Want your exact inherited IRA RMD - the Single Life factor, this year's dollar amount, the empty-by deadline, and the tax estimate? Enter the death year, your age, and the balance in the calculator.
Open the Inherited IRA RMD Calculator →If you inherited an IRA after 2019 and you are not an eligible designated beneficiary, you are subject to the 10-year rule: the account must be emptied by December 31 of the 10th year after the original owner's death. Whether you must also take an annual RMD in years 1 through 9 depends on the owner's death timing - required only if they died on or after their required beginning date. Those annual RMDs use the IRS Single Life Expectancy Table and are enforced beginning 2025 after the IRS waived them for 2021-2024. Eligible designated beneficiaries - a spouse, minor child, disabled or chronically ill person, or someone not more than 10 years younger - can stretch over their life expectancy. A missed RMD costs a 25 percent excise tax (10 percent if corrected timely).
- 10-year rule: most non-spouse heirs must empty an inherited account by December 31 of the 10th year after death.
- Annual RMD years 1-9: required only when the owner died on or after their required beginning date (age 73+).
- Enforced from 2025: Notices 2022-53, 2023-54, and 2024-35 waived the annual-RMD penalty for 2021-2024 only.
- Single Life Table: beneficiaries use Table I, fixing the factor in year one and subtracting one each year.
- Five EDB categories: surviving spouse, minor child of the owner, disabled, chronically ill, not more than 10 years younger.
- Minor child: stretches only to age 21, then the 10-year clock starts (account empty by age 31).
- Spouse options: a surviving spouse can treat the IRA as their own and avoid the inherited rules entirely.
- Inherited Roth: still subject to the 10-year rule, but no annual RMDs and generally tax-free.
- Penalty: a missed RMD or a failure to empty by year 10 is a 25 percent excise tax, 10 percent if corrected in two years.
- Taxable as ordinary income for traditional accounts, with no early-withdrawal penalty regardless of the heir's age.
What an Inherited IRA RMD Is
When you inherit a traditional IRA, SEP, SIMPLE, or a workplace plan such as a 401(k), the account becomes an inherited IRA in your name as beneficiary. The money is still tax-deferred, but the law no longer lets it sit untouched for your full life. A required minimum distribution (RMD) is the amount the rules force you to withdraw, and for inherited accounts those rules changed dramatically with the SECURE Act of 2019.
Before 2020, most beneficiaries could "stretch" distributions over their own life expectancy, drawing the account down slowly over decades. The SECURE Act replaced that for most non-spouse beneficiaries with the 10-year rule, which compresses the payout into a single decade. The mechanics now turn on two questions: which type of beneficiary you are, and whether the original owner had reached their required beginning date when they died.
The Governing Law
Inherited-account distributions are governed by IRC §401(a)(9), the SECURE Act, and the Treasury final regulations published July 19, 2024 after years of proposed rules and transition relief. The detailed mechanics, including the Single Life Expectancy Table, live in IRS Publication 590-B. This guide pairs with the Inherited IRA RMD Calculator, which applies these rules to your numbers.
The 10-Year Rule
The 10-year rule is the default for most people who inherit a retirement account after 2019. It requires the beneficiary to withdraw the entire balance by December 31 of the tenth year following the original owner's death. The clock starts the year after death, so an account inherited in 2024 must be fully distributed by the end of 2034.
The rule applies to designated beneficiaries who are individuals but do not fall into one of the eligible designated beneficiary categories. In practice that is most adult children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and friends named on an IRA. There is no requirement to take equal annual amounts (unless the annual-RMD rule below applies); the only hard requirement is that the account hits zero by the end of year ten.
| Owner's death timing | Annual RMD years 1-9? | Year-10 deadline? |
|---|---|---|
| Died on or after required beginning date | Yes - Single Life Table | Yes - empty the account |
| Died before required beginning date | No | Yes - empty the account |
Even when no annual RMD is required, every calendar year between death and the deadline still counts toward the ten. Inheriting in 2021 does not give you ten fresh years starting in 2025; the deadline is still the end of 2031.
Annual RMDs in Years 1 Through 9
This is the part of the rules that surprised the most beneficiaries. When the original owner died on or after their required beginning date - meaning they had already started taking their own RMDs - the 2024 final regulations require the beneficiary to keep taking an annual RMD in each of years one through nine, then empty the account in year ten. The reasoning is that distributions already in pay status cannot simply stop.
For years the rule was unclear, so the IRS provided relief. Notices 2022-53, 2023-54, and 2024-35 waived the 25 percent missed-RMD penalty for these annual distributions for 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. That relief has now ended: annual RMDs inside the 10-year window are enforced beginning in 2025. A beneficiary who skipped 2021-2024 owes nothing for those years, but must begin annual RMDs in 2025 and keep the year-10 deadline.
When No Annual RMD Applies
If the owner died before their required beginning date - for example, a 68-year-old who had not yet started RMDs, or any Roth owner, who never has lifetime RMDs - there is no annual RMD requirement inside the ten years. The beneficiary can take nothing for nine years and withdraw everything in year ten, though that is rarely the smartest tax move. The calculator asks the death-timing question precisely because it flips this requirement on or off.
Eligible Designated Beneficiaries
Eligible designated beneficiaries (EDBs) escape the 10-year rule and can stretch distributions over their own life expectancy, much like the pre-SECURE world. The statute (IRC §401(a)(9)(E)(ii)) lists five categories, and the difference in outcome can be enormous - decades of slow withdrawals instead of a compressed decade.
- Surviving spouse. The most flexible beneficiary, with options no one else has (covered below).
- Minor child of the original owner. Can stretch only until age 21; at 21 the 10-year rule begins, so the account must be empty by age 31. A grandchild or any non-child minor does not qualify.
- Disabled individual. Someone who meets the IRC §72(m)(7) definition of disabled.
- Chronically ill individual. Someone certified as chronically ill under the long-term-care definitions.
- An individual not more than 10 years younger than the owner. Often a sibling, partner, or friend close in age to the deceased.
EDB status is determined at the date of death. A disabled or chronically ill EDB who later loses that status, or a minor child reaching 21, transitions into a 10-year window at that point. Everyone who is an individual but not an EDB is simply a designated beneficiary under the 10-year rule.
The Single Life Expectancy Table (Table I)
Beneficiaries do not use the Uniform Lifetime Table that original owners use. They use the Single Life Expectancy Table (Table I in Publication 590-B), which gives a longer single-life factor. The mechanics differ for non-spouse beneficiaries and spouses.
The Subtract-One Method (Non-Spouse)
A non-spouse beneficiary looks up their attained age in the first distribution year - the year after the owner's death - and uses that Single Life factor. In every later year, the factor is simply reduced by one rather than looked up fresh. A beneficiary age 55 in year one uses 31.6; the next year 30.6, then 29.6, and so on. The annual RMD is the prior December 31 balance divided by the current factor.
| Age | Factor | Age | Factor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 45.7 | 62 | 25.4 |
| 45 | 41.0 | 65 | 22.9 |
| 50 | 36.2 | 70 | 18.8 |
| 55 | 31.6 | 75 | 14.8 |
| 57 | 29.8 | 80 | 11.2 |
| 60 | 27.1 | 85 | 8.1 |
The factor is larger than the owner's Uniform Lifetime factor at the same age, which means the required percentage is smaller, but the inherited account still empties faster overall because the factor falls by a full year annually. Run any age through the Inherited IRA RMD Calculator to see the dollar amount.
Surviving Spouse Options
A surviving spouse has the widest set of choices and should rarely act in a hurry. The three main paths produce very different tax timelines.
- Treat the IRA as your own. A spouse can roll the inherited IRA into their own IRA or simply retitle it. This removes the inherited-account rules entirely; the account is now governed by the normal owner rules, and RMDs do not start until the surviving spouse reaches their own age 73. For a younger spouse who does not need the money, this is usually the best outcome.
- Keep it as an inherited IRA, life-expectancy method. A spouse can take life-expectancy distributions and, unlike a non-spouse, recalculate the Single Life factor at their current age each year rather than subtracting one. This can delay or reduce distributions when the spouse is younger than the deceased.
- Use the 10-year rule. A spouse can elect the 10-year rule, though this is less common because the other options are usually more favorable.
Because treating the IRA as your own is hard to undo, model the alternatives first. A spouse who needs income before 59 and a half, for instance, may want to keep the account inherited so distributions avoid the early-withdrawal penalty, then roll it over later.
Inherited Roth IRAs
An inherited Roth IRA follows the same 10-year rule for most non-spouse beneficiaries, so the account must still be emptied by the end of the tenth year after death. The key difference is timing inside those years: because a Roth owner never has lifetime RMDs, a Roth owner is always treated as having died before the required beginning date. That means there are no annual RMDs during the ten years - the beneficiary can let the account grow tax-free and withdraw it all in year ten.
The distributions are generally tax-free, provided the original owner had held a Roth IRA for at least five years. This makes an inherited Roth one of the most valuable assets to receive: a decade of additional tax-free growth followed by a tax-free payout. For estate planning, converting a traditional IRA to a Roth before death can hand heirs this tax-free inherited Roth instead of a fully taxable traditional account. The Roth Conversion Tax Calculator models that trade-off.
The 25 Percent Missed-RMD Penalty
Failing to take a required inherited-account distribution - either an annual RMD inside the ten years or the full year-10 sweep - triggers the excise tax under IRC §4974. The penalty is 25 percent of the amount you should have withdrawn but did not. SECURE 2.0 cut this from the old 50 percent rate, but it is still a heavy cost.
There is a meaningful escape hatch. If you take the missed distribution and file Form 5329 within a two-year correction window, the penalty drops to 10 percent. The IRS also retains the authority to waive the penalty entirely for reasonable cause: take the missed amount, file Form 5329, and attach a statement explaining what happened. The IRS routinely grants these waivers for honest mistakes, but doing nothing is the only way to be stuck with the full 25 percent.
The practical takeaway for beneficiaries: do not assume the 10-year rule means you can ignore the account until year ten. If the owner died on or after their required beginning date, the annual RMD is now live for 2025 and later, and the penalty for skipping it is real.
Not sure whether you owe an annual RMD or just face the year-10 deadline? The calculator answers it from the death year, your age, and the balance.
Open the Inherited IRA RMD Calculator →Practitioner Insight (LMN Tax Inc.)
The death-timing question is the first thing we pin down, because it decides everything else. Pull the original owner's last RMD record or their age at death: if they had reached their required beginning date, annual RMDs are required in years one through nine and they are enforced for 2025 onward. We have already seen beneficiaries who coasted through the 2021-2024 waiver assume the waiver was permanent. It was not.
Even when annual RMDs are optional, we almost never let a client wait until year ten to empty a large inherited IRA. Dropping a $400,000 account into a single tax year can push a working beneficiary into the 32 or 35 percent bracket and trigger NIIT and IRMAA effects. We model a level-withdrawal plan that spreads the income across all ten years and fills up a target bracket each year, which routinely saves five figures in total tax versus the year-ten lump.
For surviving spouses, the spousal rollover is the default we test first, but not always the answer. A spouse under 59 and a half who needs the money should usually keep the account inherited so withdrawals avoid the 10 percent early-distribution penalty, then roll it to their own IRA after turning 59 and a half. Acting too fast - retitling immediately - can lock a young widow or widower out of penalty-free access to their own inheritance.
The minor-child rule trips up estate plans constantly. Parents name a young child as IRA beneficiary expecting a lifetime stretch, but the stretch ends at 21 and the 10-year clock starts then, so the account is gone by 31. When the goal is genuinely long-term, a properly drafted see-through trust or a different beneficiary structure usually serves the family better. We coordinate the IRA beneficiary form with the rest of the estate plan rather than letting the form drive the result.
Real-World Scenarios
When the General Rules Differ
- Non-individual beneficiaries. An estate, a non-see-through trust, or a charity is not a designated beneficiary. If the owner died before the required beginning date, the 5-year rule applies; if on or after, distributions stretch over the owner's remaining "ghost" single life expectancy.
- See-through trusts. A properly drafted conduit or accumulation trust can let trust beneficiaries qualify as designated or eligible designated beneficiaries, but the drafting is technical and easy to get wrong.
- Successor beneficiaries. If you inherit an already-inherited IRA, you generally get a 10-year window of your own measured from the prior beneficiary's death.
- Pre-2020 inheritances. Accounts inherited before 2020 keep the old life-expectancy stretch rules and are outside the SECURE Act regime.
- Spousal recalculation. A surviving spouse using the life-expectancy method recalculates the factor each year rather than subtracting one, so the spouse's RMD differs from the non-spouse subtract-one result.
- Multiple beneficiaries. Splitting an inherited IRA into separate accounts by the deadline lets each beneficiary use their own category and life expectancy; failing to split can force the least favorable rule on everyone.
Frequently Asked Questions
What to Do Next
Confirm your beneficiary category and whether the owner died before or after their required beginning date, then run your numbers in the Inherited IRA RMD Calculator to see this year's required amount and the empty-by deadline.
Do not retitle anything yet. Compare the spousal rollover against keeping the account inherited, especially if you are under 59 and a half. The Required Minimum Distributions Guide covers the owner rules you would step into.
Inherited IRA distributions are ordinary income. Check the effect on your bracket and Social Security with the Social Security Tax Calculator and the AGI & MAGI Calculator.
Leaving heirs a Roth IRA hands them tax-free distributions. Model a conversion with the Roth Conversion Tax Calculator and read the Roth Conversion Tax Guide.
- IRC §401(a)(9) (Cornell LII) — Required Distributions — The minimum-distribution rules, the 10-year rule, and the eligible-designated-beneficiary categories in §401(a)(9)(E).
- IRS Publication 590-B — Distributions from IRAs — Appendix B, Table I (Single Life Expectancy), the beneficiary rules, the subtract-one method, and the 10-year rule.
- IRS — RMDs for IRA Beneficiaries — The distribution framework based on the owner's death timing and the beneficiary type, referencing Table I.
- Treasury Final Regulations (July 19, 2024) — The rule requiring annual RMDs in years 1-9 when the owner died on or after the required beginning date.
- IRS Notice 2024-35 — The final year of penalty relief (2024) for annual RMDs inside the 10-year window; enforcement begins 2025.
- IRS RMD FAQs — The 25 percent missed-RMD excise tax, reduced to 10 percent if corrected within two years, and Form 5329.