An adult child who inherits an IRA from a parent who died in 2025 has until Dec. 31, 2035 to empty it, and the IRS counts that deadline to the end of the calendar year that holds the 10th anniversary of the death. Most heirs who inherit from an owner who died after 2019 fall under the same 10-year clock.
The calendar-year ending matters for planning. An owner who died in March 2025 and one who died in November 2025 give heirs the same last day, Dec. 31, 2035, so the earlier death does not shorten the window by a day.
The people most affected are the ones who rarely think of themselves as heirs yet: adult children, grandchildren and friends named on an IRA beneficiary form. They are what the tax code calls non-eligible designated beneficiaries, and the 10-year rule applies to them whether the owner died before or after reaching the age when required withdrawals begin.
Stay ahead of retirement tax and RMD news: We explain each retirement tax and RMD update in plain English, with the one step to take. Join the Retirement Money Brief, one email every weekday from Ellen at RetireShield, and we’ll send you our 2026 Retirement Tax, RMD & Medicare Deadline Calendar as a welcome gift.
Get the Brief + the deadline calendar →
We may earn a commission from links on this page.
Who gets the 10 years and who does not
IRS Publication 590-B says the rule applies when the owner died in a tax year beginning after Dec. 31, 2019: “All distributions must be made by the end of the 10th year after death.” A short list of heirs is excused from the 10-year clock and may stretch withdrawals over their own life expectancy.
The publication names those eligible designated beneficiaries: a surviving spouse, the owner’s minor child, a disabled individual, a chronically ill individual, and any other individual who is not more than 10 years younger than the owner. A sister three years younger than the owner qualifies, while a nephew decades younger does not.
Deaths before 2020 follow the older rule. The IRS’s required minimum distribution questions page says the beneficiary generally must take the balance within five years of the end of the year after the owner’s death, or over the beneficiary’s life starting by that year-end.
Years one through nine
Whether heirs can wait until year 10 depends on when the owner died. Publication 590-B says that when the owner died before the required beginning date, the date the owner’s own withdrawals were to start, and the 10-year rule applies, “no distribution is required for any year before the 10th year.” The whole balance can sit in the account until the last year.
That choice has a price. Equal yearly withdrawals from a $300,000 balance would come to $30,000 a year before any growth, each added to the heir’s income for that year. Waiting leaves the full balance to be taxed in a single year, on top of whatever else the heir earns that year.
If the owner had already reached the required beginning date, annual withdrawals continue. The Treasury’s final regulations, published in the Federal Register on July 19, 2024, “require annual distributions to continue while also requiring full distribution” within the 10 years. They apply to distribution years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2025.
Treasury gave plans a pass for the early years. Under Notice 2024-35, described in the same regulations, a plan “will not fail to be qualified” for skipping that distribution in 2021, 2022, 2023 or 2024. The relief protects the plan’s qualified status, and heirs who owe a withdrawal from 2025 forward are on the final rules.
A minor child’s clock starts later
A child of the owner who has not reached the age of majority is an eligible designated beneficiary and can take life-expectancy withdrawals while still a minor. Publication 590-B says the 10-year period starts when the child reaches the age of majority and ends on Dec. 31 of the year containing the 10th anniversary of that date.
The exception covers the owner’s own child only. A grandchild who is a minor does not get it and is on the 10-year clock from the date of death. A parent naming grandchildren on the IRA form should know the 10 years do not wait for them to grow up.
Spouses and Roth accounts
A surviving spouse who is the sole beneficiary can generally treat the inherited IRA as their own or remain a beneficiary, according to Publication 590-B.
Roth IRAs do not escape. The IRS page says beneficiaries of Roth IRAs and designated Roth accounts are subject to the required distribution rules, even though the owner never had to take withdrawals.
What a missed withdrawal costs
The IRS page says a missed required distribution may be subject to a 25 percent excise tax, reduced to 10 percent if the shortfall is corrected within two years. That penalty is stated for required distributions generally. Publication 590-B says any amount left after the 10-year deadline falls under the same excess accumulation rules.
The 10 years also stack income into the heir’s own tax brackets. An heir who waits until the last year to withdraw a six-figure balance takes it as income in one tax year, which can push the heir into a higher bracket than spreading the withdrawals would.
Naming heirs for an IRA?
An IRA owner who names the wrong person, or leaves the form blank, decides how fast the heirs must pay tax on the account. A beneficiary form beats a will for an IRA, and an old form can name an ex-spouse or skip a child entirely.
Pass It On Checklist walks through every beneficiary form checked, with a primary and a backup named, and the inherited-IRA rules your heirs will face, including the 10-year rule. Its 10 moves also cover payable-on-death names on bank accounts and a transfer-on-death deed so the house can skip probate in many states.
Get the beneficiary-form audit and the 10-year rule for your heirs in one checklist →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
