What are the distribution requirements for my inherited IRA? The IRA’s original owner, who died in 2021, had been taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) for many years. I'm not a surviving spouse. Do I follow the "10 year rule"? Does that rule let me postpone withdrawals until year 10, when I must empty the IRA? Or am I required to take a distribution in each of the 10 years? If I'm 65 years old, must I take a distribution at age 72, similar to the RMD rule in a traditional IRA?

Nonspouse adult beneficiaries must empty an inherited individual retirement account by the end of the 10th year after its original owner's death. (Forget the age-72 rule; it only applies to IRA owners, not to beneficiaries.)

Here’s the fine print for adult, nonspouse beneficiaries. If the original owner was subject to RMDs when he or she died, you must take annual RMDs from the inherited account in years 1 through 9, and withdraw any balance by the end of year 10, says Ed Slott, a Rockville Centre tax accountant. If the original owner wasn't subject to annual RMDs before death, neither is the beneficiary — but the IRA must still be emptied by the end of year 10.

In your case, the deadline for taking your first RMD is Dec. 31, 2022.

Your RMDs are based on your own life expectancy, listed in IRS Publication 590 on the Single Life Expectancy actuarial table. If you're 65, your life expectancy is 22.9. To calculate your first RMD, divide the Dec. 31, 2021, balance in the IRA by 22.9. If the 2021 year-end balance was $500,000, for example, your 2022 RMD is $21,834.

The bottom line

Under new rules, many IRA beneficiaries must empty inherited accounts within 10 years of the original owner's death.

More information

bit.ly/IRAHelpinheritedIRAs

bit.ly/IRSdistributionsfromIRAs

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