Inherited IRA RMD Calculator: 10-Year Rule and Stretch

An inherited IRA RMD is the minimum a beneficiary must withdraw each year from an IRA they inherited. Whether you owe one depends on who you are and whether the owner died before or after their required beginning date (RMD age plus April 1 of the next year). Enter the dates and last year's ending balance to see this year's RMD, the year the account must be empty, and every withdrawal until then.

Which calculator do I need? This page is for inherited accounts. For your own IRA or 401(k), use the RMD calculator. To see the tax on what you take out, use the IRA withdrawal tax calculator.

The short answer: most adult children and other non-spouse heirs of someone who died in 2020 or later fall under the 10-year rule. The account must be empty by December 31 of the 10th year after the year of death. If the owner died on or after their required beginning date, you must also take an RMD in each of years 1 to 9. That RMD is last year's December 31 balance divided by your factor from the IRS Single Life Table, which starts at your age in the year after the death and drops by 1 each year. All beneficiary RMDs are due by December 31.

The calculator is for informational purposes only, and its results are estimates with no guarantee of accuracy. Your IRA custodian's figure governs, and it should match when you enter the same dates and balance.

Inherited IRA RMD on $100,000, $250,000 and $500,000

The table shows the 2026 RMD for a non-spouse beneficiary who is more than 10 years younger than the owner, where the owner died in 2025 after the required beginning date (for example at 80). For 2026, the first year after the death, the factor is the beneficiary's own Single Life Table factor, because it is longer than the owner's remaining life expectancy (11.2 at 80, minus 1 = 10.2).

Each later year the factor drops by exactly 1 (35.2, then 34.2 for the 50-year-old), so the share you must take rises from 2.76% toward the full balance in 2035. If the owner died before the required beginning date, the RMD in all of these cells is $0 until 2035.

Which rule applies to your inherited IRA?

The rules come from the 2024 final regulations under 26 U.S.C. §401(a)(9) (89 FR 58886). IRAs follow the plan rules under 26 CFR 1.408-8. Three facts decide your rule: the year of death, whether you are an "eligible designated beneficiary," and whether the owner reached the required beginning date (RBD).

The eligible designated beneficiary categories are listed in 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-4(e). Each one is tested on the date of death:

• Minor child means the owner's own child (not a grandchild) who had not turned 21.
• Not more than 10 years younger is tested on exact dates of birth. For an owner born October 1, 1953, a beneficiary born on or before October 1, 1963 qualifies. The calculator checks this for you.
• Disabled and chronically ill follow the statutory definitions. For an IRA, the documentation doesn't have to go to the custodian.

If several people inherit one IRA and any of them is not an eligible designated beneficiary, the whole account is treated as having none, unless it is split into separate inherited IRAs (a minor child of the owner is an exception). The determination is made as of September 30 of the year after the death, so a disclaimer or full payout before that date can change who counts (Pub. 590-B).

When was the owner's required beginning date?

For an IRA, the required beginning date is April 1 of the year after the owner reaches the applicable age (26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-2(b)(2) and 1.408-8(b)(1)). A death on that April 1 or later counts as "on or after."

The final regulations leave the age for people born in 1959 as "reserved." The calculator uses 73, the same reading as the IRS's 2024 proposed regulations and our RMD calculator. A Roth IRA owner is always treated as dying before the RBD, whatever their age (1.408-8(b)(1)(ii)).

How does the 10-year rule work?

Under the 10-year rule, the inherited IRA must be fully distributed by December 31 of the year that contains the 10th anniversary of the death (26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-3(c)(3)). A death on any day of 2025 means an empty account by December 31, 2035. What happens in between depends on the RBD:

• Owner died before the RBD (and every inherited Roth IRA): no distribution is required for any year before the 10th. You can take nothing for nine years, or spread it out.
• Owner died on or after the RBD: the owner had already started, and the law requires the rest to come out "at least as rapidly." So you take an annual RMD in years 1 through 9 and the remaining balance in year 10 (1.401(a)(9)-5(d)(1)).

Missed annual RMDs from 2021 to 2024

Many heirs read the 10-year rule as "nothing until year 10" in every case. After the proposed regulations said otherwise, the IRS excused the annual RMDs it calls "specified RMDs." Notice 2022-53 covered 2021 and 2022, Notice 2023-54 covered 2023, and Notice 2024-35 covered 2024, for owners who died from 2020 through 2023 on or after their RBD. The IRS will not assert the excise tax for those years. Notice 2024-35 said the final regulations would apply from 2025, and T.D. 10001 confirmed it, so 2025 was the first year annual 10-year-rule RMDs were enforced. The relief did not move the year-10 deadline: an owner who died in 2021 still means an empty account by the end of 2031.

How is an inherited IRA RMD calculated?

1. Take the December 31 balance of last year. For a 2026 RMD, use the value on December 31, 2025.
2. Find your starting factor. A non-spouse beneficiary looks up their age in the year after the death in the Single Life Table (26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9(b), Pub. 590-B Table I).
3. Subtract 1 for each year since then. You never look the factor up again (the "non-recalculation" method). A sole spouse beneficiary instead looks up their current age every year.
4. If the owner died on or after the RBD, compare with the owner's factor. That is the owner's Single Life factor for their age in the year of death, minus 1 for each later year. Use whichever is longer (1.401(a)(9)-5(d)(1)(ii)). That usually helps only when you are older than the owner.
5. Divide. When the factor reaches 1 or less, the whole remaining balance is due that year.

Pub. 590-B's own example: an eligible designated beneficiary whose distributions start in 2026 and who turns 57 that year uses 29.8. On a $100,000 balance, that is $100,000 ÷ 29.8 = $3,355.70, and the 2027 factor is 28.8.

Factors set before 2022 were reset

The IRS replaced its life-expectancy tables for 2022 and later. Beneficiaries already using the old table had to reset their factor: look up their age in the year after the death in the new table, then subtract the years that have passed (1.401(a)(9)-9(f)(2)). Pub. 590-B's example covers a parent who died in 2021 at 80 and a beneficiary who was 55 in 2022. The new factor is 31.6 at 55, so the 2026 factor is 31.6 − 4 = 27.6, not the 25.6 the old table gave. The calculator always uses the current table this way.

Single Life Table excerpt

The full table runs from 84.6 at age 0 to 1.0 at 120 and older.

What are a surviving spouse's options?

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

• Treat the IRA as your own by retitling it, or roll it into your own IRA (1.408-8(c)). Your RMDs then follow your own age and the Uniform Lifetime Table, starting at your own RMD age. The catch: withdrawals before 59½ from your own IRA can owe the 10% early-withdrawal tax. Distributions to a beneficiary after a death are exempt from it under §72(t)(2)(A)(ii).
• Remain a beneficiary. Your factor is your Single Life factor, looked up again each year at your new age. If the owner died before the RBD, you can wait to start until the year the owner would have reached RMD age (1.401(a)(9)-3(d)). Pub. 590-B's example covers an owner who died in 2022 at 65: the spouse's first RMD is for 2030, the year the owner would have turned 73. If the owner died on or after the RBD, RMDs start the year after the death, using the longer of your factor and the owner's.
• Elect the 10-year rule if the owner died before the RBD and the IRA terms allow the choice (generally by December 31 of the year after the death). You then have no annual RMDs, and the account must be empty after 10 years.

Watch the deemed election: if a sole spouse beneficiary misses a beneficiary RMD or adds a contribution, the IRA becomes the spouse's own (1.408-8(c)(2)). A common plan is to stay a beneficiary while under 59½ for penalty-free access, then switch to treating the IRA as your own. The calculator models the stay-a-beneficiary path and shows the RMD you would have if you treated the IRA as your own.

Inherited Roth IRA RMDs

The same post-death rules apply to Roth IRAs, except the owner is always treated as dying before the RBD (1.408-8(b)(1)(ii)). Under the 10-year rule, you have no annual RMDs, only the year-10 deadline. Eligible designated beneficiaries can take life-expectancy payments, figured exactly as for a traditional IRA. A spouse can delay or treat the Roth IRA as their own, which ends RMDs for the spouse's lifetime.

Roth withdrawals are tax-free once the owner's first Roth IRA contribution is at least five tax years old. Before that, earnings are taxable but escape the 10% penalty (Pub. 590-B, chapter 2). Many Roth heirs therefore wait until year 10 to keep the tax-free growth.

Estates, charities and trusts

An estate, a charity or a trust that doesn't qualify as a see-through trust is not a designated beneficiary. If the owner died before the RBD, the 5-year rule applies: the account must be empty by December 31 of the year with the fifth anniversary of the death. A 2025 death means an empty account by the end of 2030. For deaths before 2020, 2020 is not counted (1.401(a)(9)-3(c)(2)). If the owner died on or after the RBD, annual RMDs use the owner's remaining life expectancy instead. Trust beneficiaries who can be looked through are treated as individuals, which needs a trust-by-trust analysis this calculator doesn't attempt.

Worked examples

Adult child, parent died after the RBD. The parent was born in 1946 and died in 2024 at 78. The child turns 52 in 2026. The factor for 2025 was 35.3 (age 51), so for 2026 it is 34.3. The parent's factor is 12.6 at 78 minus 2 = 10.6, which is shorter. The 2026 RMD on $400,000 is $400,000 ÷ 34.3 = $11,661.81. At a 5% return, taking only the RMD each year leaves about $459,004 at the end of 2033. All of it comes out in 2034, about $481,954 in a single tax year.

Same child, parent died before the RBD. The parent was born in 1954 and died in 2024 at 70, before the April 1, 2028 RBD. No RMD is due for 2025 through 2033. Withdrawing about $56,276 at the end of each year from 2026 through 2034 empties the account at a 5% return. That compares with roughly $620,531 in 2034 if you wait. The IRA withdrawal tax calculator shows what each choice costs in tax.

Sibling seven years younger. The owner was born in 1949 and died in 2025 at 76. The sibling turns 70 in 2026 and, as someone not more than 10 years younger, is an eligible designated beneficiary with no 10-year limit. Their factor is 18.8, longer than the owner's 14.1 − 1 = 13.1. The 2026 RMD on $300,000 is $300,000 ÷ 18.8 = $15,957.45.

Estate as beneficiary, owner died at 82. The owner died in 2025 after the RBD, so the estate uses the owner's factor: 9.9 at 82, minus 1 = 8.9 for 2026. The RMD on $200,000 is $22,471.91. The factor falls to 0.9 in 2034, when the remainder is due. Had the owner died at 68, before the RBD, the estate would owe nothing until the account had to be empty at the end of 2030.

Minor child. The owner died in 2025, and the child was born in 2012, so they turn 14 in 2026. The factor is 70.9, so $200,000 gives a 2026 RMD of $2,820.87. Annual RMDs continue after the child turns 21 in 2033, and the account must be empty by the end of 2043, the 10th year after that birthday (1.401(a)(9)-5(e)(4)).

What if you miss an inherited IRA RMD?

The shortfall is subject to a 25% excise tax. It drops to 10% if you take the missed amount and file a return reporting the tax within the correction window (26 U.S.C. §4974). The window ends at the earliest of three dates: a notice of deficiency, the IRS assessing the tax, or the end of the second tax year after the year of the shortfall. Report it on Form 5329. Missing the year-10 deadline makes the entire remaining balance the shortfall. On a $310,000 balance, that is $77,500 at 25%.

The regulations also waive the tax automatically in two cases (26 CFR 54.4974-1(g)):

• Year of death. If the owner died after the RBD without taking that year's RMD, you must take it. The tax is waived if you do so by your tax filing deadline, including extensions, for that year, or by the end of the following year if that is later.
• Switching to the 10-year rule. An eligible designated beneficiary of an owner who died before the RBD, who missed life-expectancy RMDs without having actively elected them, is covered if they elect the 10-year rule by the end of the ninth year after the death.

Outside those cases, you can ask the IRS to waive the tax for reasonable error on Form 5329. Taking more than the RMD is always allowed, but the extra doesn't count toward later years.

Inputs explained

• Account type: traditional (including SEP, SIMPLE and rollover IRAs) or Roth.
• Owner's dates of birth and death: these set the RBD, the owner's remaining life expectancy, and whether the 2020 SECURE Act rules apply.
• Beneficiary type and your date of birth: your age in each year sets the factor. The "not more than 10 years younger" test is applied from the two birth dates.
• RMD year and December 31 balance: use the inherited IRA's year-end statement value. If you inherited several IRAs from the same person, figure each one's RMD separately, then take the total from any of them (Pub. 590-B).
• Already withdrawn: used for the shortfall and the excise estimate.
• Assumed return: only drives the schedule. Each year's RMD uses the actual prior year-end balance, so later rows are estimates.

What the calculator does not cover

• Inherited 401(k) and 403(b) accounts. These follow the same regulations, but a plan may require the 5-year or 10-year rule instead of life expectancy. Check the plan's terms.
• Multiple beneficiaries and trusts. These call for separate-account and see-through trust rules.
• Successor beneficiaries. When an eligible designated beneficiary dies, their heirs must empty the account within 10 years of that death, while keeping any annual RMDs going.
• Income tax. Traditional inherited IRA withdrawals are ordinary income to you. The tax isn't estimated here.

Related calculators and guides

The RMD calculator covers your own accounts during your lifetime. The IRA withdrawal tax calculator and the guide to IRA withdrawal tax rules and penalties show the tax on each withdrawal. If the estate is large, the estate tax calculator and the estate planning hub explain what happens before heirs receive anything, and inheritance tax vs. estate tax covers the state-level taxes. Owners planning for their heirs can use the Roth conversion calculator to see what converting now would save beneficiaries who face the 10-year rule. More tools are in the retirement income tax hub.