In January 2020, the SECURE Act took effect, significantly changing the rules for retirement accounts. In January 2022, we achieved SECURE 2.0. Then, later in 2022, we received “proposed regulations” from the IRS contradicting parts of the original SECURE Act. More than four years after the initial legislation, in July 2024, we received the final regulations clarifying the new rules.

The combination of the SECURE Act, SECURE 2.0, and the final regulations issued in July creates a nearly impossible maze to navigate when it comes to distributions from legacy accounts. Before we look at these incredibly complicated rules, we need to define a few things.

Key definitions