Treasury Regulation § 1.403(b)-3 Q&A 2 provides that the 401(a)(9) minimum distribution rules do not apply to the portion of an individual's 403(b) account balance as of December 31, 1986. I have heard that distribution of this pre-1987 balance can be deferred until age 75, although I cannot find the regulation (or other authority) that refers to age 75. Does anyone know this citation?

Thank you,
D.L.

Maybe (but doesn't ref 75, which i now see you are spec. ref):

A transition rule (sometimes referred to as the "TEFRA 242(b) election") permits the indefinite postponement of the start of benefits beyond age 70-1/2 where the method of distribution would not have disqualified the plan under the pre-'84 rules. Under the pre-'84 rules, an owner-employee had to begin receiving distributions no later than the last day of the taxable year in which he reached age 70-1/2, while a common law employee could delay the start of distributions until retirement, if the employee retired after reaching age 70-1/2.

See IRS Publication 575- page 11 at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p571.pdf.

Note that the option to defer RMD on the pre-1987 balance may be available only if the 403(b) provider separately accounts for the pre-1987 balance.

I believe that age 75 was mentioned in a couple of old Letter Rulings. You might look at Let. Ruls. 9345044 & 7825010.

Hope this helps.