Inherited IRA: the 10-year rule, yearly RMDs and how to spread the withdrawals

The SECURE Act changed the rules for people who inherit a retirement account from someone who died in 2020 or later. Most beneficiaries can no longer stretch withdrawals over their own lifetime. Every figure below comes from our inherited IRA calculator, which uses the IRS Single Life Expectancy Table (Publication 590-B, Table I) and gives the same results as the publication's examples.

Which rule applies to you

• Eligible designated beneficiaries can still take yearly minimums based on their life expectancy: the owner's surviving spouse, the owner's minor child, a disabled or chronically ill person, and anyone not more than 10 years younger than the owner. Spouses and minor children have extra options not covered here.
• Everyone else, including most adult children and grandchildren, follows the 10-year rule: the account must be empty by December 31 of the 10th year after the year of death.
• Under the 10-year rule, if the owner had reached their required beginning date (April 1 after the year they reached RMD age), you must also take a minimum every year in between. If they died before that date, nothing is required until the 10th year. The IRS didn't enforce the yearly minimums for 2021 through 2024 (Notice 2024-35 and earlier notices), so they apply from 2025.

How the yearly minimum is worked out

Find your life expectancy in Table I at your age on your birthday in the year after the death, then subtract 1 for each year after that. If the owner had reached their required beginning date, also take the owner's life expectancy at their age in the year of death, minus 1 for each later year, and use whichever is longer. Divide the account balance on December 31 of the previous year by that number. The publication's example: a father died in 2021 at 80, and his child was 55 in 2022, a life expectancy of 31.6; in 2026 the divisor is 31.6 − 4 = 27.6, so $400,000 would require $14,492.75.

Example: $400,000 inherited from a parent

A parent born in 1948 died in 2024, after starting RMDs. Their child, born in 1975, isn't an eligible beneficiary, so the account must be empty by December 31, 2034, with a minimum every year until then. The child was 50 in 2025 (Table I: 36.2), so the 2026 divisor is 35.2; the parent's own life expectancy (14.1 at 76, minus 2) is shorter. With $400,000 at the end of 2025 and 5% growth a year:

Taking only the minimum leaves $485,517.73 to come out in 2034, all of it taxable income in one year. Spreading it evenly takes more in the early years ($46,666.67 in 2026) and never more than $68,947.92 in a year. Every withdrawal from an inherited traditional IRA is taxed as ordinary income, so the even plan can keep much more of it in lower tax brackets. It takes out less in total ($514,573 against $594,638) only because less money stays in the account to grow.

If the parent died before their required beginning date

With the same facts but an owner who hadn't reached their required beginning date, no minimum is required until 2034. Leaving everything in at 5% a year would mean one withdrawal of $620,531.29 in 2034. The even plan is the same as above.

If you're an eligible beneficiary

A sibling born in 1956, 8 years younger than the owner, can stretch the withdrawals. They were 69 in 2025 (Table I: 19.6), so in 2026 the divisor is 18.6 and the minimum on $400,000 is $21,505.38. There's no 10-year deadline: the divisor keeps falling by 1 a year.

Worth knowing

• If the owner hadn't taken their own RMD in the year they died, the beneficiary must take it.
• Missing a required minimum costs a 25% excise tax on the shortfall, reduced to 10% if corrected in time.
• Trusts, estates and several beneficiaries follow further rules; the IRA custodian can confirm your figures.

Enter your own dates and balance in the inherited IRA calculator. For your own IRA's minimums, see the RMD calculator.