Inherited IRA RMD Calculator (Non-Spouse)

This inherited IRA RMD calculator models the SECURE Act's 10-year rule for non-spouse beneficiaries — whether you owe annual withdrawals along the way, and what has to happen by year 10.

Worked example (the defaults): a $500,000 inherited IRA, beneficiary age 50, where the original owner died on or after their Required Beginning Date, growing at 5% annually. Year 1 requires a withdrawal of $13,812 — the balance divided by the Single Life Table divisor for age 50 (36.2). Because the account grows faster than the shrinking-divisor withdrawal shrinks it, the required withdrawal actually grows each year: by Year 9 it's up to $20,407. Whatever remains — $582,819 in this example — must come out entirely by the end of Year 10.

Whether annual withdrawals are required in years 1–9 hinges entirely on one fact: had the original owner already reached their RMD age when they died. If not, no annual withdrawal is required in years 1–9 — you can leave it invested and simply empty the account by year 10, on your own schedule. To see what the account balance itself would grow to under different assumptions, run it through the Retirement Planner.

Per IRS guidance and the 2024 final regulations (T.D. 10001), most non-spouse designated beneficiaries who inherit in 2020 or later fall into one of two tracks:

• Owner died on or after their Required Beginning Date: you must take annual RMDs in years 1-9, using the Single Life Table divisor for your age in the year after death, reduced by 1.0 each subsequent year — then empty whatever remains in year 10.
• Owner died before their Required Beginning Date: no annual RMD is required in years 1-9. You simply need the account fully depleted by the end of year 10.

Either way, the account must reach zero by December 31 of the tenth year following the year of death. There's no way to stretch it further for most non-spouse beneficiaries — the old "stretch IRA" strategy of withdrawing over your own full life expectancy was eliminated by the SECURE Act for most beneficiaries inheriting in 2020 or later.

The 10-year rule applies to "non-eligible designated beneficiaries" — typically adult children and other individuals more than 10 years younger than the original owner. A separate category, eligible designated beneficiaries (surviving spouses, minor children of the owner until they reach majority, disabled or chronically ill beneficiaries, and beneficiaries not more than 10 years younger than the owner), can generally still stretch distributions over their own life expectancy instead of the 10-year window. If you're a surviving spouse, this calculator doesn't apply to you — spouses have additional options, including treating the IRA as their own.

Missed required withdrawals inside the 10-year window carry the same 25% excise tax as owner RMDs (10% if corrected within two years), so if annual withdrawals are required in your situation, treat those deadlines the same way you would your own RMDs.