Inherited IRAs: The 10-Year Rule and Beneficiary Distributions

The short answer

If you inherit an IRA from someone who died after 2019, you generally must empty it by December 31 of the 10th year after the death — unless you are an eligible designated beneficiary, such as a surviving spouse. Whether you also need yearly distributions during those 10 years depends on whether the owner died before or after their required beginning date. Distributions are not subject to the 10% early withdrawal tax, but traditional IRA distributions are generally taxable.

Which rule applies to you

The required beginning date matters

• Required beginning date: for owners who reached age 72 after December 31, 2022, April 1 of the year after the year they reach age 73 (earlier birth years used earlier ages).
• Owner died before that date, 10-year rule applies: no distribution is required for any year before the 10th year; the account must be fully distributed by the end of the 10th year.
• Owner died on or after that date: for a designated beneficiary, required minimum distributions for years after the year of death are based on the longer of the beneficiary's single life expectancy or the owner's remaining life expectancy — and a beneficiary who is not an eligible designated beneficiary must still empty the account within 10 years.

Transition relief for missed yearly distributions, 2021–2024

Because the IRS's reading of the 10-year rule — yearly distributions when the owner died on or after the required beginning date — first appeared in proposed regulations, the IRS said it would not assert the 25% excise tax for certain missed yearly distributions while final rules were pending. The relief was limited:

• Who was covered: a designated beneficiary under the 10-year rule who was not using life expectancy payments, where the owner died on or after the required beginning date; and a beneficiary of an eligible designated beneficiary who died in the covered years while using life expectancy payments.
• Who was not covered: beneficiaries whose owner died before the required beginning date did not need yearly distributions under the 10-year rule in the first place, and the relief did not apply to other required distributions.
• From 2025: Notice 2024-35 says the final regulations apply for determining required minimum distributions for calendar years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, so yearly distributions that apply are required from 2025.
• The 10-year deadline did not move: the relief covered only those yearly distributions. The account must still be fully distributed by December 31 of the year containing the 10th anniversary of the owner's death.

Surviving spouses

• Treat it as your own (sole beneficiary only), or roll it over into your own IRA — then your own RMD rules apply.
• Remain a beneficiary — life expectancy payments, or the 10-year rule if available.
• A spouse is treated as having chosen to treat the IRA as their own if they make contributions to it or skip a required beneficiary distribution, if they are the sole beneficiary.

Inherited Roth IRAs

• For required distribution purposes, the Roth owner is treated as having died before the required beginning date.
• Under the 10-year rule, no yearly distribution is required before the 10th year, but the account must be emptied by the end of the 10th year.
• Qualified distributions are tax free. If the 5-year period has not been met, the earnings part of a distribution can be taxable, though the 10% additional tax does not apply.

Taxes and penalties

Examples (owner died in 2025)