Is there a way to avoid a designated Roth account being subject to required minimum distributions?
Rev. 08/23/07, E-mail Alert 2007-11

If the designated Roth account is directly rolled into a Roth IRA before the calendar year in which the participant attains age 70½, the individual avoids taking RMDs since Roth IRAs are not subject to RMDs.

Keep in mind that the Roth IRA five-year clock is independent of the designated Roth five-year clock. If directly rolling a qualified distribution from a designated Roth to a Roth IRA, the five-year clock in the Roth IRA will have to be met before earnings accrued in the Roth IRA, after the rollover of the designated Roth qualified distribution, are tax-free.

However, if the individual already has a Roth IRA established for over five years at the time of the rollover, those years count towards the five-year clock — even for the designated Roth rollover amount.