Achieving a better life experience (ABLE) accounts rules finalized.

• Author: Nevius, Alistair M.
• Position: Regulations

The IRS issued final regulations on Oct. 1 providing guidance to eligible individuals with a disability who are the owners and designated beneficiaries of ABLE accounts on a wide variety of issues involving the requirements for Sec. 529A ABLE accounts (T.D. 9923). ABLE (achieving a better life experience) accounts are tax-favored savings accounts set up under state ABLE programs to which eligible individuals can make contributions to meet qualified disability expenses.

The final regulations provide guidance on the requirements a program established and maintained by a state (or agency or instrumentality of a state) must satisfy to be considered a qualified ABLE program under Sec. 529A. They also provide guidance on the recordkeeping and reporting requirements of a qualified ABLE program.

They also address the requirements for:

* Establishing an ABLE account;

* Qualifying as an eligible individual and thus as a qualified designated beneficiary of an ABLE account; and

* Contributions to an ABLE account, including the limitations on the amount and investment of those contributions.

The final regulations provide rules regarding changes in an ABLE account's designated beneficiary and rules on rollovers and program-to-program transfers from one ABLE account to another. The final regulations also provide guidance on the gift and generation-skipping transfer tax consequences of contributions to an ABLE account, and on the federal income, gift, and estate tax...