Inherited IRA Rules 2026: Which Beneficiary Are You, Do You Owe Annual RMDs, and by When Must It Be Empty?

What are the inherited IRA rules for 2026?

It depends on who you are. A surviving spouse, a minor child of the owner, a disabled or chronically ill person, or someone not more than 10 years younger than the owner is an eligible designated beneficiary and may stretch withdrawals over a life expectancy (IRC §401(a)(9)(E)). Almost everyone else must empty the account by December 31 of the tenth year after the death (26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-5), and if the owner died on or after their required beginning date, must also take an RMD in each of years 1 to 9 (Treas. Reg. 1.401(a)(9)-5; T.D. 10001). Those annual RMDs are enforced from 2025: the IRS waived the excise tax on them for 2021 through 2024 (Notice 2022-53, Notice 2023-54, Notice 2024-35). Example: a parent born 1950 dies in 2025; a child born 1968 inherits $300,000. The child’s divisor is 28.9, so the 2026 RMD is $10,380.63, the account must be empty by December 31, 2035, and on a $90,000 salary the RMD adds $2,277 of federal tax (21.9%), leaving $8,104. Skipping it would cost an excise tax of $2,595.16.

The worked example: owner born 1950, died 2025 after the required beginning date (April 1, 2023); child born 1968, single, $90,000 of wages, $300,000 inherited on 12/31/2025. Divisor from rmd.js; tax computed by the tax engine.
Key number	2026
Single Life Table, age 58 in 2026 (Single Life Table)	28.9
Owner’s remaining life expectancy in 2026 (age 75 at death, minus 1) (26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-5)	13.8
2026 RMD (the longer of the two divisors)	$10,380.63
Federal tax the RMD adds (Rev. Proc. 2025-32)	$2,277
RMD left after federal tax	$8,104
Excise if the RMD is skipped (25%; 10% if corrected in time) (IRC §4974)	$2,595.16
Account must be empty by (T.D. 10001)	Dec 31, 2035

An estimate from QuantCalc’s open tax engine (federal 2.4.0, state 1.16.4) for the 2026 tax year. Not tax advice: your return depends on facts this page does not ask about, so check a move with your tax preparer or custodian before acting. Federal only; the 10% additional tax on early distributions does not apply to a beneficiary (IRC §72(t)(2)(A)(ii)). How the engine computes each line, with its official source: federal, state.

Which rule is yours?

You are

Owner’s birth year

Year of death

Your birth year

Balance on December 31, 2025 ($)

It is an inherited Roth IRA

Single Life Table divisors from rmd.js (26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9). Deaths before 2020 keep the old stretch rules. The tax on your RMD: inherited IRA RMD calculator.

The beneficiary classes

Deaths in 2020 or later (SECURE Act); sources per row
Beneficiary	Class	Payout rule
Surviving spouse	Eligible	Life expectancy (recalculated each year), or treat the IRA as your own (source)
Minor child of the owner	Eligible until 21	Life expectancy until 21, then the 10-year rule from that birthday (source)
Disabled or chronically ill	Eligible	Life expectancy (source)
Not more than 10 years younger than the owner	Eligible	Life expectancy (source)
Any other person (most adult children, grandchildren)	Designated, not eligible	10-year rule; annual RMDs in years 1-9 if the owner died on or after the required beginning date (source)
Estate, charity, non-see-through trust	No designated beneficiary	5-year rule if the owner died before the required beginning date; otherwise the owner’s remaining life expectancy (source)

Whether you are an eligible designated beneficiary is decided as of the date of death (IRC §401(a)(9)(E)).

Annual RMDs inside the 10 years

The final regulations published in July 2024 (T.D. 10001) settled it: if the owner died on or after the required beginning date (April 1 of the year after reaching their RMD age), a beneficiary under the 10-year rule must keep taking annual RMDs in years 1 to 9 and empty the account in year 10. If the owner died before that date, there is no annual RMD, only the year-10 deadline (26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-3). An inherited Roth IRA is always treated as if the owner died before the required beginning date (26 CFR 1.408A-6), so it has no annual RMD under the 10-year rule.

For 2021 through 2024 the IRS waived the excise tax on missed annual RMDs of this kind (Notice 2022-53, Notice 2023-54, Notice 2024-35); the regulations apply from 2025, so a 2025 or 2026 RMD that is not taken is taxed at 25% (10% if corrected in time): RMD penalty calculator. The waived years did not move the deadline, and the divisor kept falling by one each year.

The divisor: Single Life Table, minus one a year

A non-spouse beneficiary looks up their age in the year after the death in the Single Life Table and subtracts 1 for each later year; a surviving spouse looks the table up again each year (26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9). When the owner died on or after the required beginning date, the divisor is the longer of yours and the owner’s remaining life expectancy. The whole table: Single Life Expectancy Table.

The year of death

If the owner had not taken all of the RMD for the year they died, the beneficiary must take the rest by the end of that year (26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-5).

Plan the decade, not the minimum

The annual RMD is the floor. What it costs depends on the years you take the rest in: spreading it, or bunching it into years with less other income, changes the bracket every dollar lands in. A study of the choice: 10-year rule: spread or lump sum. Owners planning for their heirs can shrink what the heirs inherit as taxable money with Roth conversions: Roth Conversion Planner.

Paid tool An RMD is a fraction of the traditional balance on December 31, so every dollar you move to a Roth before then is a dollar no future RMD is computed on: a Roth IRA has no RMD while you are alive (IRS RMD FAQs). The Roth Conversion Planner works out how much to convert in each year from now to your plan end age to shrink those future RMDs: the federal and state tax each conversion costs, the IRMAA tier that year’s MAGI sets two years later, and the ACA subsidy it affects — beside the same years with no conversions, and downloadable as a PDF you keep. A planning tool, not advice: the numbers move when your assumptions do. Build my conversion schedule — Personal PRO ($49) → Roth Conversion Planner: see what is included, and price this year free, first →

An RMD is ordinary income on top of everything else you have that year. QuantCalc runs your whole retirement — withdrawals, RMDs, taxes, Medicare surcharges — year by year.

Run the free tax-aware simulation →

Common questions

Do I have to take RMDs from an inherited IRA every year?

Under the 10-year rule, only if the owner died on or after their required beginning date; then an RMD is due in each of years 1 to 9 and the rest by the end of year 10 (T.D. 10001). In the example, $300,000 inherited from a parent who died in 2025 means $10,380.63 for 2026.

Who is an eligible designated beneficiary?

The surviving spouse, a minor child of the owner, a disabled or chronically ill person, and anyone not more than 10 years younger than the owner (IRC §401(a)(9)(E)).

When does the 10-year clock end?

December 31 of the year containing the tenth anniversary of the death (26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-5): a death in 2025 means December 31, 2035.

Are missed inherited RMDs from 2021-2024 penalized?

No: the IRS waived the excise tax on annual RMDs under the 10-year rule for those years (Notice 2022-53, Notice 2023-54, Notice 2024-35). From 2025 the 25% excise applies (IRC §4974).

Do inherited Roth IRAs have annual RMDs?

Not under the 10-year rule: a Roth IRA is treated as if the owner died before the required beginning date, so only the year-10 deadline applies (26 CFR 1.408A-6).

What can a surviving spouse do?

Treat the IRA as their own (owner RMDs at their own start age, Uniform Lifetime Table) or stay a beneficiary and take life-expectancy RMDs recalculated each year (26 CFR 1.408-8; IRS Publication 590-B).

Sources

Inherited IRA RMD calculator → Single Life Expectancy Table → RMD penalty calculator → Answer: the 10-year deadline → RMD rules 2026 → RMD calculator 2026 → QCD limit 2026 →