May the individual who rolled from a designated Roth to a Roth IRA, and who continues to work and contribute to the designated Roth make rollovers after age 70½ to the Roth IRA?
Rev. 08/23/07, E-mail Alert 2007-11 Updated 12/29/08

If additional Roth 401(k) deferrals are made into the plan, after that first rollover, the additional deferrals made after age 70½ may be rolled over. However, the participant will have to receive the minimum distribution for that year first — before any designated Roth money is directly rolled to a Roth IRA. This is because once an individual is in required minimum distribution status, the first distributions each year are required to be counted towards the required minimum distribution for that year. Only amounts in excess of the RMD are eligible for rollover. For example, an individual who continues to work after attainment of age 70½, can continue to participate in a 401(k) plan, but is prohibited from making IRA contributions (other than rollover). If the individual contributes $22,000 for 2009 as a designated Roth contribution before the end of the calendar year, the individual can roll it over to a Roth IRA and not have to take it as part of the required distribution amount, provided the individual has already received the actual RMD for the year in the form of pretax amounts. If however, the amount remained in the account until December 31st of the year, then when it's withdrawn in subsequent years, it would have to be taken pro rata with pretax amounts.