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Inherited IRA RMD Calculator

Inherited an IRA or 401(k)? Find out which IRS rule applies to you, how much you must withdraw this year, and the year the account has to be empty, for owners who died in 2020 or later.

Updated By Hassan Arslan How we build & check our calculators

The inherited account

The required beginning date is April 1 of the year after the owner reached RMD age.

For a 2027 RMD, use the balance on December 31, 2026.

For the projection only.

Your results

Your RMD

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Rule that applies

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Empty the account by

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Life expectancy factor

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Year-by-year schedule

Estimate for education only, based on your inputs and the rules explained below. Not financial, tax or legal advice. How we calculate

How to use this calculator

  1. Choose your relationship to the owner. It decides which rule applies, so check the table below if you’re not sure.
  2. Enter the owner’s birth year and the year they died. These show whether the owner had reached their required beginning date. If you know they had started RMDs, say so in the next field.
  3. Enter your birth year and the balance on December 31 of last year, from the inherited account’s year-end statement.
  4. Read the schedule. It shows each year’s minimum and the year the account must be empty. Use a separate calculation for each inherited account.

Calcvera’s inherited IRA RMD calculator applies the IRS final regulations published in July 2024. If the account is your own, use the RMD calculator instead.

Which rule applies to you?

BeneficiaryRuleYearly RMDs?
Most adult children, grandchildren, siblings and friendsEmpty by the end of the 10th year after the deathOnly if the owner had reached the required beginning date
SpouseTreat the IRA as your own, or keep it as an inherited IRA and take RMDs over your life expectancyYes, but can wait until the year the owner would have reached RMD age
Minor child of the ownerLife expectancy until 21, then empty by the end of the year they turn 31Yes
Disabled or chronically ill person, or someone not more than 10 years younger than the ownerLife expectancy (the “stretch”)Yes
Estate, charity or non-qualifying trustEmpty within 5 years, or over the owner’s remaining life expectancy if they had reached the required beginning dateOnly in the second case

The spouse, minor child, disabled and chronically ill, and not-more-than-10-years-younger groups are called eligible designated beneficiaries. Everyone else who is a person is a designated beneficiary under the 10-year rule.

How the 10-year rule works

The account must be empty by December 31 of the 10th year after the year of death. Whether you also take an RMD every year depends on the owner:

  • The owner had reached their required beginning date, April 1 of the year after they reached RMD age (73 for people born 1951 to 1959): you take an RMD in years 1 to 9 and the rest in year 10.
  • The owner died before that date, or the account is a Roth: there’s no yearly minimum. You can take any amount, any year, as long as the account is empty by the end of year 10.

Many beneficiaries skipped yearly RMDs while the rules were unclear, and the IRS waived the excise tax on missed annual 10-year-rule RMDs for 2021 to 2024. Since 2025, they’re required. The waivers didn’t extend the 10-year deadline.

How an inherited IRA RMD is calculated

Inherited RMD = balance on December 31 of last year ÷ (your Single Life factor in the year after death − years since then)

You look up your age once, in the year after the death, and subtract 1 for each later year. If the owner had reached the required beginning date and was younger than you, you can use their remaining life expectancy instead when it’s longer.

Example: a daughter born in 1975 inherits a traditional IRA from her father, born in 1945, who died in 2024 after starting his RMDs. She was 50 in 2025, when her factor was 36.2. For 2026, it’s 35.2. With $400,000 in the account on December 31, 2025, her 2026 RMD is $400,000 ÷ 35.2 = $11,363.64. Her father’s factor (11.9 at 79, minus 1 a year) is shorter, so hers applies. She must empty the account by the end of 2034.

If her father had died in 2023 at 68, before his required beginning date, she’d have no yearly minimum at all and would need to empty the account by the end of 2033.

Options for a surviving spouse

  • Treat the IRA as your own (or roll it into your IRA). RMDs then start at your own RMD age and use the Uniform Lifetime Table, which gives smaller RMDs. Withdrawals before 59½ can face the 10% early withdrawal tax. See the RMD calculator.
  • Keep it as an inherited IRA. Withdrawals are free of the 10% tax at any age, which helps a younger spouse who needs the money now. If the owner died before the required beginning date, RMDs can wait until the year the owner would have reached RMD age. Your factor is looked up again each year from the Single Life table.

Many younger spouses keep the account as an inherited IRA first and move it into their own IRA later.

Inherited Roth IRAs

A Roth IRA owner is always treated as dying before the required beginning date. Most beneficiaries therefore have no yearly RMDs from an inherited Roth, but must still empty it within 10 years. Eligible designated beneficiaries who stretch take yearly RMDs. Withdrawals are tax-free once the account has been open for five years, counting from the owner’s first contribution. Many beneficiaries leave an inherited Roth invested until year 10 to get the most tax-free growth.

Taxes on inherited IRA withdrawals

  • Traditional accounts are taxed as ordinary income in the year you withdraw. A large withdrawal in year 10 can push you into a much higher bracket.
  • Spreading withdrawals over the 10 years often keeps more of the money in lower brackets. Taking more in lower-income years, such as after you retire or before Social Security starts, can help too.
  • No 10% early withdrawal tax applies to beneficiaries, at any age.
  • Watch income-based thresholds: withdrawals raise the income used for ACA subsidies and, two years later, Medicare IRMAA.
  • Withhold tax when you take each distribution, or pay estimated tax, so you don’t owe a large bill. The tax refund calculator shows the effect on your return.

IRS Single Life Expectancy Table

Beneficiaries use Table I from IRS Publication 590-B, in effect since 2022. Ages 20 to 99 are below; the table runs from 84.6 at age 0 to 1.0 at 120.

AgeFactorAgeFactor
20 65.0 60 27.1
21 64.1 61 26.2
22 63.1 62 25.4
23 62.1 63 24.5
24 61.1 64 23.7
25 60.2 65 22.9
26 59.2 66 22.0
27 58.2 67 21.2
28 57.3 68 20.4
29 56.3 69 19.6
30 55.3 70 18.8
31 54.4 71 18.0
32 53.4 72 17.2
33 52.5 73 16.4
34 51.5 74 15.6
35 50.5 75 14.8
36 49.6 76 14.1
37 48.6 77 13.3
38 47.7 78 12.6
39 46.7 79 11.9
40 45.7 80 11.2
41 44.8 81 10.5
42 43.8 82 9.9
43 42.9 83 9.3
44 41.9 84 8.7
45 41.0 85 8.1
46 40.0 86 7.6
47 39.0 87 7.1
48 38.1 88 6.6
49 37.1 89 6.1
50 36.2 90 5.7
51 35.3 91 5.3
52 34.3 92 4.9
53 33.4 93 4.6
54 32.5 94 4.3
55 31.6 95 4.0
56 30.6 96 3.7
57 29.8 97 3.4
58 28.9 98 3.2
59 28.0 99 3.0

Download both IRS tables used for RMDs, Single Life and Uniform Lifetime, as a CSV file.

If you miss an inherited IRA RMD

The amount you should have taken is hit with a 25% excise tax, reduced to 10% if you take it and file Form 5329 within the correction window. If the miss was a reasonable error, you can ask the IRS to waive the tax by attaching an explanation to Form 5329. If the owner died during the year without taking their own RMD, the beneficiary must take that amount too; ask the account custodian.

What this calculator leaves out

  • Owners who died before 2020, whose beneficiaries generally keep the older “stretch” rules.
  • Accounts inherited from a beneficiary (a successor beneficiary), and the details of see-through trusts.
  • The owner’s own RMD for the year of death, and a spouse’s election to use the Uniform Lifetime Table.
  • A death in the required beginning date year: if the owner died before April 1 of that year, choose “No, they died before it”.

For a large account, a trust or a spouse’s choice between options, ask a tax professional about your situation before you act.

Frequently asked questions

What is the 10-year rule for inherited IRAs?
If you inherited an IRA or 401(k) from someone who died in 2020 or later and you aren’t an eligible designated beneficiary, you must empty the account by December 31 of the 10th year after the year of death. For a death in 2024, that’s the end of 2034.
Do I have to take an RMD from an inherited IRA every year?
Under the 10-year rule, only if the owner died on or after their required beginning date, which is April 1 of the year after they reached RMD age. Then you take an RMD in years 1 to 9 and empty the account in year 10. If the owner died before that date, you can withdraw any amount at any time, as long as the account is empty by the end of year 10.
How is an inherited IRA RMD calculated?
Divide the balance on December 31 of last year by your life expectancy from the IRS Single Life Expectancy Table. You look up your age in the year after the death once, then subtract 1 for each later year. A spouse looks up their age again each year instead.
Do I have to take RMDs from an inherited Roth IRA?
Most beneficiaries don’t take yearly RMDs from an inherited Roth IRA, because a Roth owner is treated as dying before the required beginning date. The account still has to be emptied within 10 years. Eligible designated beneficiaries who stretch payments over their life expectancy take yearly RMDs. Qualified withdrawals are tax-free.
Is there a 10% penalty for withdrawing from an inherited IRA before 59½?
No. Distributions to a beneficiary after the owner’s death are exempt from the 10% early withdrawal tax at any age. They’re still taxed as ordinary income if the account was a traditional IRA. A spouse who treats the IRA as their own loses this exemption.
What happens if I miss an inherited IRA RMD?
The shortfall is subject to a 25% excise tax, reduced to 10% if you take the missed amount and file Form 5329 within the correction window. The IRS waived the tax on missed annual 10-year-rule RMDs for 2021 to 2024, but annual RMDs have been enforced since 2025.

Sources

Key terms

About this calculator. Calcvera’s Inherited IRA RMD Calculator is written and maintained by Hassan Arslan and was last reviewed on October 15, 2026. Rules and figures are checked against “Publication 590-B, Distributions from IRAs (Appendix B, Table I)”, “Retirement plan and IRA required minimum distributions FAQs” and the other sources listed above. Results are estimates for education — not financial, tax or legal advice. Found an error? Tell us and we'll fix it. See our methodology and editorial policy.