No, you cannot put a Roth IRA inside a trust while you are alive. An IRA must be owned by an individual, so retitling it into a trust ends its tax-shelter status and triggers tax on the whole balance. What you can do is name a trust as the beneficiary of your Roth IRA, so the trust receives the account after you die.
Key takeaways
- A Roth IRA cannot be owned by a trust during your lifetime. Under IRC Section 408, an IRA must be held for the benefit of an individual; transferring it to a trust makes it cease to qualify as an IRA and the full fair market value is treated as distributed.
- You can name a trust as the beneficiary. This is the standard way to bring a Roth IRA under trust control, and it takes effect only after death.
- Since the SECURE Act (2020), most trust beneficiaries must empty an inherited Roth IRA within 10 years. The lifetime "stretch" is gone for anyone who is not an eligible designated beneficiary.
- Roth IRAs keep one big edge: because a Roth owner has no required beginning date, there are no forced annual withdrawals in years 1 through 9. The account can grow tax-free until the 10-year deadline.
- The trust type matters. A conduit trust passes distributions straight to the beneficiary; an accumulation trust can hold them inside the trust, trading control for exposure to compressed trust tax brackets.
Why you cannot own a Roth IRA in a trust
The name "individual retirement account" is doing real work. IRC Section 408(a) requires that an IRA be established "for the exclusive benefit of an individual or his beneficiaries." A trust is a separate legal entity, not an individual, so a Roth IRA cannot be titled in a trust's name while you are living.
Attempting the transfer is worse than simply not allowed. When an IRA stops meeting the Section 408 definition, the tax code treats the fair market value of the entire account as distributed on the first day of that tax year (Fidelity). For a traditional IRA that means an immediate income-tax bill on the full balance. For a Roth IRA the direct income-tax hit is usually smaller because qualified Roth money is already after-tax, but you would still blow up the account's tax-free-growth shelter and lose every future year of compounding inside it. There is no partial or clever version of this move. The only path that keeps the Roth intact is the beneficiary designation.
This is also why a revocable living trust, which is excellent for real estate and taxable brokerage accounts, does not "hold" your retirement accounts the way it holds everything else. You fund the trust with those other assets during life and point the Roth IRA at the trust by beneficiary form. For the broader picture of what a living trust can and cannot own, see our estate planning hub.
Naming a trust as your Roth IRA beneficiary
Naming a trust instead of a person gives you control that a plain beneficiary form cannot: staggered payouts, spendthrift protection, provisions for minors, and continuity across a blended family. The tradeoff is that the IRS applies a specific set of rules to figure out how fast the trust must drain the account, and a poorly drafted trust can force the fastest, least favorable schedule.
To be treated favorably, the trust generally must qualify as a see-through trust (also called a look-through trust). The requirements are that the trust is valid under state law, is irrevocable or becomes irrevocable at death, has identifiable individual beneficiaries, and, for employer plans, that trust documentation reaches the plan administrator by October 31 of the year after the owner's death. The 2024 final regulations clarified that this documentation deadline applies to employer-sponsored plans; for IRAs there is no separate filing requirement (Kitces). If a trust fails the see-through test, it is a non-designated beneficiary and the Roth must typically be emptied within 5 years.
The SECURE Act 10-year rule
The SECURE Act, effective for deaths on or after January 1, 2020, ended the lifetime stretch for most beneficiaries. A see-through trust for a non-eligible beneficiary now falls under the 10-year rule: the entire inherited Roth IRA must be distributed by December 31 of the tenth year after the owner's death.
Here Roth IRAs get a distinct advantage. Because a Roth owner is always treated as dying before their required beginning date, there are no mandatory annual withdrawals in years 1 through 9. The account can sit and grow tax-free, with a single deadline at year 10 (Kitces). That is the opposite of an inherited traditional IRA, where the 2024 final regulations (issued July 18, 2024, effective for 2025) require annual RMDs in years 1 through 9 when the owner had already reached their required beginning date.
A narrower group, eligible designated beneficiaries (EDBs), can still stretch distributions over a life expectancy and skip the 10-year clock. The five EDB categories are: a surviving spouse, a minor child of the owner (only until age 21, then the 10-year clock starts), a disabled individual, a chronically ill individual, and any beneficiary not more than 10 years younger than the owner (Kitces). A trust drafted for a disabled or chronically ill beneficiary (an applicable multi-beneficiary trust) can preserve this stretch treatment, which is often the strongest reason to route a Roth through a trust at all.
Conduit vs. accumulation trusts
Two structures dominate retirement-account trust planning. The difference is whether distributions from the Roth flow through to the beneficiary or stay locked inside the trust.
| Conduit trust | Accumulation trust | |
|---|---|---|
| What happens to distributions | Every dollar the trust receives from the Roth IRA is passed out to the beneficiary immediately | The trustee can retain distributions inside the trust at their discretion |
| Who controls the money | Beneficiary receives it directly once distributed | Trustee keeps control; strongest spendthrift and creditor protection |
| Payout timing under the 10-year rule | Whole Roth must be paid out to the beneficiary by year 10 | Whole Roth must be withdrawn from the IRA by year 10, but can stay in the trust |
| Income tax on Roth distributions | Generally tax-free (qualified Roth money), taxed in the beneficiary's hands if not | Roth distributions are generally tax-free coming out of the IRA |
| Ongoing tax exposure | None while proceeds pass through | Earnings on reinvested proceeds held in the trust can hit the compressed trust brackets, reaching the top 37% rate quickly (Cerity Partners) |
| Best for | Beneficiaries you trust to receive the money outright, or an EDB stretch | Spendthrift, creditor, blended-family, or special-needs situations where control matters more than tax efficiency |
The Roth's tax-free character helps both structures on the way out of the IRA. The catch is specific to accumulation trusts: once tax-free Roth proceeds are sitting in the trust and get reinvested, the new income they generate is taxable, and trusts hit the top 37% bracket at only a few thousand dollars of retained income. A conduit trust sidesteps that by pushing everything out, at the cost of giving the beneficiary the cash.
The 5-year rule still applies to earnings
Inheriting a Roth does not automatically mean every dollar comes out tax-free. Contributions and converted amounts always come out tax-free, but earnings are only tax-free if the original owner's Roth had been open at least 5 years. The clock starts January 1 of the year of the owner's first Roth contribution to any Roth IRA, and it keeps running after death rather than resetting (Fidelity). If the owner dies before that 5-year mark is met, a trust or individual beneficiary who withdraws earnings early can owe income tax on the earnings portion. Waiting until the 5 years are satisfied, which the 10-year window usually allows, keeps the full distribution tax-free.
Get this drafted by a professional
Retirement-account trust language is unforgiving. A missing see-through provision, a residual beneficiary who is older than the intended one, or a conduit clause where you needed an accumulation clause can accelerate payouts or expose the account to the trust tax brackets. This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Before you name a trust as your Roth IRA beneficiary, have an estate planning attorney draft or review the trust and coordinate it with your beneficiary forms, and ask a tax advisor to model the payout. For related groundwork, our retirement planning and estate planning sections cover how these accounts fit the rest of your plan.
Frequently asked questions
Can you transfer a Roth IRA into a trust while you are alive?
No, a Roth IRA cannot be owned by a trust during your lifetime. Under IRC Section 408, an IRA must be held for the benefit of an individual, so retitling it into a trust makes it cease to qualify as an IRA and the full fair market value is treated as distributed, destroying the tax-free-growth shelter.
How do you bring a Roth IRA under trust control?
You name the trust as the beneficiary of your Roth IRA, which takes effect only after death and is the standard way to gain staggered payouts, spendthrift protection, and provisions for minors. To be treated favorably the trust generally must qualify as a see-through trust: valid under state law, irrevocable at death, with identifiable individual beneficiaries.
How fast must a trust empty an inherited Roth IRA?
Under the SECURE Act, most trust beneficiaries must empty an inherited Roth IRA within 10 years, with the whole account distributed by December 31 of the tenth year after the owner's death. Roth IRAs get an edge: there are no mandatory annual withdrawals in years 1 through 9, so the account can grow tax-free until the year-10 deadline.
What is the difference between a conduit and an accumulation trust?
A conduit trust passes every dollar it receives from the Roth straight out to the beneficiary, while an accumulation trust lets the trustee retain distributions inside the trust. Accumulation trusts give stronger spendthrift and creditor protection but expose reinvested earnings to compressed trust tax brackets that reach the top 37% rate at only a few thousand dollars.
Are inherited Roth IRA earnings always tax-free?
No, earnings are tax-free only if the original owner's Roth had been open at least 5 years. Contributions and converted amounts always come out tax-free, but the 5-year clock starts January 1 of the year of the owner's first Roth contribution and keeps running after death. If the owner dies before that mark, withdrawing earnings early can owe income tax.