Inherited IRA RMD Rules 2026: The 10-Year Rule Explained
Inheriting an IRA comes with a completely different rulebook than the one that applies to your own retirement account. The 2019 SECURE Act ended the old "stretch IRA" for most beneficiaries, and a 2024 IRS final regulation clarified a question that had been genuinely unsettled for years: whether annual RMDs are also required during the resulting 10-year window, not just a final deadline to empty the account.
1. The 10-year rule is the default for most beneficiaries
If you inherited a traditional or Roth IRA from someone who died in 2020 or later, and you're not an eligible designated beneficiary (defined below), the entire account must be emptied by December 31 of the 10th year following the year of death. There's no requirement to spread withdrawals evenly — you can take it all in year 10, take nothing until then, or spread it however you like, subject to one major exception.
2. Annual RMDs may still be required within that 10-year window
The IRS's 2024 final regulations confirmed that if the original account owner had already reached their required beginning date (generally age 73) before they died, their beneficiary must take annual RMDs in years 1 through 9 of the 10-year window, calculated using the beneficiary's own life expectancy from the IRS Single Life Expectancy Table — in addition to the hard deadline to empty the account by year 10. If the original owner died before their required beginning date, no annual RMDs are required; the beneficiary can wait and withdraw the full balance any time before the end of year 10.
3. Who's exempt: eligible designated beneficiaries
A narrower group, called eligible designated beneficiaries (EDBs), can still use the pre-2020 stretch rules — spreading withdrawals over their own life expectancy rather than facing the 10-year cap. This group includes a surviving spouse, a minor child of the original owner (until they reach the age of majority, at which point the 10-year clock starts), a disabled or chronically ill beneficiary as defined by the IRS, and anyone not more than 10 years younger than the original owner. Everyone else — adult children, siblings, friends, most trusts — falls under the 10-year rule.
4. Surviving spouses have the most flexibility of anyone
A spouse beneficiary can roll the inherited IRA into their own IRA and treat it entirely as their own, restarting the RMD clock at their own required beginning date and regaining the ability to contribute — usually the best option for a spouse who doesn't need the money immediately. Alternatively, a spouse can keep it as a separate inherited IRA and use the more favorable Single Life Table, which can be useful if the spouse is under 59½ and might need penalty-free access to some of the funds sooner.
5. A worked example
Say a parent died in 2023 at age 78 — past their required beginning date. Their adult child inherits the IRA and, as of the year after death, has their own life expectancy factor fixed under the IRS Single Life Table (roughly 31.6 for someone around 55, for instance). Each year, the child's RMD is that year's account balance divided by a declining factor, continuing annually through year 9, with the entire remaining balance forced out by December 31 of year 10 (2033 in this example) regardless of what the ongoing annual RMDs added up to.
6. Roth IRAs are not exempt from the 10-year rule
A common misconception is that inherited Roth IRAs escape all of this because the original owner never had lifetime RMDs. The 10-year emptying deadline still applies to non-EDB beneficiaries of inherited Roth IRAs — the only difference is that no annual RMDs are required during the 9 years before it, since the original owner's own lack of an RMD requirement carries over. Withdrawals themselves are generally tax-free, since the original owner already paid tax on the contributions.
7. The missed-RMD penalty applies here too
Failing to take a required annual distribution during the 10-year window triggers the same excise tax that applies to any missed RMD: 25% of the shortfall, reduced to 10% if corrected within the IRS's correction window (generally two years). The IRS waived penalties on missed inherited-IRA RMDs for the 2021-2024 transition period while the annual-RMD question was unsettled — that relief did not extend past 2024, so the requirement is back in full force for 2025 and beyond.
Don't wait until year 10 to take it all at once
Even when annual RMDs aren't strictly required (because the original owner died before their required beginning date), taking the entire inherited balance in a single lump sum in year 10 can push you into a much higher tax bracket than spreading withdrawals across the full 10-year window would. For a $500,000 inherited traditional IRA, the difference between one large distribution and ten smaller ones can easily mean paying tax at 35-37% instead of 22-24% on a meaningful portion of the money. Mapping out a withdrawal schedule in advance — ideally with a tax professional — is worth far more than the flexibility of waiting is worth.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Only if the original owner had already reached their required beginning date (generally age 73) before they died. If they hadn't started their own RMDs yet, you can wait and withdraw the full balance any time before the end of the 10th year, with no annual minimum in years 1 through 9.
The IRS can impose an excise tax of 25% of the amount that should have been withdrawn, reduced to 10% if corrected within the IRS's correction window (generally two years). Penalty relief that applied to the 2021-2024 transition period did not extend to 2025 and beyond.
Yes. Non-eligible-designated-beneficiaries must still empty an inherited Roth IRA within 10 years, though no annual RMDs are required during that window since the original owner never had a lifetime RMD requirement. Qualified withdrawals remain tax-free.
Only if you're the surviving spouse. Non-spouse beneficiaries cannot roll an inherited IRA into their own account — the money must stay titled as an inherited IRA and follow the beneficiary distribution rules.
The "not more than 10 years younger" test compares birth dates, not ages at death, and can be easy to miscalculate. Given how significant the difference is between the 10-year rule and lifetime stretch treatment, it's worth confirming your exact category with a tax professional before choosing a distribution schedule.
See how your numbers add up before you commit to a plan.