Inherited IRA RMD Rules: Annual Withdrawals, the 10-Year Deadline, and How to Fix a Missed RMD

• Do I owe annual RMDs?
• My 10-year date
• Which beneficiary am I?
• Roth accounts
• Combining accounts
• I missed one
• Form 5329
• Get help

Inherited IRA Status Checker

Answer what you know. This won’t calculate a dollar RMD amount or a penalty — it tells you your category, whether annual withdrawals likely apply, and your year-10 date.

Date of the original owner’s death

Owner’s age at death (optional, helps flag the RBD question)

Had the owner reached their required beginning date? — Select — Yes No Not sure

Your relationship to the owner — Select — Spouse Adult child Minor child of the owner Not more than 10 years younger than the owner Disabled or chronically ill Other individual Trust or estate

Account type — Select — Traditional IRA Roth IRA Employer plan (401(k), 403(b), etc.)

Did you inherit from someone who was themselves a beneficiary? — Select — No Yes

Have you taken any distributions since inheriting? — Select — Yes, every year Some years No

Fill in the fields above and select “Show my category and dates.”

Do You Have to Withdraw Every Year?

Whether you owe a required minimum distribution (RMD) every year comes down to one date: the original owner’s required beginning date (RBD) — not whether they happened to already be withdrawing money.

If the owner died on or after their RBD, a beneficiary subject to the 10-year rule generally must take an annual RMD in each of years 1 through 9, in addition to emptying the account by the end of year 10.

If the owner died before their RBD, there’s no annual-withdrawal requirement — you choose your own pace — but the account must still be empty by the end of year 10.

The RBD is tied to the age at which RMDs must begin: currently 73, rising to 75 for owners born in 1960 or later, starting in 2033. The IRS finalized this annual-RMDs-within-the-10-years requirement in regulations issued July 19, 2024, and began enforcing it with the 2025 distribution year — distributions missed in 2021 through 2024 under the 10-year rule were not penalized.

Table 1. Do you owe annual withdrawals? (10-year-rule beneficiaries)

Owner’s death timing	Years 1–9	Year 10
Before the required beginning date	No annual RMD required	Account must be empty
On or after the required beginning date	Annual RMD required each year	Account must be empty

The 10-Year Deadline

Separate from the annual-withdrawal question, the account must be fully emptied by December 31 of the 10th year after the year of death — this applies whether or not annual RMDs were required along the way.

The 10-year rule applies to deaths in 2020 or later for beneficiaries who aren’t eligible designated beneficiaries (see the next section, and Table 3 above for a quick summary of which rules apply to each kind of beneficiary). The penalty relief that forgave missed annual RMDs for 2021 through 2024 was limited to that — it never moved the 10-year deadline itself.

Which Kind of Beneficiary Are You?

Most non-spouse beneficiaries fall under the 10-year rule described above. A smaller group — eligible designated beneficiaries (EDBs) — get meaningfully different treatment.

EDBs include: a surviving spouse; the owner’s minor child; a disabled individual; a chronically ill individual; and someone not more than 10 years younger than the owner. EDBs generally aren’t forced into the 10-year rule — they can stretch distributions over their own life expectancy instead, or elect the 10-year rule if they prefer.

See Table 3 above for all categories at a glance, next to your 10-year deadline.

Inherited Roth Accounts

A Roth IRA owner never has lifetime RMDs, so for RMD purposes the owner is always treated as having died before their required beginning date — no matter their actual age at death.

Practically: a non-eligible designated beneficiary of an inherited Roth IRA is still subject to the 10-year deadline, but never owes an annual RMD in years 1–9. An eligible designated beneficiary can still choose the life-expectancy stretch instead of the 10-year rule if that suits them better. Distribution rules apply to the beneficiary after the owner’s death even though the owner never faced them — see IRS Publication 590-B for the full beneficiary treatment, including how qualified, tax-free withdrawals work in your hands.

Combining Accounts: The Rule People Get Wrong

You can combine RMDs across accounts in only one circumstance: multiple IRAs inherited from the same decedent.

• Only distributions from IRAs inherited from the same decedent can be combined to satisfy the RMD for all IRAs inherited from that decedent.
• The same rule applies separately to inherited Roth IRAs from the same decedent — traditional and Roth totals are never combined with each other.
• You can never combine an inherited IRA’s RMD with your own IRA’s RMD, or with an IRA inherited from a different decedent.
• Qualified plans other than IRAs — 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and similar — cannot aggregate at all. Each plan’s RMD must come out of that specific plan.

This comes from Treasury Regulations 1.408-8 (IRAs) and 1.401(a)(9)-8 (qualified plans).

What Happens If You Miss One

Missing a required annual withdrawal triggers a 25% tax on the excess accumulation — the difference between what should have been distributed and what actually was.

That tax is due for the tax year that includes the last day by which the RMD had to be taken — not the year you discovered the mistake.

Cutting It to 10%

The 25% rate drops to 10% if, during the correction window described next, you do both of the following:

1. Receive a distribution of the amount that caused the shortfall from the plan where the tax was imposed; and
2. Submit a return reflecting the additional tax.

You can pursue a full waiver (next section) and fall back to the 10% rate if the waiver isn’t granted.

The Correction Window

The correction window — the period in which you can still qualify for the reduced 10% rate — ends on the earliest of three dates:

1. The date the IRS mails a deficiency notice for this tax;
2. The date the tax is assessed; or
3. The last day of the second taxable year that begins after the end of the taxable year in which the tax was imposed.

“Two years” is a useful shorthand for the third event, but it’s one of three possible endpoints — whichever comes first controls.

Asking for a Full Waiver

The IRS can waive part or all of the tax if the shortfall was due to reasonable error and you’re taking reasonable steps to fix it. You still pay whatever the form shows you owe.

Attach a statement of explanation, then file Form 5329 as follows (line numbers below are from the Instructions for Form 5329; confirm them against the instructions for the tax year you’re filing, since they can shift):

1. Lines 52a/52b and 53a/53b. Complete these as instructed — the required amount and the amount actually distributed.
2. Line 54a/54b. On the dotted line next to line 54a and/or 54b, write “RC” and, in parentheses, the amount you want waived. Subtract that amount from the total shortfall you figured without the waiver, and enter the result on line 54a/54b.
3. Line 55. Complete line 55 as instructed, and pay any tax it shows. Requesting a waiver does not pause this payment.

What to write on the dotted line, exactly:

RC (amount you want waived)

The IRS reviews your statement and decides whether to grant the waiver. If it isn’t granted, the IRS will notify you of any additional tax you owe.

Filling the Form Without the Common Mistake

The single most common error: entering the catch-up distribution — the money you withdraw to fix the shortfall — as an “amount distributed.”

The instructions are explicit: do not include on lines 53a and/or 53b any distribution received after the deadline for the RMD, or any distribution received during the correction window. Lines 53a/53b capture what was distributed by the original deadline — not your fix.

Filing mechanics:

• File Form 5329 with your return by the due date, including extensions.
• If you don’t otherwise have to file a return, file Form 5329 by itself — it can’t be filed electronically in that case. Include your address on page 1 and your signature and date on page 3.
• For a prior year’s shortfall, use that year’s version of the form. If you have other changes to that year’s return, file it together with Form 1040-X.

Trusts and estates that didn’t receive the required amount must also file. Non-individual beneficiaries can face additional wrinkles in how the 10-year rule applies — see IRS Publication 590-B, and consider professional review.

Timing Your Withdrawals Across the 10 Years

Inside your 10-year window, you generally have discretion over when the money comes out (on top of any required annual amount) — which opens the door to spreading withdrawals to manage your tax bracket, rather than taking everything in year one or year ten. That’s a question best worked through with a tax professional against your full return, not a generic rule. If you’re weighing the timing against other year-end moves, see our guides on tax-loss harvesting and mutual fund capital gains distributions.

Where to Get Help

Get a CPA or tax professional involved before any large distribution, and especially if any of the following apply: a trust or estate is the beneficiary, you’re a successor beneficiary, multiple years were missed, or you have Roth-specific questions. The IRS publications referenced throughout this guide — Publication 590-B and the Instructions for Form 5329 — are also worth reading directly, and your custodian’s statements will have the account’s distribution history you’ll need.

If you’re also sorting out other parts of the estate, see our guides on estate planning and beneficiary designations, credit card debt after death, and inheriting a house with siblings. And if you’re weighing whether to roll funds elsewhere: a non-spouse beneficiary cannot roll an inherited account into their own IRA — see How to Roll Over a 401(k) for what rollovers actually allow.

Checklists

The Correction Walkthrough

1. Take the missed amount now. The sooner it’s out, the stronger your “reasonable steps” showing.
2. Identify the right tax year. The tax belongs to the year that includes the last day the RMD was due — not the year you noticed.
3. Choose your path. 10% path: within the correction window, take the distribution and submit a return reflecting the additional tax. Waiver path: attach a statement and follow the “RC” procedure. You can pursue the waiver and fall back to the reduced rate if it isn’t granted.
4. Fill the form for the right year. Complete lines 52a/52b and 53a/53b; do not include the catch-up distribution as an amount distributed; write “RC” and the amount in parentheses on the dotted line next to line 54a/54b; subtract and enter the result; complete line 55 and pay what it shows.
5. Write the explanation statement. Say what caused the shortfall (illness, a custodian or adviser error, confusion after a death, not receiving notice) and exactly what you did to fix it and when. Keep it short and factual.
6. File correctly. With your return, by the due date including extensions — or Form 5329 alone, unsigned electronically, signed and dated on page 3, if you don’t otherwise file. For a prior year, use that year’s form, paired with Form 1040-X if anything else changed.
7. Get professional help if: multiple years were missed, a trust or estate is the beneficiary, you’re a successor beneficiary, or the amounts are large.

A short template for your statement of explanation:

Statement of Explanation — Form 5329, Part IX

I did not take the full required minimum distribution for [tax year] from
my inherited [traditional/Roth] IRA because [reason: e.g., I was not
notified of the requirement by the custodian / I was managing a family
illness / an administrative error at the custodian].

On [date], I withdrew $[amount], the full shortfall, to correct this.
I am requesting a waiver of the additional tax under the reasonable-cause
provision of the Instructions for Form 5329.

Checklist: Before You File

• Confirm which beneficiary category you’re in
• Confirm whether annual withdrawals apply to you
• Pull your custodian’s distribution history for every affected year
• Take the missed amount, in full, as soon as possible
• Draft your statement of explanation
• Use the correct year’s Form 5329 for each year affected
• Confirm current line numbers against this year’s instructions

FAQ

This is general information, not tax advice. It’s based on IRS Publication 590-B, the Instructions for Form 5329, and the final required minimum distribution regulations issued July 19, 2024, verified October 13, 2026. Form line numbers change from year to year — always confirm them against the instructions for the specific tax year you’re filing, and talk to a CPA or tax professional before acting, especially for large distributions, trusts, successor beneficiaries, or multi-year shortfalls.

Last updated: October 13, 2026 — line numbers and the RMD age should be re-verified each filing season.