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An IRA or 401(k) you mark as inherited follows the beneficiary rules, not the owner rules, at any age. Most adult children and other non-spouse heirs of owners who died in 2020 or later must empty the account by the end of the 10th year after the death. If the owner had already reached their required beginning date, they must also take a distribution each year before then. Spouses and other eligible designated beneficiaries can instead stretch distributions over their life expectancy.
CoastMath takes each year’s required amount in the year’s required stage, with owners’ own distributions. It counts as income for that year and is never penalized as an early withdrawal.
Inherited treatment applies to traditional and Roth IRAs and 401(k)s. It starts when you enter the year the original owner died; without that year, CoastMath treats the account as your own.
| Setting | How CoastMath uses it |
|---|---|
| Year original owner died (inherited accounts only) | Starts the schedule. Distributions begin the next year; the ten-year deadline counts from this year. |
| Beneficiary relationship to original owner | Surviving spouse, other eligible designated beneficiary, or other individual beneficiary. |
| Distribution election | The beneficiary’s default, life expectancy, the ten-year election, or, for a spouse, treating the account as the spouse’s own after the year of death. |
| Original owner’s birth year | Sets the owner’s remaining life expectancy and, for a spouse, the year the owner would have reached the required age. |
| Death relative to the required beginning date | On or after means annual distributions under the ten-year rule and the owner’s life expectancy as a floor. Traditional accounts only. |
| Beneficiary was the original owner’s minor child | Life expectancy distributions until 21, then the account must be empty by the 10th year after. |
| Unpaid original-owner RMD in year of death ($) | Taken in the year of death, when that year is part of the plan. |
The beneficiary is the account’s owner in the plan, and their age each year drives the schedule. An inherited account can’t receive contributions.
| Beneficiary | Owner died before the required beginning date | Owner died on or after it |
|---|---|---|
| Other individual, death in 2020 or later | Nothing required until the 10th year after death, then the whole balance. | Annual life expectancy distributions, then the whole balance in the 10th year. |
| Other individual, death before 2020 | Annual life expectancy distributions, no deadline. | Annual life expectancy distributions, no deadline. |
| Eligible designated beneficiary | Annual life expectancy distributions, no deadline, or the ten-year election. | Annual life expectancy distributions, no deadline. |
| Minor child of the owner | Life expectancy distributions, then empty by the 10th year after turning 21. | The same. |
| Surviving spouse | Life expectancy distributions starting the later of the year after death or the year the owner would have reached the required age. | Life expectancy distributions starting the year after death. |
Eligible designated beneficiaries are the surviving spouse, a minor child, a disabled or chronically ill person, and anyone no more than 10 years younger than the owner.
A spouse who chooses to treat the account as their own is switched to owner rules from the year after death: required distributions start at the spouse’s own required age and use the Uniform Lifetime Table, as described in Required minimum distributions.
Annual distribution=Account balance on December 31 of the prior year÷Remaining life expectancy
Life expectancy comes from the Single Life Table. A beneficiary other than a spouse looks up their age in the year after the death once, then subtracts one for each later year. A spouse looks up their current age every year. When the owner died on or after the required beginning date, CoastMath also works out the owner’s remaining life expectancy (the owner’s age in the year of death, less one for each year since) and uses whichever is longer. Once the divisor reaches 1, the whole balance comes out.
| Beneficiary’s life expectancy at 51, the age in 2025 | 35.3 | |
|---|---|---|
| − | Years since 2025 | 1 |
| = | Divisor for 2026Longer than the owner’s 9.2 (11.2 at 80, less 2 years), so it applies | 34.3 |
| Inherited IRA balance on December 31, 2025 | $300,000 | |
| ÷ | Divisor for 2026 | 34.3 |
| = | Required distribution for 2026 | $8,746 |
For deaths from 2020 on, annual distributions under the ten-year rule begin in 2025; no distribution was required for 2021 through 2024. The divisor still counts down from the year after the death, so a 2021 death uses a divisor already reduced by three years in 2025.
The account must be empty by December 31 of the 10th year after the year of death. In that year CoastMath distributes the entire remaining balance, including that year’s growth, as one distribution. For a traditional account the whole amount is ordinary income in that single year.
Year
- Owner died on or after
- Owner died before
5% annual growth, no other withdrawals from the account. Without annual distributions, the balance keeps growing and comes out in one year.
Show data
| Year | On or after the required beginning date | Before it |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $8,746 | $0 |
| 2027 | $9,191 | $0 |
| 2028 | $9,658 | $0 |
| 2029 | $10,149 | $0 |
| 2030 | $10,666 | $0 |
| 2031 | $11,209 | $0 |
| 2032 | $11,781 | $0 |
| 2033 | $12,381 | $0 |
| 2034 | $351,381 | $455,062 |
A Roth owner never has a required beginning date, so an inherited Roth account has no annual distributions under the ten-year rule: an individual beneficiary must only empty it by the 10th year. Eligible designated beneficiaries still take life expectancy distributions, and a spouse can treat it as their own, which ends required distributions.
Distributions are tax-free once five years have passed since the original owner’s first Roth contribution. Before that, contributions and conversions come out first and tax-free; earnings are taxed but never penalized. An inherited Roth IRA keeps its own contribution history, separate from your own Roth IRAs.
When the plan models your partner’s death, their retirement accounts become the survivor’s own and follow owner rules; the settings here are for accounts you already hold as a beneficiary. See When a partner dies. Distributions appear in each year’s cash flow as “RMD” income.