Updated July 28, 2026. Quick answer: The shortfall carries a 25% excise tax — reduced from 50% by SECURE 2.0 — and reducible to 10% if corrected within the correction window. Relief for reasonable cause exists but has to be requested, not assumed.
What to do, in order
- Take the missed amount now. The correction generally has to happen before relief is available.
- File the reporting form for the year the distribution was missed — one form per year missed, not one in total.
- Request relief in writing with a short factual explanation and a statement that the shortfall has been corrected.
Confirm the exact length of the correction window and the current form and procedure with a preparer — those specifics changed with SECURE 2.0 and this page deliberately does not assert a figure it has not read in primary source.
Why so many people are exposed right now
Beneficiary RMDs were waived for 2021 through 2024 while the rules were being finalised. 2025 is the first year they actually apply, which means a large group has never taken one, has never received a notice about one, and does not know the obligation exists. If the person you inherited from died on or after their required beginning date, years 1 through 9 are not optional.
The case for relief is often strong
Recently bereaved, no custodian notice, and rules that changed three times in four years is close to the paradigm reasonable-cause fact pattern. That is not a guarantee — but it is a reason to request rather than simply pay.
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.