Clear Money Guide
What this guide covers
A quick view of the questions and evidence developed below.
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Updated July 28, 2026. Quick answer: It depends entirely on one fact: whether the person died on or after their required beginning date. If they did, you must take an annual RMD in years 1 through 9 AND empty the account by year 10. If they died before it, you can take any amount in any year as long as it is empty by year 10.
The question that decides everything: when did they die relative to their RBD?
Almost every summary of the 10-year rule tells you there are no annual withdrawals — just empty the account by the end of year ten. That is only true for half the situations.
| The person you inherited from died… | Annual RMDs in years 1–9? |
|---|---|
| On or after their required beginning date | Yes — required, in addition to emptying by year 10 |
| Before their required beginning date | No — take any amount in any year, empty by year 10 |
The 2024 final regulations, published 19 July 2024, settled this after years of uncertainty. Because the IRS had waived beneficiary RMDs for 2021 through 2024, the requirement only starts biting from 2025 — which means a very large group of beneficiaries has never taken one and does not know they now must.
Missing a required distribution triggers a 25% excise tax on the shortfall — reduced from 50% by SECURE 2.0 — and reducible to 10% if corrected promptly. Confirm the correction window with a preparer; it is short.
Get the inherited-account decision right the first time
Deciding when to take money out of an inherited account is a tax question as much as a rules question, and an adviser can price the withdrawal schedule against the rest of your income before a deadline sets the timing for you.
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Why so many people have this wrong
Three things compounded. The SECURE Act removed the stretch IRA in 2019 and everyone learned the headline: ten years. Then the IRS proposed annual RMDs inside the window and the industry argued about it for four years. Then the IRS waived those RMDs for 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 while it worked things out — so nobody ever had to take one.
The 2024 final regulations settled it, and 2025 is the first year the requirement actually applies. Content written any time in that four-year gap describes a world where the answer was genuinely unsettled or waived.
What to do if this applies to you
Find the decedent’s date of birth and date of death, and establish whether they had reached their required beginning date. That single fact determines your obligations for the next decade. Your custodian may or may not compute this for you on an inherited account — do not assume the absence of a notice means the absence of a requirement.
Sources
Final regulations on required minimum distributions, published 19 July 2024; SECURE Act (2019) and SECURE 2.0 (2022); IRC §401(a)(9). Cross-checked July 2026 against professional analyses from Kitces, Grant Thornton, Ascensus, Charles Schwab and Kiplinger. Specific IRS notice numbers for the 2021–2024 waivers, and the exact correction window for reducing the missed-RMD excise tax, should be confirmed against primary source before you rely on them.
This states what the cited authority says. It is not tax advice, and inherited account rules turn on facts about the decedent that no page can verify for you.