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I am not yet 59 Ω, but I need to access some money from my IRAs. I know I can avoid the 10% penalty if I take ìsubstantially equal periodic paymentsî over my life expectancy. But I have more than one IRA. Do I have to take the payments from all of the IRA accounts, or can I access just one of them? - EBD, Manchester, NH.

Yes, you can take the payments from just one account and leave the others untouched. This was a controversy some years ago, and was initially addressed in Private Letter Ruling 9050030 many years ago. While these special statements by the IRS only affect the status of the taxpayer requesting the ruling, the situation posed by your question was becoming such an issue that the Treasury Department issued a Regulation under Internal Revenue Code �? 72 (t)(2)(A)(iv), clarifying that any taxpayer can proceed in the fashion discussed above.

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