The Steward's Desk · Inheritance
Most non-spouse beneficiaries now have ten years to empty the account. Which years you choose inside that window is a tax decision worth planning.
Jesse Plunkett, CEPA®, CRPC®
July 12, 2026 · Meet your advisor · 
Under the SECURE Act, a beneficiary who inherits an IRA from someone other than a spouse must usually empty the account by December 31 of the tenth year after the owner's death. The rule applies to deaths in 2020 and later, and it replaced the longstanding stretch IRA, which let heirs spread withdrawals over a lifetime.
The rule covers traditional and Roth IRAs, and generally inherited workplace accounts like 401(k)s as well. There's no requirement that the money come out evenly, and no fixed schedule written into the statute itself. The hard line is simple: by the end of year ten, the balance reaches zero.
If the loss is recent and this is all new, take a breath before you optimize anything. The companion piece to this article covers the no-rush window: what to do in the first year after an inheritance.
The law names a group called eligible designated beneficiaries who can still stretch withdrawals over life expectancy: surviving spouses, the owner's minor children until they reach adulthood, beneficiaries who are disabled or chronically ill, and anyone no more than ten years younger than the person who died.
Everyone else, which mostly means adult children, grandchildren, and friends, lives with the ten-year deadline. Here's how the categories compare.
| Who inherits | Which rule applies | The planning angle |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse | Exempt. Can treat the IRA as their own or take life-expectancy withdrawals. | Rolling it into their own IRA often keeps the widest set of options open. |
| The owner's minor child | Life-expectancy withdrawals until adulthood, then the 10-year clock starts. | The ten years often land in school and early-career years, when tax rates tend to be low. |
| Disabled or chronically ill beneficiary | Exempt. Life-expectancy withdrawals allowed. | A properly drafted trust can sometimes hold the account; worth an attorney conversation. |
| Someone within ten years of the owner's age, like a sibling or partner | Exempt. Life-expectancy withdrawals allowed. | Often near retirement themselves, so withdrawals can be paced around their own income. |
| Other adults: grown children, grandchildren, friends | The 10-year rule. | Which years carry the withdrawals becomes the main tax decision. |
Because every dollar you take from an inherited traditional IRA is ordinary income in the year you take it. Waiting until year ten and emptying the account at once stacks the whole balance on top of that year's salary. Spreading withdrawals across the window, aimed at your lower-income years, usually costs less.
The question that moves the outcome is which of the next ten years should carry the income. A retirement that falls inside the window, a sabbatical, a year between jobs: those are usually the inexpensive years to draw. Peak-earning years are usually the costly ones. Mapping withdrawals onto the shape of your own decade is where the planning happens.
Inherited Roth IRAs run the other direction. The ten-year deadline still applies to most non-spouse heirs, but qualified withdrawals are tax-free, so there's no bracket to manage and letting the account grow toward the deadline is often the sensible path.
Sometimes. The IRS issued final regulations on July 18, 2024 and made them effective January 1, 2025. Annual required withdrawals during the ten years apply when the original owner died on or after their own required beginning date, which SECURE 2.0 sets at 73 for those born 1951 to 1959 and 75 for 1960 or later. If the owner died before reaching that date, no annual minimum applies and you can take the money on any schedule you like, as long as the account is empty by the end of year ten. It's the detail beneficiaries most often get wrong.
The confusion is understandable, because the IRS spent three years telling people not to worry about it. Notices 2022-53, 2023-54, and 2024-35 waived the penalty for missed annual distributions in 2022, 2023, and 2024 while the rules were still being written. That grace period ended with the 2025 tax year. Beneficiaries who got used to skipping the annual withdrawal are the ones most likely to be caught out now.
The rules in this corner have shifted more than once since 2020, and your custodian can calculate any annual amount for you. The practical takeaway: confirm whether an annual minimum applies to your specific account, then plan the bigger question, which years carry the bulk of the withdrawals, on purpose rather than by default.
Mapping the ten years around your own income is a normal first project to do together. A short call is the place to start.
Yes, for most non-spouse beneficiaries the account still has to be empty by the end of year ten. The difference is that qualified Roth withdrawals are tax-free, so there's no bracket management to do. Letting the account grow and taking more of it later in the window is often the sensible direction.
The IRS charges an excise tax on the amount that should have come out and didn't, under the missed-distribution penalty rules that SECURE 2.0 updated. The penalty can sometimes be reduced if you fix the shortfall promptly. It's an avoidable cost, which is exactly why a simple withdrawal calendar helps.
Generally no. The SECURE Act's 10-year rule applies to accounts inherited from owners who died in 2020 or later. If you inherited earlier and were taking stretch withdrawals over your life expectancy, that schedule generally continues. The wrinkle arrives if you pass the account on, when today's rules apply to your beneficiary.
Even withdrawals are a reasonable default, and far better than ignoring the account until year ten. A tuned schedule usually does better: lean withdrawals in your high-earning years, heavier ones in any low-income year the window happens to catch. The account's job is to land in your life at the lowest cost.