Can contributions be made to an IRA after the account owner dies?

[katieinny]

An IRA account holder died in February '05. The deceased person's spouse would like to make a 2004 contribution into the existing IRA on his behalf since he was alive for all of 2004. I've been under the impression that a contribution cannot be made after the account holder dies, even if he was alive for the entire tax year. Can anyone tell me if I can find that in writing somewhere, or if she can make the contribution after all?

[mbozek]

The IRS takes the positon that no contribution can be made after the IRA owners death because the contribution is personal to the owner and the owner's right to contribute ceases at death. However, under case law and the IRC a personal representative of a taxpayer has authority to take any action that a taxpayer could take under the IRC, e.g., rollover a lump sum distribution paid to decedent within 60 days of the date of the distribution (Gunther v. U.S.).

[katieinny]

So "any action" means anything except make a regular contribution?

[mbozek]

NO- My post distinguished between the IRS position on the scope of authority for a personal rep and the language of the tax law as interpretated by the courts regarding rollovers. A taxpayer who disagrees with an IRS position can always bring an action in fed ct or tax court rule in his favor. My own view is that a personal rep who signs the taxpayers tax return for the year of death should be able to claim the tax deduction for the IRA. The problem is how the personal rep can make a contribution to the IRA since the funds would come from assets of the estate, not the decedent. I dont know if the surviving spouse could write a check from her own checking account to the decedent's IRA. One possible solution would be for the surviving spouse who is not a participant in a retirement plan to contribute to her own IRA and have the deduction claimed on the joint return (assuming that AGI does not exceed 150k).