Inherited IRA , RMD, and 10 yr rule

Submitted by Keith Kim on Wed, 2023-02-01 14:26

Hello,
A 71 year old wife inherited an ira from her husband deceased at 81in December 2022, who was taking the RMD.
Looks like she has 10 year requirement along with RMD requirement.
1. Does this simply mean she has to at least take the RMD, keeping mind that it may not be enough to distribute everything in 10 years?
2. Also, for 2022, how is the RMD calculated and when is it due?

3. Is there a difference between leaving it as an “inherited ira” and transferring to her “own ira?”

Thank you!



Submitted by David Mertz on Wed, 2023-02-01 15:02

  • There is no reason that a 71-year-old who inherits an IRA from their 81-year-old spouse would not want to take ownership of the IRA and treat it as her own.  Doing so in 2023 eliminates the wife’s RMDs until the year the wife reaches age 73.
  • Leaving the account as an inherited IRA would mean that the wife is treated as beneficiary, not as owner, and would be subject to beneficiary RMDs beginning in 2023 calculated using the Single Life Expectancy table.  Assuming ownership would mean that, once RMDs are required to begin, RMDs would be lower, calculated using the Uniform Lifetime table.
  • Beneficiary RMDs are due by year-end.  Owner RMDs are also due by year-end except that the RMD for first year that an RMD is required from an owned IRA can be delayed until April 1, of the following year.  Delaying the first RMD until the following year would mean taking two RMDs that year.
  • If the husband did not complete his 2022 RMD, the wife is responsible for completing it and should do so by the due date of her/their 2022 tax return.


Submitted by Keith Kim on Thu, 2023-02-02 22:36

Thank you!I think she was instructed to open an inherieted IRA, rather than treating it as her own IRA. She does NOT have her own. can she still open a traditional IRA with the inheretied IRA?



Submitted by David Mertz on Thu, 2023-02-02 22:44

  • The suviving spouse can take ownership at any time.  In fact, if the surviving spouse fails to complete a beneficiary RMD, the surviving spouse automatically becomes the owner despite the current titling of the account as inherited.
  • Generally an IRA custodian will want the funds moved to an account of the owner rather than simply re-titling the inherited IRA.  The movement of the funds should be done by non-reportable trustee-to-trustee transfer rather than distribution and rollover to avoid any involvement with the one rollover-per-12-months limitation.


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