Investing Retirement Planning Should You Put Your IRA or 401(K) Into Your Trust? By Julie Garber Updated on November 30, 2021 Reviewed by Lea D. Uradu In This Article View All In This Article How Do Living Trusts Work? Moving Your Plan into Your Trust What Are Your Other Options? Consider a Spousal Rollover The Bottom Line Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Photo: Jose Luis Pelaez Inc / Blend Images / Getty Images Putting your IRA or 401(k) plan into your living trusts means that you'll have to retitle your plan into the name of your trust. That can raise some serious tax issues. Your plan custodian or administrator would almost certainly advise against it. That's because the IRS considers retitling a plan the same as a 100% withdrawal for tax purposes. Key Takeaways If you are thinking of putting your IRA or 401(k) into a living trust, you'll have to retitle your plan, which can have many tax consequences.A living trust is a legal entity set up to hold property for distribution to your beneficiaries.To the IRS, changing the owner of your IRA or 401(k)—even to the name of your trust—is considered a 100% withdrawal from the account.You should think about other options to help you meet your estate planning goals. Working with an estate planner can help. How Do Living Trusts Work? A living trust is a legal entity set up to hold property for eventual distribution to your beneficiaries. You can create one during your lifetime; it can be either revocable or irrevocable. In either case, you would transfer ownership of your assets into the trust's name after it's created, which more or less makes your trust the new, current owner of the assets. Revocable trusts offer the most flexibility because you can name yourself as trustee. That means you manage the property and income produced by the trust during your lifetime. You can name a successor trustee to take over should you become incapacitated, or upon your death. The successor trustee would then transfer ownership of the trust's assets to your beneficiaries according to your trust documents. Forming an irrevocable trust requires that you forever give up all control over the assets you place into the trust's name. Unlike a revocable trust, which you can dissolve if you see fit, you give up this right when you form an irrevocable trust. You must name someone else as trustee. Note Irrevocable trusts are subject to more favorable tax provisions because of how they're set up. They can't be "undone." Moving Your Plan Into Your Trust According to the IRS, changing the owner of your IRA or 401(k), even to the name of your trust, is equivalent to a 100% withdrawal from the account. It's no different from retitling it in the name of your child or any other relative rather than naming them as a beneficiary. You must report the entire value of the account on your tax return in the year you make the change. It will all be taxed as part of your income on that year's tax return. Warning You could also be subject to a 10% penalty tax for early withdrawal of the funds if you make the change before you reach age 59 1/2. What Are Your Other Options? You might want to think about changing the beneficiaries on your plan to align with your estate planning goals. That could be a better option than changing the actual owner of your IRA or 401(k) from you to your trust. You might want to work with an estate planner or lawyer to accomplish this. It all depends on the size of your IRA or 401(k) and the details of your estate plan. How a Spousal Rollover Works Naming your trust as a beneficiary of your retirement funds can also have negative consequences, but there's a way to direct the funds to your spouse while leaving your trust out of it. Note Your trust can simply deal with your other assets that can easily be retitled without complications. You can roll the retirement account over to your spouse under special IRS rules. Your spouse can then roll it over to younger heirs at the time of their death. Your heirs would use their dates of birth for required distributions; thus, they could stretch the tax consequences out for many more years. It could go on for generations. The Bottom Line The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was passed in 1974 to protect retirement plans against misappropriation. It's meant to ensure that your money will still be there waiting for you when you retire. ERISA-qualified retirement plans are subject to many interacting and complicated rules, particularly when they're passed as inheritances. Certain actions that you might take with them can't be undone later if you realize that you've made a mistake, so it's extremely important to get expert advice before you act. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) What are the drawbacks of using a beneficiary designation rather than a trust? Assets placed in an irrevocable trust are not considered to be part of a decedent's taxable estate for estate tax purposes, although this isn't the case with revocable trusts. You'll lose this advantage if you use a beneficiary designation to pass on the account instead unless the beneficiary is your spouse or a charity. The asset could potentially incur estate taxes at the state or federal level, or both. Can I be a beneficiary of my irrevocable trust so I can still live off the income if I place my 401(k) there? It's possible for the grantor of an irrevocable trust—the individual who forms the trust and places assets into it—to retain an interest in certain assets. This means you could recover or take back the 401(k) funds in this case, but only under certain circumstances and they must usually be stated in the trust agreement. It's important to consult with an attorney if this is something you're considering so you're sure to get the process right. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Fiduciary Trust International. "The Benefits and Shortcomings of Revocable Trusts." HG.org Legal Resources. "Explanations of Irrevocable Trusts." IRS. "IRA FAQs - Distributions (Withdrawals)." IRS. "Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions." U.S. Department of Labor. "FAQs about Retirement Plans and ERISA." Page 1. American Bar Association. "Planning With Retirement Benefits. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. "Irrevocable Trust Accounts (12 C.F.R. Section 330.13)," Page 2.