Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: if someone dies before taking that year’s required minimum distribution, the beneficiary must take it — and the deadline is no longer December 31 of the year of death. The final regulations issued July 19, 2024 moved it to the later of the beneficiary’s tax-filing deadline for that year or December 31 of the following year, with an automatic waiver of the excise tax in the gap (for RMDs from 2025 on). Most articles — and some custodian call centers — still recite the old rule.
What this actually fixes
The old rule was cruel in Q4 deaths: a parent dies December 20th, and a grieving family had eleven days to locate accounts, transfer title and distribute cash — or face a penalty. The new deadline makes the year-of-death RMD a next-year problem in nearly every case, taken by the beneficiary (never the estate by default) and taxed on the beneficiary’s return.
The three mechanics that still bite
It is the beneficiary’s job, in proportion or by agreement — multiple beneficiaries can decide who takes it, but SOMEONE must. It cannot be rolled over — an RMD is never rollover-eligible, so sweeping the account into an inherited IRA does not make it disappear. And it is separate from the beneficiary’s own inherited-account clocks — the December 31 split deadline and the 10-year rule run independently. Every date on one calendar: the deadlines calculator.
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