Do You Have to Take RMDs During the 10-Year Rule? (w/Examples) + FAQs

This article reflects federal tax rules as of June 2026 and covers tax year 2026. State rules are addressed separately below. Tax law changes often — confirm current figures with the IRS or a licensed professional before you act.

Quick Answer

It depends. For tax year 2026, if you inherited an IRA from someone who died on or after their required beginning date, you must take an annual required minimum distribution (RMD) in years 1–9 and empty the account by year 10. If the owner died before that date, you skip the annual RMDs but still must empty the account by year 10.

The single fact that decides everything is whether the original owner had already reached their “required beginning date” when they died. That one detail splits every 10-year-rule heir into two camps — one that owes a yearly withdrawal and one that does not — and getting it wrong now carries a 25% excise tax on the amount you should have taken.

The stakes climbed sharply in 2025. After waiving the penalty for missed annual RMDs across 2021 through 2024, the IRS made annual distributions mandatory starting in 2025 under its July 2024 final regulations. With roughly $13 trillion held in IRAs passing to a new generation of heirs, millions of beneficiaries now face their first truly enforced RMD year — and the first real penalties for skipping it.

💡 You’ll learn the one question that tells you whether you owe annual RMDs at all.
📅 You’ll see the exact deadlines for 2026 and the year-10 cleanout date.
🧮 You’ll get worked dollar examples you can copy for your own account.
⚠️ You’ll learn the 25% penalty, how to cut it to 10%, and how to ask the IRS to waive it.
🗺️ You’ll find out which beneficiaries are exempt and how your state taxes the money.

What the 10-Year Rule Actually Is

The 10-year rule is the default payout schedule the SECURE Act of 2019 created for most non-spouse heirs of retirement accounts. It applies to IRA owners (and workplace-plan participants) who died on or after January 1, 2020. Before that law, a non-spouse heir could “stretch” withdrawals over their own life expectancy, often for decades. The SECURE Act ended that stretch for most heirs and replaced it with a hard 10-year wall.

Under the rule, the entire inherited account must be emptied by December 31 of the tenth year after the year the owner died. If your parent died in 2025, your final deadline is December 31, 2035. The account does not have to be drained evenly — you control the timing within the decade — but it must hit zero by that final date.

The consequence of blowing the year-10 deadline is severe. Any balance left in the account after the deadline is treated as a missed RMD and exposed to the excise tax. So even an heir who owes no annual RMDs still must plan the full cleanout, because the year-10 sweep is itself a form of required distribution.

A common misconception is that the 10-year rule means “wait 10 years, then withdraw.” It does not. The clock is a deadline, not a waiting period, and for many heirs there is also a yearly obligation along the way. What you should do now is pin down the owner’s date of death and their birth year — those two facts drive every calculation that follows.

The Question That Decides Everything: The Required Beginning Date

Whether you owe annual RMDs inside the 10-year window turns on the owner’s required beginning date, or RBD. The RBD is generally April 1 of the year after the owner turned 73, the age at which lifetime RMDs begin under current law. If the owner had passed that date, they were already in “pay-out mode,” and the IRS requires you to keep that flow going.

The logic is the “at-least-as-rapidly” rule. Once an owner starts taking lifetime RMDs, the tax code says distributions must continue at least as fast after death. So if the owner died after the RBD, the IRS final regulations require you to take an annual RMD in years 1 through 9, then empty the rest in year 10.

If the owner died before their RBD, no lifetime RMDs had started, so there is nothing to continue. In that case you owe no annual RMDs in years 1–9. You can let the balance ride and take it all in year 10 if you wish — though that often creates a painful tax spike.

The misconception here is that “10-year rule” automatically means “annual RMDs.” It does not. About half of 10-year heirs — those whose benefactor died young — owe nothing until the final year. What you should do is confirm the owner’s age at death: if they were 73 or older and had begun RMDs, assume annual RMDs apply; if younger, you likely skip them.

Died On or After the RBD: Annual RMDs Apply

If the owner was already taking lifetime RMDs, you step into their shoes. You must take an annual RMD every year in years 1–9, calculated using your own single life expectancy from IRS Table I in Publication 590-B. You find your age in the year after death, pull the matching life-expectancy factor, and subtract 1 from that factor each following year.

The consequence of skipping one of these annual RMDs is the excise tax on the shortfall. For 2025 forward, the IRS no longer waives these — the relief that covered 2021–2024 has ended. The practical step: set a recurring December reminder, because the deadline for each annual RMD is December 31 of that year.

Died Before the RBD: No Annual RMDs

If the owner died before reaching their required beginning date, you owe no yearly distribution. Your only hard deadline is the year-10 cleanout. This gives you flexibility to time withdrawals around your own income — for example, taking more in a low-earning year.

The risk is a “year-10 cliff.” If you take nothing for nine years, the entire balance lands in your income in one year, possibly pushing you into a top bracket. The smart step is usually to spread voluntary withdrawals across the decade even when not required, smoothing the tax hit.

Year-of-Death RMD: A Separate Trap

There is one RMD that exists no matter which camp you fall in: the year-of-death RMD. If the owner was already subject to lifetime RMDs and had not taken the full amount for the year they died, you — the beneficiary — must take the rest by December 31 of that year. SECURE 2.0 extended the deadline to take a year-of-death RMD to the beneficiary’s tax-filing deadline, with relief from the penalty if taken by then.

The consequence of missing it is the same excise tax. A common mistake is assuming the estate or the custodian handles this automatically — it does not. If you inherit late in the year from a parent who had not yet taken their RMD, your first task is to check whether any of their current-year RMD remains unpaid and take it fast.

Which Situation Applies to You?

Use this branch to find your lane before you read further:

You are a spouse: You are an eligible designated beneficiary. You can roll the IRA into your own, or stay a beneficiary — the 10-year rule generally does not bind you. Skip to the eligible-beneficiary table.
You are a non-spouse who is more than 10 years younger and not disabled/chronically ill (e.g., an adult child): You are a non-eligible designated beneficiary — the core 10-year-rule group. Your annual-RMD answer depends entirely on the owner’s RBD above.
You are within 10 years of the owner’s age, disabled, chronically ill, or a minor child: You are an eligible designated beneficiary and can usually stretch over your life expectancy (a minor child’s stretch ends at age 21, then the 10-year rule kicks in).
You inherited a Roth IRA: The 10-year rule still applies, but because a Roth owner is always treated as dying before their RBD, you owe no annual RMDs — only the year-10 cleanout.
The beneficiary is a trust, estate, or charity (a non-designated beneficiary): Different rules apply — often a 5-year rule if the owner died before the RBD, or a life-expectancy payout if after.

Worked Examples With Real Dollars

Here is the math you can copy. Assume each heir inherited a $500,000 traditional IRA.

Example A — Annual RMDs apply. Maria, age 53 in the year after her father’s death, inherited from a 78-year-old who was already taking RMDs. Her father died after his RBD, so Maria owes annual RMDs. The Single Life Table factor at age 53 is 33.4. Her first-year RMD is $500,000 ÷ 33.4 = $14,970. Next year she uses 32.4 (subtracting 1), and so on, with the remaining balance swept out by year 10.

Example B — No annual RMDs. David, age 45, inherited a $500,000 IRA from his aunt who died at 68, before her RBD. David owes zero annual RMDs. He can wait, but if he lets it grow to $700,000 and withdraws it all in year 10, that lump could add six figures to his income in one year. To smooth it, David instead withdraws about $70,000 each year voluntarily.

Example C — Roth, no annual RMDs. Priya inherited a $300,000 Roth IRA from her mother. Because Roth owners are always treated as dying before the RBD, Priya owes no annual RMDs. Her qualified Roth withdrawals are tax-free, so she lets it grow tax-free for the full decade and takes it all in year 10 with no income tax owed.

Three Common Scenarios

Your Inheritance Situation	What the 10-Year Rule Requires
Adult child inherits traditional IRA; parent died at 80 (after RBD)	Take an annual RMD in years 1–9 using your single life expectancy, then empty the account by December 31 of year 10.
Niece inherits traditional IRA; aunt died at 67 (before RBD)	No annual RMDs in years 1–9; you may withdraw nothing until year 10, but the full balance must be out by December 31 of year 10.
Grandchild inherits a Roth IRA; grandparent died at any age	No annual RMDs ever (Roth owners are treated as pre-RBD); withdrawals are usually tax-free; empty the account by year 10.

Eligible vs. Non-Eligible Beneficiaries

The 10-year rule only fully binds non-eligible designated beneficiaries. A separate class — eligible designated beneficiaries (EDBs) — gets better treatment. Knowing which group you fall in is the difference between a yearly obligation and a lifetime stretch.

Beneficiary Type	Distribution Treatment
Surviving spouse	Can roll into own IRA or stay beneficiary; stretch over life expectancy; not bound by the 10-year rule.
Minor child of owner	Stretch over life expectancy until age 21, then 10-year rule begins.
Disabled or chronically ill heir	Stretch over their own life expectancy for life.
Heir not more than 10 years younger than owner	Stretch over their own life expectancy.
Adult child / unrelated heir (non-eligible)	10-year rule applies; annual RMDs depend on owner’s RBD.
Trust, estate, or charity (non-designated)	5-year rule if owner died before RBD; life-expectancy payout if after.

How the Rules Changed: Old Stretch vs. New 10-Year Rule

The shift from the stretch IRA to the 10-year rule is the heart of why this topic confuses people. The contrast below shows what changed for deaths in 2020 and later.

Pre-2020 Stretch IRA	Post-2019 SECURE Act 10-Year Rule
Non-spouse heirs stretched RMDs over their own life expectancy, often 20–40 years.	Most non-spouse heirs must empty the account within 10 years.
Small annual RMDs spread the tax over decades.	Tax compresses into a single decade, often raising the heir’s bracket.
Applied to owners who died before January 1, 2020 (those heirs keep the old rules).	Applies to owners who died on or after January 1, 2020.

The Penalty and How to Fix a Missed RMD

Miss an annual RMD or the year-10 cleanout and the IRS charges an excise tax of 25% of the shortfall, down from the old 50% thanks to SECURE 2.0. If you correct the miss within a two-year “correction window,” the penalty drops to 10%. You report and calculate the tax on Form 5329, filed with your Form 1040.

You can also ask the IRS to waive the penalty entirely for “reasonable cause.” You take the missed amount as soon as you notice, file Form 5329, enter “RC” and the waived amount per the form instructions, and attach a short statement explaining what happened (for example, a custodian error or a serious illness). The IRS grants these waivers routinely when you fix the shortfall promptly.

The consequence of ignoring the problem is that the penalty compounds across each missed year and the IRS can assess it on audit. A common misconception is that the relief covering 2021–2024 still applies — it does not for 2025 and later. Your step if you already missed a 2025 RMD: take it now, file Form 5329 for 2025, and request the waiver.

Deadlines, Costs, and Timing

Annual RMDs are due by December 31 each year. The year-of-death RMD now has relief if taken by your tax-filing deadline. The full account must be empty by December 31 of year 10.

Doing it yourself costs nothing but your time — custodians like Fidelity or Vanguard can calculate the RMD for you. A CPA or fee-only advisor typically charges a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars to build a decade-long withdrawal plan, which often pays for itself by avoiding a year-10 tax cliff. Penalty-waiver filings are simple enough to DIY, but a complex trust beneficiary situation warrants a tax attorney.

State Tax Angle

Federal law sets when you must withdraw; your state decides how the withdrawal is taxed. Inherited traditional IRA distributions are ordinary income federally, and most states with an income tax treat them the same way. There is no separate “state 10-year rule” — states follow the federal distribution timing.

Eight states levy no broad income tax at all — including Florida, Texas, and Nevada — so a resident there owes no state tax on the withdrawal. High-tax states like California tax the full distribution as ordinary income, which makes spreading withdrawals across the decade even more valuable. If you might move during the 10 years, timing larger withdrawals for a low- or no-tax year can save real money.

Mistakes to Avoid

Assuming the 10-year rule means no annual RMDs. If the owner died after the RBD, skipping years 1–9 triggers the 25% penalty.
Forgetting the year-of-death RMD. The custodian won’t take it for you; missing it is a penalized shortfall.
Waiting until year 10 to withdraw everything. A single lump can spike you into the top federal bracket and inflate your state tax.
Treating a Roth like a traditional IRA. You owe no annual RMDs on an inherited Roth — taking them early wastes tax-free growth.
Missing the year-10 deadline. Any balance left after December 31 of year 10 is a 25% penalty exposure.
Using the wrong life-expectancy table. Heirs use the Single Life Table, not the Uniform Lifetime Table owners use.
Recalculating the factor each year. After year one you subtract 1 from the prior factor; re-looking-up your age overstates the divisor and understates the RMD.
Believing the 2021–2024 waiver still applies. It ended; 2025 and later annual RMDs are enforced.

Do’s and Don’ts

Do confirm the owner’s age and date of death first — it decides whether annual RMDs apply.
Do project your taxes across all 10 years, because compressing income hurts.
Do take voluntary withdrawals in low-income years to smooth the tax bill.
Do keep records of every distribution and the year-of-death RMD status.
Do file Form 5329 promptly if you miss an RMD, to limit the penalty to 10% or get a waiver.
Don’t assume your custodian tracks your inherited-IRA RMD automatically — many do not.
Don’t commingle inherited IRA funds with your own IRA; that disqualifies the account.
Don’t ignore state taxes when timing withdrawals.
Don’t let a minor child’s account sit past age 21 without starting the 10-year clock.
Don’t rely on outdated stretch-IRA advice if the owner died in 2020 or later.

Pros and Cons of the 10-Year Rule

Pro: You control the timing within the decade, allowing tax planning around your income.
Pro: Roth heirs get up to a decade of continued tax-free growth.
Pro: Heirs of pre-RBD owners owe no forced annual withdrawals.
Pro: The penalty fell from 50% to 25% (10% if corrected fast), softening mistakes.
Pro: No lifetime stretch tracking — the obligation ends cleanly at year 10.
Con: The stretch is gone, compressing decades of tax into ten years.
Con: Post-RBD heirs face annual RMDs and the year-10 cleanout.
Con: A year-10 lump can spike your bracket and trigger added Medicare or NIIT surtaxes.
Con: The rules are complex, and custodian errors are common.
Con: Missing an RMD now carries a real, enforced penalty.

What to Do Next

Pin down two facts: the owner’s date of death and whether they had reached their required beginning date.
Check the year-of-death RMD: if the owner died after starting RMDs and hadn’t finished that year’s, take the balance now.
Determine your camp: post-RBD means annual RMDs in years 1–9; pre-RBD or Roth means year-10 cleanout only.
Calculate this year’s RMD using the Single Life Table in Publication 590-B if annual RMDs apply.
Build a 10-year withdrawal plan to avoid a year-10 tax cliff.
If you missed a 2025 RMD, take it immediately and file Form 5329 to request the waiver.
Call a CPA or tax attorney if a trust is involved or the balance is large.

This article is educational and not a substitute for advice from a licensed tax professional for your specific situation.

FAQs

Do you have to take RMDs during the 10-year rule? It depends. For 2026, if the owner died on or after their required beginning date, you must take annual RMDs in years 1–9. If they died before it, you owe no annual RMDs — only the year-10 cleanout.

What is the required beginning date? Generally April 1 of the year after the owner turns 73. It is the date lifetime RMDs must start. Whether the owner died before or after it decides if you owe annual RMDs inside the 10-year window.

Are inherited Roth IRAs subject to annual RMDs under the 10-year rule? No. Roth owners are always treated as dying before their RBD, so no annual RMDs apply. You must still empty the account by the end of year 10, but qualified withdrawals are tax-free.

When must the account be fully emptied? By December 31 of the tenth year after the owner’s death. A 2025 death means a December 31, 2035 deadline. Any balance left after that date is exposed to the excise tax.

What is the penalty for missing an RMD? 25% of the shortfall. It drops to 10% if you correct it within the two-year window. You report it on Form 5329, and you can request a full waiver for reasonable cause.

Did the IRS waive these RMDs? Yes, but only through 2024. The IRS excused missed annual RMDs for 2021–2024. Starting in 2025, annual RMDs are mandatory and enforced for post-RBD heirs.

Who is exempt from the 10-year rule? Eligible designated beneficiaries. Spouses, minor children (until 21), disabled or chronically ill heirs, and those not more than 10 years younger than the owner can generally stretch over their life expectancy instead.

Which life-expectancy table do beneficiaries use? The Single Life Table in Publication 590-B. You find your factor in the year after death, then subtract 1 each year. Owners taking lifetime RMDs use the Uniform Lifetime Table instead.

Is the year-of-death RMD my responsibility? Yes. If the owner hadn’t taken their full current-year RMD before dying, the beneficiary must take the remainder, now generally by the beneficiary’s tax-filing deadline.

Does my state add its own 10-year rule? No. States follow federal distribution timing. Most income-tax states tax the withdrawal as ordinary income; eight states, including Florida and Texas, have no broad income tax.

Can I withdraw more than the annual RMD? Yes. The annual RMD is a minimum, not a cap. Taking more in low-income years can smooth your taxes and prevent a large year-10 lump.

What if I inherited before 2020? The old stretch rules apply. Beneficiaries of owners who died before January 1, 2020 may continue lifetime stretch distributions and are not subject to the 10-year rule.

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