Your Search for the New Life Expectancy Tables is Over
If you’ve had difficulty locating the new life expectancy tables, you’re not alone. It’s recently become a common question fielded by ERISA consultants on Ascensus’ 800 Consulting service.
In early January, the IRS issued a draft 2021 Tax Year Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs). In this draft publication, you’ll find the new tables—including the Uniform Lifetime Table, used to calculate requirement minimum distributions; the Single Life Expectancy Table, used to calculate life expectancy payments for beneficiaries; and the Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy Table, used for IRA owners whose spouses are more than 10 years younger and are the sole beneficiaries of their IRAs. Individuals also use these tables to calculate substantially equal periodic payments, or 72(t) payments.
The tables are currently found in Appendix B, starting on page 45 of the draft publication. We’re also posting the tables here and in our Quick Reference Tools section, found in our Solution Center, along with several other handy resources.
Didn’t realize that the life expectancy tables were changing, starting in 2022? Here’s a previous Link story that explains the update, along with information on the new transition rule that allows a beneficiary who is already taking RMD payouts to use a “one-time reset” to take advantage of the longer life expectancies in the new tables.
