to the IRA from which it was taken. IRS Notice 2020-51 extended the 60-day rollover deadline for returning 2020 distributions to an eligible plan or IRA to August 31, 2020. This means that distributions made as early as January 1 could have been recontributed by August 31.
RMDs are not required for 2020 per the CARES Act, and RMD requests will not be processed. However, participants may be able to take a cash withdrawal per their plan's rules by logging in to their account on TIAA.org, clicking on ‘Actions’ and then selecting ‘Start a Loan/Withdrawal.’ IRS Notice 2020-50 confirms that distributions otherwise permitted under the terms of a plan may be treated by the participant as coronavirus-related distributions.
1418878