The 2009 required minimum distributions (RMDs) from plans and IRAs was suspended by the passage of the Worker, Retiree and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 (WRERA).

Even though the RMDs were suspended for 2009, some people received them anyway. In general, when a taxpayer receives a distribution from a qualified retirement account or an IRA, that distribution is eligible for rollover to another retirement account within 60 days of the receipt of the funds.

Can they be undone?

1. For those who realized the situation within 60 days, the answer was to simply roll the funds back to an IRA or plan (providing they were eligible) and eliminate the tax bill.
2. If the 60 day window has expired, the Internal Revenue Service released Notice 2009-82 which grants many IRA owners and plan participants an extension to roll over certain distributions.
3. The extension is available until the later of November 30, 2009 or until 60 days have passed from the receipt of the distribution
4. Those who took early distributions, distributions as part of a 72(t) payment plan and normal distributions (after 591⁄2 but before they were required) are unaffected by this Notice.
5. The IRS relief provision only applies to IRA owners and plan participants who were subject to RMDs in 2009, and not to non-spouse beneficiaries.
6. “However, because of the one-rollover-per-year rule in § 408(d)(3), which was unchanged by WRERA, no more than one distribution from an IRA in 2009 will be eligible for this rollover relief.”
7. Only one 60-day rollover per year (12 months) is allowed from each of a taxpayer’s IRAs to another IRA. A rollover occurs when funds are distributed from the IRA, payable to the owner, and then are contributed to another IRA within 60 days.