Back last century, in the wild, wild west of SEPP plans there were dozens of life expectancy tables; some more aggressive than others all built by pretty responsible people1. The IRS issued Revenue Ruling 2002-62 and said enough! We are going to use one, and only one, life expectancy table and we are going to publish it — end of story.
Actually, the above is not technically true:
(A) Our decennial census actually has two pretty important outputs:
(1) The giving and taking away of US House of Representative seats2.
(2) Because the census measures who lived and died it gives us new mortality tables once every 10 years. The single life expectancy table is a direct product of that mortality table3.
(B) The IRS will actually publish the contents of TD 9930 at its next available opportunity in Publication 590B. Further, the IRS always published three tables: (1) single life; (2) joint & survivor life; (3) uniform life. All three tables are derived, in this case, from the 2020 census and mortality table.
(C) The output of the 2010 census was not materially different from the 2000 census resulting in no change in the life expectancy tables.
(D) The output of the 2020 census was materially different from 2000 resulting in across the board increases in life expectancy in the neighborhood of 2 years or approximately a 6% decrease in distribution dollar computations. Therefore, BAD NEWS — all else equal, your distributions go down by approximately 6%; GOOD NEWS — on average, you are now going to live two years longer.
(E) Presumably, the IRS will publish new life expectancy tables in 2031, or soon thereafter to reflect the results of the 2030 census. Might those tables reverse somewhat as a result of Covid? Unknown.
The new single life and joint life expectancy tables are reproduced following. Please print it for yourself so as to not be confused with the older tables that might linger on other websites and/or online distribution calculators.
Unfortunately, your sex, personal circumstances of profession and healthcare are irrelevant; e.g race car drivers versus accountants and health fanatics verus the terminally ill are ignored; everyone now gets to use the same tables.
| Age | Single | Uniform |
| 10 | 74.9 | 88.2 |
| 11 | 73.9 | 87.2 |
| 12 | 72.9 | 86.2 |
| 13 | 71.9 | 85.2 |
| 14 | 70.9 | 84.2 |
| 15 | 69.9 | 83.2 |
| 16 | 69.0 | 82.2 |
| 17 | 68.0 | 81.2 |
| 18 | 67.0 | 80.2 |
| 19 | 66.0 | 79.2 |
| 20 | 65.0 | 78.2 |
| 21 | 64.1 | 77.2 |
| 22 | 63.1 | 76.2 |
| 23 | 62.1 | 75.2 |
| 24 | 61.1 | 74.2 |
| 25 | 60.2 | 73.3 |
| 26 | 59.2 | 72.3 |
| 27 | 58.2 | 71.3 |
| 28 | 57.3 | 70.3 |
| 29 | 56.3 | 69.3 |
| 30 | 55.3 | 68.3 |
| 31 | 54.4 | 67.3 |
| 32 | 53.4 | 66.3 |
| 33 | 52.5 | 65.3 |
| 34 | 51.5 | 64.3 |
| 35 | 50.5 | 63.3 |
| 36 | 49.6 | 62.3 |
| 37 | 48.6 | 61.3 |
| 38 | 47.7 | 60.3 |
| 39 | 46.7 | 59.4 |
| 40 | 45.7 | 58.4 |
| 41 | 44.8 | 57.4 |
| 42 | 43.8 | 56.4 |
| 43 | 42.9 | 55.4 |
| 44 | 41.9 | 54.4 |
| 45 | 41.0 | 53.4 |
| 46 | 40.0 | 52.4 |
| 47 | 39.0 | 51.5 |
| 48 | 38.1 | 50.5 |
| 49 | 37.1 | 49.5 |
| 50 | 36.2 | 48.5 |
| 51 | 35.3 | 47.5 |
| 52 | 34.3 | 46.5 |
| 53 | 33.4 | 45.6 |
| 54 | 32.5 | 44.6 |
| 55 | 31.6 | 43.6 |
| 56 | 30.6 | 42.6 |
| 57 | 29.8 | 41.6 |
| 58 | 28.9 | 40.7 |
| 59 | 28.0 | 39.7 |
| 60 | 27.1 | 38.7 |
| 61 | 26.2 | 37.7 |
| 62 | 25.4 | 36.8 |
| 63 | 24.5 | 35.8 |
| 64 | 23.7 | 34.9 |
| 65 | 22.9 | 33.9 |
| 66 | 22.0 | 33.0 |
| 67 | 21.2 | 32.0 |
| 68 | 20.4 | 31.1 |
| 69 | 19.6 | 30.1 |
| 70 | 18.8 | 29.2 |
| 71 | 18.0 | 28.3 |
| 72 | 17.2 | 27.4 |
| 73 | 16.4 | 26.5 |
| 74 | 15.6 | 25.5 |
| 75 | 14.8 | 24.6 |
| 76 | 14.1 | 23.7 |
| 77 | 13.3 | 22.9 |
| 78 | 12.6 | 22.0 |
| 79 | 11.9 | 21.1 |
| 80 | 11.2 | 20.2 |
| 81 | 10.5 | 19.4 |
| 82 | 9.9 | 18.5 |
| 83 | 9.3 | 17.7 |
| 84 | 8.7 | 16.8 |
| 85 | 8.1 | 16.0 |
| 86 | 7.6 | 15.2 |
| 87 | 7.1 | 14.4 |
| 88 | 6.6 | 13.7 |
| 89 | 6.1 | 12.9 |
| 90 | 5.7 | 12.2 |
| 91 | 5.3 | 11.5 |
| 92 | 4.9 | 10.8 |
| 93 | 4.6 | 10.1 |
| 94 | 4.3 | 9.5 |
| 95 | 4.0 | 8.9 |
| 96 | 3.7 | 8.4 |
| 97 | 2.4 | 7.8 |
| 98 | 3.2 | 7.3 |
| 99 | 3.0 | 6.8 |
| 100 | 2.8 | 6.4 |
© William J. Stecker, CPA
1 Like the Society of Life Actuaries; some 31,000 members strong.
2 We can only hope more people continue to exit California, Texas and New York (LOL).
3 The latest table was published in Treasury Decision 9930 in the Fall of 2021.
