Roth IRA Brother/Sister Controlled Group

[Guest sattek]

Would an IRA that owned shares in a corporation be considered as the same person as the individual for determining whether two or more entities consitute a controlled group? For example A owns "A Inc" his IRA owns "B Inc" would A Inc and B Inc be a controlled group?

Thanks

[J Simmons]

I don't know of any authority to cite. Logically, the IRA is a trust arrangement, the custodian holding the assets of the IRA for the benefit of the IRA owner. That would suggest that the ownership of B Inc ought to attribute to A, and there would be a control group. However, IRC sec 1563(e)(3)© exempts from trust attribution QRP trusts--so while the statute doesn't exclude an IRA perhaps the same policy reasons for excluding QRP trusts ought to apply to IRAs. Also, the absence of an exception for IRAs where an exception for QRP trusts is provided might suggest that IRAs were not intended to be within the scope of "trusts" in the first place.