If you are married and file a joint tax return, your federal tax rate may be lower than someone who isn't married. That's just one way U.S. tax laws benefit married couples.

The same is true for retirement plans, which offer 澳⭕洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:several perks for those ﷽who have tied the knot. These benefits are especially important for spouses who don't work outside the home.𒅌

Spousal IRAs

A 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:spousal IRA strategy allows couples who are married and filing jointly to contribute to two IRAs per year. This benefits spouses who don't work outside the home (that is, they don't have taxable income). The earning spouse can make a spousal IRA contribution to their non-earning spouse's IRA, provided they earn at least as much income as they contribute to their spouse's and their own IRAs.

These spousal IRAs can be traditional 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:individual retir🎐ement accounts (IRAs) or Roꦉth IRAs. Each IRA is set up in the name of an individual spouse.

For tax year 2024, the most a couple can contribute to their spousal IRAs is $14,000 ($7,000 each) if they're under 50. If they're age 50 or older, it's $16,000 ($8,000 each), due to a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:catch-up contribution provision.

For tax year 2023, they could have contributed up to $13,000 ($6,500 each). The limit was $15,000 ($7,500 for each) if they were age 50 or older.

Control Over Beneficiary Designations

Qualified Plan Beneficiary Requirements

If your spouse has assets in a qualified plan, such as a 401(k), they must designate you as the sole primary beneficiary. Plan administrators generally won't accept beneficiary designations unless the spouse is the sole primary beneficiary or consents to an alternate designation, and the consent must be witnessed by a notary public or a plan representative. This ensures that your spouse does not designate someone else to receive 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:death benefits from their retirement accounts without your approval. 

Beneficiaries in Community Property States

澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Community property is generally defined as property acquired during a marriage. Spousal consent is generally required if the IRA owner designates any party other than their spouse as the primary beneficiary in a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:community property state (where any assets that are acquired together are divided equally during the maꩲrriage).

Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin are community property states. Alaska, South Dakota, and Tennessee have opt-in laws that allow residents to have their property treated this way.

Check with a tax attorney to find out if t🍃he following rules also apply in your state:

• If you reside in a community property state and you plan to get married and don't want to designate your new spouse as the beneficiary of your pre-marriage IRA, you may want to keep your pre-marriage and post-marriage IRA assets separate.
• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Inherited IRAs are usually not defined as community property, and spousal consent may not be required to designate someone other than your spouse as the primary beneficiary.

P🍸reventing Distributions Without Spousal Consent

Retirement plan participants can deplete their retirement assets without the knowledge of their spouses. This can be a devastating revelation to a spouse who was counting on those funds to finance the couple's retirement years.

If the assets are in a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:defined-benefit, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:target-benefit, or 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:money-purchase pension plan, spending those assets is unlikely to occur without the spouse's knowledge because they are generally required to be distributed in the form of a 💮澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:qualified joint and survivor annuity (QJSA). That is unless the participant and the꧋ spouse consen♎t in writing to receive distributions in another form.

Exceptions apply to assets that are required to be distributed from the plan, including 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:excess contributions, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:required💜 minimum distributions (RMDs), and amounts that can be cashed out without the participant's consent. Amounts can be cashed out in most cases without the participant's consent if their accrued balance under the plan is $5,000 or less.

While the QJSA rules always apply to all of the plans noted above, they don't apply to 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:profit-sharing and 401(k) plans unless those plans are designed to include these options. Some profit-sharing and 401(k) plan documents, such as prototypes, are designed to allow employers to elect whether they want the plan to be subject to the QJSA rules.

Inherited Spousal Assets

There are certain spousal beneficiary options in regard to the inheritance of retirement accou♌nt💛s when the account holder of a retirement plan passes away. The specific options depend on whether the account holder died before 2020 or in 2020 or after.

Note: a beginning date is when the account holder would need to begin taking 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:required minimum distr𒉰ibutions (RMDs).

Account Holder Died Before 2020

The beneficiary options that a spouse has if the d✱eath occurred before the required beginning date are as follows:

• Keep the account as an inherited one. Distributions here will be based on their own 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:life expectancy or they can choose to follow the five-year rule (that is, all assets must be withdrawn within five years).
• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Roll over the inherited account into their own IRA.

If the death occurred after the required beginninꦰg date, then the beneficiary options a spouse has are as follows:

• Distributions are based on their own life expectancy.
• The five-year rule is not available.

Account Holder Died in 2020 or After

The beneficiary options that a spouse has if the death occurred before the required beginning date are as follows:

• Keep the account as an inherited one. In this case, they may either delay receiving distributions until the employee has turned 72, take distributions based on their own life expectancy, or follow the 10-year rule (that is, all assets must be withdrawn within ten years).
• Roll over the inherited account into their own IRA.

If the death occurred after the required beginning date, th🎶en the beneficiary options a spouse has are as follows:

• Keep the account as an inherited one. Distributions are based on their own life expectancy.
• Roll over the inherited account into their own IRA.
  

The Bottom Line

Most of the benefits discussed in this article are meant to protect spouses, including those who doꩲ not have taxable 🧜income.

If you are not working at a paid job and want to fund an IRA, consider using your 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:spouse's income as your taxable compensation.

And if you are a qualified plan participant or an IRA owner, check with your plan administrator to determine whether you need to obtain the consent of your spouse for distributions and loans. Be sure to check with your IRA custodian to determine whether you need your spouse's consent if you decide to designate someone else as the primary beneficiary of your IRA.