Inherited IRA Rules After the SECURE Act 2.0

Inherited IRA Rules After the SECURE Act 2.0

Start with the beneficiary and the date of death

September 22, 2026

An inherited IRA can look like an ordinary retirement account on a statement, yet its withdrawal schedule may be entirely different. Before choosing a distribution, I would identify who inherited it, when the owner died, and whether the owner had reached the required beginning date. Those facts drive the rules that follow.¹

The beneficiary categories matter

For deaths after 2019, many individual beneficiaries who are not "eligible designated beneficiaries" must empty the inherited IRA by the end of the tenth year after the owner's death. Eligible designated beneficiaries include a surviving spouse, the owner's minor child, a disabled or chronically ill individual, and an individual no more than ten years younger than the owner. These categories can allow life expectancy payments, subject to additional rules. A trust or estate requires separate analysis; naming one does not automatically make it an eligible designated beneficiary.^1,2

A surviving spouse often has a choice to keep the IRA inherited or treat it as the spouse's own IRA. That decision can change the withdrawal schedule and should be weighed against the spouse's age, current income, and near-term cash needs. A nonspouse beneficiary generally cannot treat the account as their own or roll it into their own IRA, although a properly titled inherited IRA may be moved by trustee-to-trustee transfer.²

Ten years does not always mean ten years without withdrawals

If the owner died before the required beginning date and the ordinary ten-year rule applies, no distribution is required in years one through nine, but the account must be emptied by year ten. If the owner died on or after that date, annual beneficiary RMDs generally apply during the ten-year period, along with the final emptying deadline. A beneficiary should verify the decedent's status and the applicable first-year rule rather than rely on the headline "ten-year rule."^2,3

Figure 1 shows the distinction using an illustrative death in 2026. In both paths, year ten ends December 31, 2036. The annual-RMD path may require withdrawals in intervening years. The exact amount depends on the inherited balance, beneficiary age, and applicable life expectancy calculation; the chart deliberately shows timing rather than invented dollar amounts.^2,3

Account type and paperwork can change the outcome

An inherited Roth IRA also has beneficiary distribution rules, even though its original owner had no lifetime RMD. Roth distributions are often tax-free, but the five-year earnings rule and the account's history still matter. Traditional IRA withdrawals are generally taxable to the extent the account has no basis. A beneficiary should preserve the deceased owner's records of nondeductible IRA contributions if basis exists.²

The beneficiary designation, account agreement, and any trust terms must be reviewed together. A missed deadline or improper transfer can be expensive. We would coordinate the beneficiary's distribution calendar with their CPA and, where a trust is involved, their estate attorney before requesting a custodian transaction.

Closing

The practical first step is a short file: date of death, owner's required beginning date, beneficiary category, IRA type, beneficiary form, account balance, and any basis records. From there we can calculate the required schedule and decide how distributions fit a multi-year tax and cash-flow plan.

All my best,

Brandon VanLandingham, CFA, CMT, CFP
Founder / CIO

Citations

1. IRS, "Retirement topics — Beneficiary," accessed September 18, 2026. https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-beneficiary
2. IRS, Publication 590-B (2025), "What if You Inherit an IRA?" and "IRA Beneficiaries," accessed September 18, 2026. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590b
3. Treasury and IRS, final required minimum distribution regulations, 89 FR 58886, accessed September 18, 2026. https://www.irs.gov/irb/2024-33_IRB

Important Disclosures

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