Inheriting an inherited IRA

Submitted by Steven Goodell on Thu, 2020-01-23 19:14

Here is the scenerio.
Bob inherits an IRA from his brother and is taking RMDs.
Bob passes away and leaves the inherited IRA to his wife.
Bob did not take out the RMD in 2019.

Questions –
Does the wife take out RMDs as she normally would with a traditional IRA or are their special rules for her.
Did we miss a deadline with Bob’s RMD? He passed away in November of 2019. What would be the wife’s deadline for the 2019 RMD?



Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Fri, 2020-01-24 00:11

  • The Secure Act does not affect this fact pattern. Bob’s wife is responsible for completing Bob’s 2019 beneficiary IRA RMD by 12/31/2019. If she doesn’t get this done, she should complete that RMD ASAP and file Form 5329 to request waiver of the penalty, which would always be granted in this situation. Bob’s wife then continues her RMDs using Bob’s RMD schedule. She is NOT subject to the Secure Act’s 10 year rule.
  • Instead, suppose Bob passed after 2019. In that case, the Secure Act does come into play as Bob’s wife would have to drain the inherited IRA using the 10 year rule. She would not have annual RMDs, just the 10 year deadline.


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