What are the rules for an inherited IRA RMD?

What are the rules for an inherited IRA RMD?

The rules depend on who you are to the person who died, and whether they'd already started their own required minimum distributions. Since the SECURE Act, for owners who died in 2020 or later, most non-spouse beneficiaries must empty the inherited IRA within 10 years of death. Eligible designated beneficiaries can instead stretch withdrawals over their own life expectancy¹. These rules apply to traditional, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs; inherited Roth IRAs follow a lighter version, covered below. See the estate planning glossary for terms like "required beginning date."

Unlike a house or a brokerage account, an inherited IRA gets no step-up in basis: withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income⁵. See step-up in basis and inheriting money and taxes for how other inherited assets compare.

Who counts as an eligible designated beneficiary

Four categories of beneficiary are exempt from the flat 10-year rule and may follow life-expectancy-based rules instead¹:

• A surviving spouse. Has the most options; see below.
• A minor child of the account owner. Life-expectancy withdrawals only until age 21, when the 10-year clock starts, regardless of state law⁷.
• A disabled or chronically ill individual. Must meet the IRS definitions in place when the owner died.
• Someone not more than 10 years younger than the owner. Often a sibling or domestic partner named directly on the account.

Anyone else, an adult child, a grandchild, a friend, is a non-eligible designated beneficiary under the 10-year rule. Check your named beneficiaries with the beneficiary designations checklist to see which rule your heirs will face.

The 10-year rule for inherited IRA distributions

If you are not an eligible designated beneficiary, the entire inherited IRA must be distributed by December 31 of the 10th year after the owner's death. Whether you also owe an annual distribution inside that window depends on when the owner died.

If the owner died on or after their required beginning date

You must take an annual RMD in years one through nine, based on your own single life expectancy, in addition to emptying the account by year 10⁷. The IRS had waived the excise tax on missed 2021 through 2024 RMDs while the rule was unsettled, but that relief doesn't extend to 2025 or later¹.

If the owner died before their required beginning date

You don't owe an annual RMD in years one through nine. You can withdraw on any schedule, including waiting until year 10, as long as the account reaches zero by December 31 of that year¹.

Which situation applies to you

Sources: IRS, Publication 590-B; Federal Register, TD 10001, checked 2026-09-19.

If there is no designated beneficiary

An IRA with no living named beneficiary, or with the estate named, is a no designated beneficiary account. If the owner died before their required beginning date, the five-year rule applies: the balance must come out by December 31 of the year containing the fifth anniversary of death⁵. If the owner died on or after that date, distributions instead follow the owner's own remaining life expectancy, counted down by one each year⁵.

What if a trust is named as the IRA beneficiary?

A trust can look through to its human beneficiaries for RMD purposes, but only if it's a see-through trust: valid under state law, irrevocable at the owner's death, with every possible beneficiary an identifiable individual⁵. Two designs are treated differently under the final regulations⁷:

• A conduit trust passes every distribution straight through to one named beneficiary, so that beneficiary's status decides whether the 10-year rule or life-expectancy withdrawals apply.
• An accumulation trust lets the trustee hold distributions instead of paying them out. Since the money could end up with any potential beneficiary, all of them count toward the RMD rule, usually forcing the 10-year rule unless everyone qualifies as an eligible designated beneficiary¹³.

Money an accumulation trust retains is taxed at compressed trust brackets, hitting the top 37% federal rate at just $16,000 of retained income in 2026¹⁰.

What happens if the beneficiary dies before the 10 years are up?

An inherited IRA can pass again if the beneficiary dies before it's fully distributed. Which clock the new "successor beneficiary" follows depends on the first beneficiary's type⁷:

• Successor of a non-eligible designated beneficiary: no fresh 10 years; the account must still empty by the end of the original window.
• Successor of an eligible designated beneficiary taking life-expectancy withdrawals: a new 10-year window starts from that beneficiary's death instead, and the successor is never an eligible designated beneficiary themselves⁷.

Rules for a surviving spouse

A surviving spouse who is the sole beneficiary has more choices than any other beneficiary¹:

1. Treat the IRA as your own. Roll it into your own IRA; RMDs then follow ordinary lifetime rules.
2. Remain a beneficiary. Take distributions using your own single life expectancy, recalculated each year, allowing smaller withdrawals early on.
3. Follow the 10-year rule. Available if the owner died before their required beginning date.

Rules for inherited Roth IRA RMDs

An inherited Roth IRA follows the same 10-year deadline as a traditional IRA for non-eligible designated beneficiaries, but without the annual-RMD requirement in years one through nine, since a Roth owner is never required to take RMDs during their lifetime¹. A Roth beneficiary can spread withdrawals however they choose, or wait until year 10, as long as the account is empty by the deadline. Qualified earnings withdrawals are generally tax-free; contributions are always tax-free¹.

How to calculate your inherited IRA RMD

1. Confirm the account type and your beneficiary category, then find the owner's required beginning date: April 1 of the year after turning 73 (2023-2032) or 75 (2033 or later)⁵. Check whether death came before or after that date.
2. If you owe an annual RMD, look up your age in the Single Life Expectancy Table, Table I⁵, then divide the prior-year balance by that factor. Reduce the factor by one each later year instead of a new lookup, unless recalculating annually as a spouse.
3. Withdraw that amount by December 31, and track the running total so the balance reaches zero by the 10-year (or 5-year) deadline. Keep each year's calculation with your records.

Can I use a qualified charitable distribution to satisfy an inherited IRA RMD?

Yes. At 70½ or older, you can send some or all of your RMD directly to a qualifying charity as a QCD, counting toward your RMD without adding to taxable income, up to $111,000 per person in 2026, up from $108,000 in 2025²,⁹. The gift must go directly from custodian to charity; money paid to you first doesn't qualify.

Does my state tax an inherited IRA withdrawal?

It depends on where you live, not where the original owner lived: the beneficiary's state of residence taxes the withdrawal. Nine states tax none of it: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming have no personal income tax, and Washington taxes only capital gains¹¹. Some states with a general income tax, including Illinois, Iowa, Mississippi and Pennsylvania, exempt some or all retirement distributions (AARP, 13 States That Don't Tax IRA and 401(k) Distributions, checked 2026-09-30). Whether that reaches a younger beneficiary is state-specific, so confirm with your state's department of revenue. See do you pay taxes on inheritance for other inherited assets.

Common mistakes

• Assuming the 10-year rule means waiting until year 10: skipping years one through nine when the owner had started RMDs triggers the excise tax¹.
• Confusing the 10-year rule with the older 5-year rule, which now applies only with no individual designated beneficiary⁵.
• A spouse rolling over too early, before checking whether beneficiary-status withdrawals would be smaller short term.
• Forgetting that Roth and traditional inherited IRAs have different annual-RMD requirements despite the same deadline¹.
• Missing that a minor child's clock starts at age 21, not the state-law age of majority⁷.
• Not filing Form 5329 for a missed distribution, required even when requesting the penalty be reduced².

What to record in a family guide

• The custodian, account number and type (traditional, SEP, SIMPLE or Roth) for every IRA
• The owner's date of birth and required beginning date, if death hasn't occurred yet
• Named and contingent beneficiaries, and whether each is a spouse, minor child, disabled, chronically ill, or none of these
• Whether the owner had already started RMDs, and the most recent RMD amount taken
• Where beneficiary distribution paperwork and prior Form 5329 filings are kept

This is the kind of detail a family guide keeps in one place, so a family isn't reconstructing account history under pressure.

When to get professional help

Get a CPA involved when you're unsure whether you owe an annual RMD, when a spouse is deciding between rolling over and staying a beneficiary, when the account splits among multiple beneficiaries, when a trust is named, or when you've missed a distribution and need to file Form 5329. A probate or estate attorney can help if the beneficiary designation is unclear or the account defaults to the estate; the executor checklist covers the wider settlement process.