Inherited Inherited IRA Distribution Question
Hello,
I have a question regarding an inherited inherited IRA. I have a husband and wife client. The husband’s mom had an IRA and died in 2021. He inherited the IRA and then also died in the same year 2021. The wife inherited the IRA in 2021. I am assuming the wife is forced to take out RMD’s starting this year and must drain the IRA within 10 years after the date of death?
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Tue, 2025-09-30 15:49
Yes, a successor beneficiary is obligated to continue the RMD schedule of the deceased designated beneficiary. I will assume that husband established an inherited IRA and named his wife as his beneficiary.
If mom passed after her RBD, wife will have to determine husband’s single life table divisor based on the age he would have been at the end of 2022. Wife will have to continue to reduce that divisor by 1.0 for each year and then drain the inherited IRA by the end of 2031 (10 year rule). Wife’s age is irrelevant.
If Mom did not complete her 2021 RMD before passing, husband became responsible for it and if he also did not complete it, his wife became responsible for it.
More complexity – while that year of death RMD for 2021 was not waived, the IRS did waive annual beneficiary RMDs for 2022-2024 due to delayed Secure Act Regs. I think you were referring to that, and you are correct that the beneficiary RMDs must start this year.