Inherited IRA RMD Rules: 6 Critical Facts Beneficiaries Miss
When you inherit an IRA, the rules that applied to the original owner no longer apply to you. Your relationship to the person who passed determines your timeline, your options, and the penalties you face if you miss a required withdrawal.
Last updated: June 2026
What Are the Inherited IRA RMD Rules?
The inherited IRA RMD rules are the IRS guidelines that determine when and how much you must withdraw from an IRA you received after someone’s death. RMD stands for required minimum distribution: the minimum amount the IRS requires you to take out of most retirement accounts each year. Most beneficiaries are required to empty the inherited account within a set number of years. The exact schedule depends on three things: your relationship to the original owner, whether the owner had started taking distributions before they passed, and the type of IRA you inherited.
These inherited IRA RMD rules are not one-size-fits-all. A surviving spouse, an adult child, and an estate that inherit the same IRA will each face a different set of requirements. Congress changed the core framework in 2019 with the SECURE Act, and the IRS issued final regulations in 2024 that took effect January 1, 2025. If you’ve been operating under assumptions from before those changes, some of those assumptions may no longer hold.
The rules in this article apply specifically to inherited accounts. For how required minimum distributions work on your own retirement accounts, see our article on Required Minimum Distribution Rules. For a full picture of retirement income planning, see our Financial Planning for Retirement guide.
6 Key Facts on Inherited IRA RMD Rules
- Your beneficiary category determines your entire withdrawal schedule.
- Surviving spouses get options no other beneficiary has, including the ability to roll the account into their own IRA.
- Most non-spouse beneficiaries must empty the account within 10 years of the original owner’s death.
- If the original owner had already started taking RMDs before they passed, you owe annual distributions in years 1 through 9, not just a final payout in year 10.
- Inherited Roth IRAs still follow the 10-year rule, but qualified distributions are generally tax-free and no annual distributions are required in years 1-9.
- As of 2025, the IRS enforces annual distribution requirements. Missing one triggers a penalty of up to 25% of the amount you should have withdrawn.
Surviving Spouses: The Most Flexible Option
Surviving spouses have more choices than any other beneficiary. Under current IRS rules, you can either roll the inherited IRA into your own IRA, or keep it as an inherited IRA and take distributions based on your own life expectancy.
If you roll the account into your own IRA, the money becomes subject to your own RMD timeline. You would not need to take distributions until you reach your own required starting age (73 for those born between 1951 and 1959, or 75 for those born in 1960 or later under current law). This option often makes sense if you are younger than your deceased spouse and want to let the account continue to grow.
If you keep it as an inherited IRA, distributions must start by December 31 of the year following the owner’s death. If the owner had not yet reached their required beginning date, you may have a bit more time. Either way, distributions using the life expectancy method must begin no later than December 31 of the year the owner would have reached that date.
Which option is better depends on your age, your current income, and your overall tax picture. A financial advisor or tax professional can help you compare both paths before you make a decision that cannot easily be undone.
Eligible Designated Beneficiaries: A Different Set of Rules
Certain beneficiaries qualify for the life expectancy method, which spreads distributions over their expected lifespan rather than requiring full account depletion within 10 years. These are called eligible designated beneficiaries, or EDBs.
Under current IRS rules confirmed by the 2024 final regulations, EDBs include four groups. First, minor children of the original account owner, but only the owner’s own children (not grandchildren), and only until they reach age 21. Second, individuals who are chronically ill or disabled as defined by the IRS. Third, beneficiaries who are not more than 10 years younger than the original owner. Fourth, beneficiaries who are older than the original owner are also exempt from the 10-year rule.
EDBs use the IRS Single Life Expectancy Table to determine their annual distribution amount, similar to the stretch IRA rules that existed before the SECURE Act. Distributions must generally begin by December 31 of the year following the owner’s death.
Non-Spouse Beneficiaries and the 10-Year Rule
Most adult beneficiaries, including adult children, siblings, and friends who don’t qualify as EDBs, fall under the inherited IRA RMD rules for non-designated beneficiaries: the 10-year rule. The entire inherited account must be emptied by December 31 of the 10th calendar year following the original owner’s death. If the owner passed in May 2025, for example, the account must be fully distributed by December 31, 2035.
Here is where many beneficiaries get caught off guard: the 10-year rule does not always give you complete flexibility about when you take the money. That depends on whether the original owner had reached the age at which the IRS required them to start taking distributions, known as their required beginning date.
If the original owner passed before their required beginning date, you can take distributions in any amount and at any time during the 10-year period, as long as the account is fully depleted by the deadline. You could take nothing for nine years and then withdraw everything in year 10. You could take equal amounts each year. The timing is up to you.
If the original owner passed on or after their required beginning date, a different rule applies. You must take annual minimum distributions in years 1 through 9, calculated using IRS life expectancy tables, and you must also empty the account completely by the end of year 10. You cannot simply wait and take it all at once in year 10.
According to Kiplinger, many beneficiaries and financial professionals initially assumed no annual distributions were required under the 10-year rule. The IRS’s final regulations, effective January 1, 2025, made clear that this assumption was wrong.
The required beginning date is April 1 of the year after the account owner turns 73 (or 75 for those born in 1960 or later under current law). If the owner had already crossed that date before they passed, the annual distribution requirement applies to you as the beneficiary. This is true even if they had not yet taken their own RMD for that year.
Non-Designated Beneficiaries: Estates, Trusts, and Charities
Non-designated beneficiaries face the least favorable distribution timeline of any IRA beneficiary category. When an IRA passes to an estate, certain types of trusts, or a charity, the distribution period is shorter and the tax hit is often more concentrated than it would be for a named individual beneficiary.
If the original owner passed before their required beginning date, the entire account must be distributed within 5 years. If the owner passed on or after their required beginning date, distributions are spread over the owner’s remaining life expectancy using IRS tables. This usually means you have to take money out faster than the 10-year rule allows.
Some trusts can qualify as “see-through trusts,” which allows the trust’s individual beneficiaries to use the inherited IRA rules that would apply to them directly. The requirements for see-through trust status are technical and require careful legal drafting. If a trust is currently named as an IRA beneficiary, an estate planning attorney should review whether that trust qualifies and what distribution timeline applies.
If your own estate plan names your estate as IRA beneficiary, or if no beneficiary was designated and the IRA passes to the estate by default, this is worth reviewing with an estate planning attorney now rather than leaving it for your heirs to sort out.
The inherited IRA rules are technical enough that even experienced financial advisors sometimes get the details wrong. An estate planning attorney can confirm your beneficiary category, clarify what you owe and when, and help you avoid a penalty that could reach 25% of what you should have withdrawn.
Can You Avoid RMDs on an Inherited IRA?
The inherited IRA RMD rules don’t allow most beneficiaries to opt out of required distributions. The IRS requires that the account be distributed within the timeframe that applies to your beneficiary category. What you can control is the timing within that window and how you manage the resulting tax impact.
Surviving spouses have the most flexibility. Rolling the inherited IRA into your own account defers distributions until your own required beginning date, giving the money more time to grow before you are required to take anything.
For non-spouse beneficiaries subject to the 10-year rule, distribution timing matters for taxes. If your income is lower in certain years due to retirement, job changes, or other factors, taking larger distributions in those years can reduce the total tax paid over the 10-year window. A financial advisor or CPA can model out a distribution strategy across the full period based on your specific income picture.
If you are 70.5 or older and have inherited a traditional IRA, a qualified charitable distribution may be worth exploring with your tax advisor. Under current law, QCDs let you send your IRA distributions directly to a qualified charity. The money never counts as taxable income, which means you satisfy the required withdrawal and lower your tax bill at the same time. The QCD limit is $111,000 per individual in 2026, according to Charles Schwab. A tax professional can confirm whether this applies to your specific inherited IRA situation.
If you inherited a Roth IRA, the 10-year rule still applies and the account must be emptied within 10 years. But because the original Roth IRA owner was not required to take RMDs during their lifetime, there is no annual distribution requirement in years 1 through 9 for Roth beneficiaries. You can choose when within the 10-year window to take the money. And qualified distributions from an inherited Roth IRA are generally tax-free, which changes the picture significantly compared to inheriting a traditional IRA.
What Are the New Distribution Rules for an Inherited IRA?
The biggest change since 2019: most non-spouse beneficiaries must empty an inherited IRA within 10 years and, in many cases, owe annual distributions along the way. The SECURE Act eliminated the “stretch IRA” that had allowed beneficiaries to spread distributions over their own lifetime. But the bigger surprise came later, when the IRS clarified the annual distribution requirement.
In 2022, the IRS issued proposed regulations with an important clarification. Beneficiaries subject to the 10-year rule must also take annual distributions in years 1 through 9, when the original owner had already started taking RMDs before they passed. Many beneficiaries and advisors had assumed no annual distributions were required at all during the 10-year window. The final regulations issued in July 2024 confirmed that assumption was wrong.
The IRS provided penalty relief for calendar years 2021 through 2024 while the regulations were being finalized. That relief period ended December 31, 2024. Starting January 1, 2025, the annual distribution requirements are fully enforced.
If you inherited an IRA between 2020 and 2023 and the original owner had already started taking RMDs, you were not penalized for skipping annual distributions during the relief years. Under the final regulations, you do not need to make up those missed distributions. Instead, you start fresh in 2025 using an adjusted life expectancy factor, as confirmed by Kiplinger. A tax professional can calculate the correct factor for your specific situation and confirm the distribution schedule through the end of your 10-year window.
Failing to take a required annual distribution from an inherited IRA now carries a penalty of 25% of the amount you should have withdrawn. That penalty is reduced to 10% if you correct the shortfall within the IRS two-year correction window, per Kiplinger. The full details of the inherited IRA rules are outlined in IRS Publication 590-B. The IRS also maintains a dedicated page on Required Minimum Distributions for IRA Beneficiaries that covers beneficiary categories and distribution options.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if I miss the 10-year deadline on an inherited IRA?
If you fail to empty an inherited IRA by the 10-year deadline, the IRS treats the remaining balance as a missed required distribution. The penalty is 25% of the amount still in the account at the deadline. That penalty can drop to 10% if you correct the shortfall within the IRS two-year correction window by taking the distribution and filing Form 5329. A tax professional can walk you through the correction process.
What is the disadvantage of an inherited IRA?
The biggest drawback is the tax hit. Distributions from a traditional inherited IRA are taxed as ordinary income in the year you take them. If you are forced to take large distributions under the 10-year rule, those withdrawals can push you into a higher tax bracket for multiple years. Unlike your own IRA, an inherited IRA has a mandatory end date: you cannot contribute to it, you cannot roll it into a personally-owned account (with one exception for surviving spouses), and it cannot be combined with any other retirement account you hold.
How do you calculate the RMD on an inherited IRA?
For eligible designated beneficiaries using the life expectancy method, the annual distribution amount is calculated by dividing the prior year-end account balance by your life expectancy factor from the IRS Single Life Expectancy Table (Table I in IRS Publication 590-B). For non-spouse beneficiaries who owe annual distributions in years 1 through 9 under the 10-year rule, the IRS uses a similar life expectancy calculation. Your IRA custodian can typically provide the required distribution amount for the year. A tax professional can verify the calculation and confirm whether annual distributions apply to your situation at all.
Can I contribute to an inherited IRA?
No. You cannot make new contributions to an inherited IRA under any circumstances. An inherited IRA can only hold the assets transferred at the original owner’s death. You also cannot combine an inherited IRA with an IRA you own personally, with one exception: a surviving spouse who chooses to treat the inherited account as their own. For everyone else, the inherited IRA remains a separate account that can only be drawn down, not built up.
Can I convert an inherited IRA to a Roth IRA?
In most cases, no. Non-spouse beneficiaries cannot convert an inherited IRA to a Roth IRA. Surviving spouses have an option other beneficiaries don’t: they can roll the inherited IRA into their own IRA and then convert that account to a Roth if they choose, though the converted amount is taxed as ordinary income in the year of conversion. A tax professional can help you evaluate whether a Roth conversion makes financial sense given your income picture and the account balance involved.
Many people who work through an inherited IRA with a tax professional say the same thing afterward: they wish they had made the call sooner. The rules aren’t intuitive, the deadlines are real, and having a plan in place means the next 10 years don’t come with annual surprises. That clarity is worth the conversation.
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This article is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Always consult a licensed financial advisor, CPA, or attorney for advice specific to your situation.
