Updated July 28, 2026. Quick answer: Spreading usually wins, because ten years of income in one tax year is what pushes your marginal rate up. But it is not automatic — a low-income year, an ACA subsidy cliff, or a short remaining window as a successor beneficiary can all flip the answer.
What actually decides it
| Factor | Pushes toward |
|---|---|
| High, stable income across the decade | Spreading evenly |
| A retirement or sabbatical year coming | Concentrating into that year |
| On an ACA marketplace plan | Careful sizing — a subsidy cliff can cost more than the rate |
| Near an IRMAA threshold | Smaller withdrawals; the surcharge lands two years later |
| Short remaining window (successor) | You may have no choice |
The mistake in both directions
Emptying it immediately to “get it over with” wastes a decade of rate management. Waiting until year ten because the deadline is year ten concentrates everything into a single year at the worst possible rate. Both are common and both are decisions by default.
Run both shapes on your own numbers — the calculator asks for your spread rate and your year-10 rate separately, because tools that assume one rate are what make waiting look good.
If the decedent died on or after their required beginning date, years 1 through 9 have a floor you cannot go below. The choice is how much ABOVE the required amount to take, not whether to take anything.
Sources
Final regulations on required minimum distributions, published 19 July 2024; SECURE Act (2019) and SECURE 2.0 (2022); IRC §401(a)(9); IRC §2518 (qualified disclaimers); IRC §408(d)(8) (qualified charitable distributions). Cross-checked July 2026 against professional analyses from Kitces, Grant Thornton, Ascensus, Charles Schwab and Kiplinger. Where a deadline or dollar figure is indexed or was not read in primary source for this page, the text says so rather than asserting it.
This states what the cited authority says. It is not tax advice, and inherited account deadlines turn on facts about the decedent and the plan that no page can verify for you.