When Do I Have to Withdraw an Inherited Traditional IRA?

The withdrawal rules for an inherited Traditional IRA depend on the beneficiary's relationship to the owner and on whether the owner died before the required beginning date, April 1 after the year the owner reached the applicable age (up to 75): a spouse or other eligible designated beneficiary may take withdrawals over life expectancy, and most other individuals empty the account within ten years; a missed amount carries a 25% tax.

Account Type

Traditional IRA

Includes SEP and SIMPLE IRAs

Roth IRA

Employer plan

401(k), 403(b), or governmental 457(b)

Account Owner's Date of Birth (MM/DD/YYYY)

Account Owner's Date of Death (MM/DD/YYYY)

Your Relationship to the Owner

Surviving spouseChild of the owner

Another individual

Grandchild, sibling, partner, friend

A trust

The account names a trust as beneficiary

Estate or charity

No individual is named, or a charity is

See which withdrawal rules apply

Select the account type, enter the owner's dates of birth and death, and answer the questions about your relationship to the owner.

Examples:

Deadline year by which the account must be emptied

Annual withdrawals and whether they are required

First-year dates and the tax for a missed withdrawal

General information about the federal distribution rules for an inherited retirement account, not tax or legal advice. The rules are applied as written in the Internal Revenue Code, the Treasury regulations and IRS guidance to the answers given. Plan documents, state income tax and facts not asked here can change the outcome. Consult a licensed tax professional for tax questions.

A designated beneficiary who is not an eligible designated beneficiary must have the entire account distributed by the end of the calendar year that includes the tenth anniversary of the owner's death. Whether a withdrawal is also required in the intervening years depends on whether the owner died before, or on or after, the required beginning date.

Only when the owner died on or after the required beginning date: the annual distribution requirement then continues for every year until the account is empty, with the 10-year deadline on top. For a death before that date, the regulation requires only that the account be emptied by the end of the deadline year. The regulations apply to calendar years beginning in 2025.

Five classes, determined as of the owner's date of death: the surviving spouse; a child of the owner under the age of majority, which the regulation sets at the 21st birthday; a disabled individual; a chronically ill individual; and an individual not more than 10 years younger than the owner. An eligible designated beneficiary may take annual life expectancy payments instead of emptying the account within a fixed period.

Yes, when the spouse is the sole beneficiary and has an unlimited right to withdraw. A trust named as beneficiary does not qualify even if the spouse is its sole beneficiary. The election is made by redesignating the account in the spouse's name as owner, and it is deemed made if the spouse misses a required beneficiary withdrawal for a year after the year of death or makes a contribution to the account. An IRA acquired by the surviving spouse is not an "inherited" IRA under the Code, so the rollover rules are not denied to the spouse.

25% of the amount that should have been withdrawn but was not, paid by the beneficiary. The rate drops to 10% when the missed amount is withdrawn from the same plan and a return reflecting the tax is filed, both inside the correction window, which ends at the earliest of a notice of deficiency, an assessment, or the last day of the second taxable year after the year the tax applies to. The IRS may waive the tax for reasonable error on a Form 5329 request, and the regulation waives it automatically in two cases.