Inherited IRA RMD Calculator: 10-Year Rule and Stretch Rules

When you inherit an IRA, two questions come first: how much you need to take out now, and when does the money have to be gone? This inherited IRA RMD calculator answers both. Enter the prior December 31 balance, the year of death, the original owner’s birth year, whether they had begun their own withdrawals, your beneficiary type, and your birth year. It picks the rule that fits, looks up the IRS Single Life Table, and shows how to calculate each step, with a projection to the deadline so you can estimate your inherited account’s path. Figures follow the 2024 final Treasury regulations and IRS Publication 590-B (2025 edition), reviewed for 2026.

Inputs This Inherited IRA RMD Calculator Uses

For accuracy, use the value on your prior year-end statement, not today’s balance. The owner’s birth year and date of death set their age, and whether they had reached the required beginning date (April 1 after the calendar year they hit RMD age 73, or 75 for anyone born January 1, 1960 or later) decides whether annual payouts start right away. Your type of beneficiary on the date of death decides the rest.

Here is the default case worked by hand. A father born in 1948 passed away in 2024 at 76, long after his first withdrawal. His daughter, born in 1974, inherits a $500,000 traditional IRA account. She turned 51 in 2025, and the table gives 35.3 at 51. For 2026 one step has elapsed, so her divisor is 34.3. Her father’s remaining figure (14.1 at 76, minus 2) is 12.1, shorter, so hers wins. The 2026 minimum is $500,000 divided by 34.3, or $14,577.26, about 2.92% of the balance, and the retirement account must be empty by the end of 2034, nine withdrawal seasons counting this one.

Charles Schwab and other brokers publish similar tools (Schwab’s inherited IRA version asks for the same facts). Few show the lookup itself, which is why this one prints the calculation.

The 10-Year Rule for Non-Spouse Beneficiaries

The SECURE Act ended the lifetime stretch for most heirs. If the owner passed away in 2020 or later and you are a designated beneficiary outside the protected groups (an adult child, grandchild, or friend), the whole balance must come out by the end of the tenth calendar year after the owner’s death. What happens before then depends on one fact: whether the IRA owner had started RMDs.

• Owner died on or after that date: you must take required minimum distributions annually in years 1 to 9, based on your age, then everything left.
• Owner died before it, or it was a Roth: nothing is due until the end.

Change the example so the father was born in 1952 and died at 72. If an owner passed away before April 1 of the calendar year after reaching RMD age, the heir is not required to take anything early, and the tool shows $0 due for 2026 with the same 2034 deadline. Some ranking pages still say no heir owes anything before the tenth anniversary; that is only half right.

Owner died in	Empty by the end of
2021	2031
2022	2032
2023	2033
2024	2034
2025	2035

Notices 2022-53, 2023-54, and 2024-35 waived the excise tax on missed annual amounts for 2021 through 2024 while the rules were finished. Annual withdrawals became mandatory in 2025. The waiver did not move the deadline, and the waived seasons still count when you reduce the divisor, so a 2026 figure can look larger than expected.

Eligible Designated Beneficiary Categories and Their Distribution Rules

Five kinds of heirs can still spread payments over their own remaining life expectancy. Each status counts only if it existed on the date of death.

Category	How the payout works
Surviving husband or wife	Divisor recalculated from current age every January
Owner’s child under 21	Payouts until 21, then empty by the tenth anniversary
Disabled or chronically ill	Payouts over the heir’s span, reduced by one annually
Not more than 10 years younger	Same, covering siblings and partners close in age

Pub 590-B works one itself: an eligible designated beneficiary who turns 57 in the first payout season, 2026, uses 29.8, and the tool returns 29.8. The minor child rule covers only the owner’s own child, and majority means the 21st birthday. A child born in 2014 who inherits in 2024 starts at 73.9, uses 72.9 in 2026, and must finish by the end of 2045.

How the IRS Single Life Table Sets the Divisor

Every stretch payout and every annual amount under the 10-year rule runs off Table I in Appendix B of Publication 590-B. Find your age in the calendar year after death, then subtract one for each later one, so you reduce the account each year by a rising share. When the owner had started RMDs, compare against the owner’s remaining figure (age at death, minus one per later season) and use the longer, which matters when you are older than the person who died.

Age	Factor	Age	Factor
40	45.7	65	22.9
50	36.2	70	18.8
51	35.3	76	14.1
55	31.6	80	11.2
60	27.1	85	8.1

These are the 2022 tables. Anyone who inherited from someone who died before 2022 resets: take the new factor for your age in the calendar year after death and subtract the time elapsed. The publication’s example, a parent who died in 2021 with a 55 year old heir, lands on 31.6 minus 4, or 27.6, for 2026, and this tool matches it.

Surviving Spouse Choices

A husband or wife who is the sole beneficiary has the most room. Keep it as an inherited IRA in your name and the divisor is figured from your current age every January, so it never runs down the way it does for other heirs. If the owner died before the required beginning date, you can wait until the year the original owner would have reached RMD age. Or treat the inherited asset as your own and use the Uniform Lifetime Table. A widow born in 1950 would use 14.1 at 76 in 2026, a minimum of $35,460.99. Under 59 and a half, the inherited version usually wins, since beneficiary withdrawals skip the 10% early withdrawal penalty.

Estates, Trusts, Roth Accounts, and Deaths Before 2020

When an estate, a charity, or a trust that fails the see-through rules inherits, there is no designated beneficiary. If the owner died before the required beginning date, the 5-year rule applies. If after, payouts continue over the owner’s remaining span. With several heirs, separate accounts set up by December 31st of the year after death let each person use their own figure. A Roth is always treated as if the owner died before RMDs began. If the original account owner passed away in 2019 or earlier, the old stretch still applies, reset to the 2022 tables.

Need to Withdraw More? A Tax-Aware Withdrawal Plan to Invest Around

The minimum is a floor, not a plan. Traditional money comes out as ordinary income, so a lump sum at the deadline can push $500,000 through several federal income tax brackets at once. In the default example the equal-slice figure is $55,555.56 over nine seasons, versus $14,577.26 required in 2026. A strategic heir takes more in low-income stretches (a sabbatical, early retirement before Social Security) and less in high-income ones. An investor can invest the after-tax cash in a taxable account or raise workplace plan or pension contributions from salary. Your tax situation sets the right pace, so a session with a tax advisor pays for itself on a large balance.

Missed Required Distributions and the 25% Excise Tax

A shortfall carries a 25% excise tax, cut to 10% when you withdraw the missing amount and file Form 5329 within the correction window. On our example that is $3,644.31. You are required to withdraw it by December 31 in order to avoid IRS trouble, and the agency can waive the tax for reasonable error.

Your next step: pull the prior year-end statement, use the calculator to determine how much you must take for 2026, and set an automatic withdrawal before December. If a trust, several heirs, or a pre-2022 stretch is involved, consult your custodian or a tax professional to help determine the exact figure. Beneficiaries who pass away mid-window leave the same clock to their own heirs.

Questions Heirs Ask About Inherited IRA RMDs

What is the new rule for an inherited IRA distribution?

Final regulations effective for 2025 confirmed annual amounts in years 1 to 9 when the owner had begun them, then an empty account by the deadline.

What is the smartest thing to do with inherited assets?

Retitle them as a beneficiary account, find your rule, and spread withdrawals across the window. An inherited IRA distribution calculator only shows the floor; no inherited IRA distribution rules calculator can read your beneficiary form for you.

Do inherited Roth IRAs have RMDs?

Not for non-spouse heirs on the 10-year rule before the final season, and qualified withdrawals are tax free.

What counts as the RMD?

Each annual minimum, known as a required minimum distribution, carries certain distribution requirements you must meet. Traditional withdrawals are taxable, with no step-up in basis.

This is education, not tax advice. Results rely on the information you provide and the information provided by IRS rules in force for 2026.