Inherited IRA RMD Rules

Submitted by Eddie Holland on Wed, 2018-02-07 13:38

Let’s assume husband dies leaving his IRA to his wife. Wife is younger than 59.5 so she elects to receive IRA as an Inherited IRA instead of rolling into her name as a Rollover IRA. Wife names her two children as primary beneficiaries of the Inherited IRA. Wife is not required to take RMDs on the Inherited IRA because she is spouse of deceased IRA owner, correct?

Then, let’s assume wife dies and her two children inherit the Inherited IRA. Are the children allowed to calculate the RMD based on their ages or is the RMD calculated based on their mother’s age?



Submitted by David Mertz on Wed, 2018-02-07 15:18

  • Wife is not required to take RMDs from the inherited IRA until the year in which the deceased husband would have reached age 70½.  Wife would normally want to assume ownership of the IRA no later than that year or roll it over to her own IRA before that year so that her RMDs would be based on her age as owner rather than on her age as beneficiary.
  • If wife dies before the date on which she is required to receive distributions as beneficiary (December 31 of the year her deceased husband would have reached age 70½), the IRA is treated as if she had assumed ownership, allowing the beneficiaries RMDs to be based on the ages of her beneficiaries rather than on her own age.  If she continues to hold the IRA as inherited after the date on which she is required to receive distributions, her beneficiaries will be successor beneficiaries whose RMDs will be based on the her age, not her beneficiaries ages.
  • https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590b#en_US_2016_publink10002902

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