If you inherit an IRA from someone who died after 2019 and you are not an eligible designated beneficiary (a surviving spouse, the owner's minor child, a disabled or chronically ill person, or someone not more than 10 years younger than the owner), you generally must empty the account by December 31 of the tenth year after the year of death. If the owner had reached their required beginning date, you must also take annual RMDs in years 1 through 9.

Who does the 10-year rule apply to?

The SECURE Act, effective for owners who died after 2019, ended the old "stretch IRA" for most non-spouse beneficiaries. Instead, a designated beneficiary who is not an eligible designated beneficiary must distribute the entire account by the end of the tenth calendar year following the year of the owner's death. The IRS lays out the beneficiary framework on its retirement topics: beneficiary page.

Eligible designated beneficiaries, who keep access to longer payout options, are a defined group: the surviving spouse, the owner's minor child, a disabled or chronically ill individual, and any individual not more than ten years younger than the owner. Everyone else who is a designated beneficiary, typically adult children, falls under the 10-year rule. Note the minor-child exception is temporary and applies only to the owner's own child: once the child turns 21 (the age of majority under the final regulations, regardless of state law), the 10-year clock starts, annual distributions continue, and the account must be emptied by the end of the 10th year after the year the child turns 21.

Do you have to take a distribution every year, or just empty it by year 10?

This is the nuance that caused years of confusion, and the final regulations resolved it. The answer turns on one fact: had the original owner reached their required beginning date, which is April 1 of the year after they reach their RMD age (73 for those born 1951 through 1959, 75 for those born in 1960 or later; earlier ages applied to older owners)?

If the owner died on or after their required beginning date, you generally must take an annual required minimum distribution in years one through nine, and whatever remains must be out by the end of year ten. If the owner died before their required beginning date, no annual distribution is required during years one through nine, but the account still must be empty by the end of year ten. The final regulations (T.D. 10001, published in the Federal Register on July 19, 2024) confirm this structure. While the rules were being finalized, the IRS waived the excise tax on the missed annual distributions year by year: Notice 2024-35 covers 2024, extending the same relief Notices 2022-53 and 2023-54 gave for 2021 through 2023. Beginning in 2025, the final regulations apply and there is no further penalty waiver: beneficiaries subject to annual RMDs must take them for 2025 and later years.

Illustrative example: an owner dies in 2026 at age 78, after their required beginning date. The adult-child beneficiary takes annual RMDs for 2027 through 2035, based on the beneficiary's single life expectancy from the IRS Single Life Table (reduced by one each year), and must have the account fully distributed by December 31, 2036. If the owner had not taken the full 2026 RMD before death, the beneficiary must also take that. If that same owner had died at 65, before the required beginning date, the beneficiary could wait until 2036 to take it all, though bunching the full balance into one year is rarely the tax-smart play.

What options does a surviving spouse have?

A surviving spouse is an eligible designated beneficiary with choices nobody else gets. Depending on the situation, the spouse can roll the inherited IRA into their own IRA, treat it as their own, or remain a beneficiary of the inherited account. Rolling it into their own IRA generally makes sense when the spouse wants to delay distributions until their own required beginning date and name new beneficiaries. Staying as a beneficiary can make sense when the spouse is under 59 and a half and needs penalty-free access. The right choice depends on ages, cash needs, and the tax picture, which is why this decision deserves its own analysis rather than a default.

What about the year-of-death required minimum distribution?

If the owner died on or after their required beginning date but had not yet taken that year's RMD, the beneficiary must take it; under the final regulations the excise tax is automatically waived if the beneficiary takes it by their tax filing deadline, including extensions, for the year of death. The year-of-death RMD is calculated as if the owner were still alive, and it is taxable to whoever receives it. This is separate from the 10-year schedule and easy to overlook in the paperwork shuffle after a death.

Pending review by Brian Thomas, EA. Updated September 25, 2026.

This article is free educational content, not tax advice for your specific situation. If you want a plan built around your actual numbers, that is what our paid tax planning engagements do.