The calculator
Because the owner had started RMDs, you take a yearly RMD in years one to nine and empty the account by December 31, 2033. Your 2026 RMD is $12,531.33.
Year-by-year schedule
| Year | Your age | Balance at start | Divisor | Required | Balance at end |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 46 | $500,000 | 39.9 | $12,531 | $511,842 |
| 2027 | 47 | $511,842 | 38.9 | $13,158 | $523,618 |
| 2028 | 48 | $523,618 | 37.9 | $13,816 | $535,293 |
| 2029 | 49 | $535,293 | 36.9 | $14,507 | $546,825 |
| 2030 | 50 | $546,825 | 35.9 | $15,232 | $558,173 |
| 2031 | 51 | $558,173 | 34.9 | $15,994 | $569,289 |
| 2032 | 52 | $569,289 | 33.9 | $16,793 | $580,120 |
| 2033 | 53 | $580,120 | All | $580,120 | $0 |
The 10-year rule
If the owner died in 2020 or later, most beneficiaries who are not a spouse must empty the inherited IRA by December 31 of the tenth year after the death. What happens in between depends on whether the owner had reached their required beginning date, April 1 of the year after they reached RMD age:
- Owner died before it: no yearly RMDs. You can take money out on any schedule, as long as nothing is left after year ten.
- Owner died on or after it: a yearly RMD in years one to nine as well, then the rest by the end of year ten. The IRS waived the penalty for missed yearly amounts from 2021 to 2024, but not the ten-year deadline. From 2025 the yearly RMDs are enforced.
Eligible designated beneficiaries
Some beneficiaries can stretch withdrawals over their own life expectancy instead: a surviving spouse, a beneficiary not more than 10 years younger than the owner, and someone disabled or chronically ill. They take a yearly RMD with no 10-year deadline. If the owner died before their required beginning date, they can also choose the 10-year rule instead.
The owner’s minor child gets the life-expectancy stretch only until 21. After that the 10-year clock starts, yearly RMDs continue, and the account must be empty by the end of the year the child turns 31. Grandchildren and adult children are not eligible beneficiaries unless they are disabled or chronically ill.
If you are the spouse
A surviving spouse has the most choice. Rolling the account into your own IRA, or treating it as your own, puts it on your own RMD schedule, which the RMD calculator works out. Keeping it as an inherited IRA lets you take money out before 59½ without the 10% penalty. In that case your RMDs use your life expectancy recalculated each year, and if the owner died before their required beginning date you can wait until the year they would have reached RMD age.
How an inherited IRA RMD is worked out
Divide the balance on December 31 of last year by a divisor from the IRS Single Life Expectancy Table. A non-spouse beneficiary looks up their age in the year after the death and subtracts one for each later year. A spouse looks up their age again every year. If the owner died on or after their required beginning date, the owner’s own remaining life expectancy is used instead when it is longer, which happens when the beneficiary is older than the owner. The full table is on the RMD calculator page.
In the year of death, if the owner had started RMDs and had not taken that year’s amount, the beneficiary must take the rest of it by December 31.
Inherited Roth IRAs
The 10-year rule applies to an inherited Roth IRA too, but a Roth owner is treated as dying before their required beginning date, so there are no yearly RMDs. Withdrawals are tax-free once the account has been open five years, so many heirs leave it to grow until year ten.
Assumptions and sources
One beneficiary of an IRA whose owner died in 2020 or later. Trusts, estates, multiple beneficiaries and successor beneficiaries have their own rules and are not covered. The projection grows the balance at a steady return after each year’s distribution. Not tax advice; inherited accounts are a common place for costly mistakes, so confirm the plan with your IRA custodian.
Figures checked on against IRS Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions from IRAs, T.D. 10001, final required minimum distribution regulations (July 19, 2024) and IRS Notice 2024-35, relief for missed inherited-IRA RMDs, 2021 to 2024 (PDF).
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<p><a href="https://killionlabs.com/calculators/inherited-ira-rmd/">Inherited IRA RMD calculator</a> by Killion Labs</p>