Inherited IRA RMD Calculator

The SECURE Act rewrote inherited IRA planning

Before the SECURE Act, most non-spouse beneficiaries could stretch distributions from an inherited IRA across their own life expectancy. That single feature quietly did more estate-planning work than most people realized. It smoothed distributions across decades, kept the beneficiary in a lower bracket, and allowed the balance to continue growing tax-deferred while it drained.

The SECURE Act, effective for deaths on or after January 1, 2020, replaced that stretch with a 10-year rule for most non-spouse beneficiaries. The entire account must be fully distributed by December 31 of the year containing the tenth anniversary of the owner's death. The tax friction that used to be spread across a beneficiary's lifetime now compresses into a single decade, typically the decade in which the beneficiary is at their own peak earning years.

Eligible designated beneficiaries kept the stretch

A narrow category of eligible designated beneficiaries can still use the Single Life Expectancy Table to stretch distributions. The list is: a surviving spouse, a minor child of the account owner (until age of majority, at which point the 10-year rule kicks in), a disabled or chronically ill individual, and any beneficiary not more than 10 years younger than the account owner. Everyone else, siblings, adult children, most trusts, falls under the 10-year rule.

The 2024 final regulations added an annual RMD requirement

For years the industry debated whether the 10-year rule required annual distributions inside the window or simply required the account to be zeroed out by year 10. The IRS resolved the question in its 2024 final regulations. If the original owner died on or after their Required Beginning Date, non-eligible designated beneficiaries must take annual RMDs in years 1 through 9, with the residual drained by December 31 of year 10. If the owner died before their RBD, no annual RMD is required, only the year-10 deadline.

Surviving spouses have the widest optionality

A surviving spouse can generally roll the inherited balance into their own IRA, elect to treat it as their own, or remain a beneficiary on the inherited account. The choice interacts with the surviving spouse's own age, the deceased spouse's age at death, the balance size, and any pending Roth conversions. There is real planning to do in the first year.

What the tool does not do

This calculator reports a first-year picture. Actual stretch distributions use the subtract-one method, so the divisor drops by one each subsequent year. The 10-year rule figure shown is a level annual number for planning; the residual in year 10 will usually differ once actual returns and prior distributions are factored in. Coordinate with a CPA before locking in a distribution schedule.