How the schedule continues

Most people who inherit an inherited IRA assume they get a fresh 10 years. That is the single most expensive misunderstanding in the RMD rules. When a beneficiary dies, their successor does not restart anything. The successor continues the same distribution schedule the predecessor was on, measured from the original owner's death. Every rule below is consistent with IRS Publication 590-B and the IRS RMD FAQs; the one point where the treatment is genuinely ambiguous is flagged explicitly.

  • 10-year remainder, not a new 10 years. If the original beneficiary was under the SECURE Act 10-year rule, you inherit only the remaining years. If the original owner died in 2020 and the first beneficiary died in year 6, the account still must be empty by December 31, 2030. You may have 4 years left, not 10.
  • Annual RMDs continue on the same sequence. If annual RMDs applied to the predecessor (the original owner died on or after their required beginning date, so the final regulations require annual distributions in years 1 through 9 of the 10-year period), they continue to apply to you. Each year's RMD equals the prior December 31 balance divided by the next factor in the factor-minus-one sequence: take the predecessor's applicable factor and subtract one for each year after the first distribution year. Your own age never enters the calculation.
  • Eligible designated beneficiary (EDB) stretch continuation. If the original beneficiary was an eligible designated beneficiary taking life-expectancy payments (for example, a surviving spouse or someone not more than ten years younger than the owner), you continue their schedule. You do not get to restart based on your own life expectancy. One exception sits in genuinely ambiguous territory: a successor to an EDB who was taking life-expectancy payments can receive a new 10-year period measured from that beneficiary's death. Do not resolve this yourself; confirm the treatment with a CPA before acting.
The compressed timeline. Because the clock never resets, a successor can face a severe crunch: a large balance, only a few years left, and annual RMDs continuing in the meantime. All of that income bunches into a short window, which can push you into a higher tax bracket. The first thing to establish is what year of the original schedule you are in, because your deadline, your annual RMD, and your tax planning all flow from that single fact.

Worked example: the math, step by step

The following is a hypothetical illustration with round numbers, so you can see exactly how the continuation arithmetic works. It is not your situation and not advice; your actual factors come from the IRS Single Life Table as applied to the predecessor, confirmed by the custodian.

Illustration. Your grandfather died in 2020 at age 80, after starting his own RMDs. Your mother inherited his traditional IRA as a non-eligible designated beneficiary (an adult child). Her regime: the 10-year rule with annual RMDs, first distribution year 2021, account to be empty by December 31, 2030.

Her factor sequence. Assume her applicable factor for 2021 was 29.6 (in real life this is read from the IRS Single Life Table based on her age in 2021). Subtract one each year: 2022 is 28.6, 2023 is 27.6, 2024 is 26.6, 2025 is 25.6, 2026 is 24.6.

Her 2025 RMD. The account balance on December 31, 2024 was $256,000. Her 2025 RMD was $256,000 ÷ 25.6 = $10,000.00.

She dies in 2025 without taking it. You inherit in 2026. Two things are now your responsibility. First, the year-of-death RMD: because she died in the year her RMD applied and had not taken it, you must take her $10,000 RMD by December 31, 2025. Second, your own 2026 RMD uses the next factor in her sequence: if the balance on December 31, 2025 was $270,000, your 2026 RMD is $270,000 ÷ 24.6 = $10,975.61.

Your deadline. The account must still be empty by December 31, 2030, year 10 measured from your grandfather's 2020 death. You have at most five calendar years (2026 through 2030) to empty it, with annual RMDs due each year along the way. Your age never matters for any of these numbers.

The year-of-death RMD trap

This is the most commonly missed step, and it works the same way for a successor as it does for any inherited IRA, as described in IRS Publication 590-B. If the original beneficiary died on or after the point at which their annual RMD for that year applied, and had not yet taken it, the successor must take that RMD by December 31 of the year of death. It does not roll into the following year, and your own schedule does not absorb it.

In practice, this means asking the custodian a blunt question in the year the predecessor dies: was this year's RMD taken, in full, before they died? If the answer is no or uncertain, assume you owe it and document it. Missing it triggers the same missed-RMD penalty regime (the excess accumulations excise tax, generally 25% of the amount not taken) that applies to any RMD shortfall.

Custodian paperwork and titling pitfalls

An inherited IRA that is inherited again must be retitled, typically as the original beneficiary's IRA for the benefit of the successor. Custodians handle this routinely, but successor accounts are rare enough that mistakes happen, and the mistakes matter:

  • The new account may not reflect the original death year. The schedule is measured from the original owner's death, not the predecessor's. If the custodian's records or distribution coding point at the predecessor's death year, your calculated deadline and factors will be wrong. Verify the original owner's year of death in the titling independently.
  • Separate accounts for multiple successors. If several people inherit the same inherited IRA, separate inherited accounts should be established. The deadline does not extend, but clean titling prevents one person's delay from becoming everyone's penalty.
  • Get the predecessor's numbers in writing. You need the predecessor's applicable factor and which distribution year they were in. Ask the custodian to confirm these in writing; the free calculator's Inherited IRA tab also includes a field for entering a custodian-confirmed factor.

What to do first

  1. Establish the original owner's year of death and the original beneficiary's regime (10-year with or without annual RMDs, EDB stretch, or 5-year rule). That fixes your deadline and your annual schedule.
  2. Confirm which distributions the predecessor already took, including whether this year's RMD was taken before they died. The factor sequence continues from there.
  3. Calculate this year's RMD on the continuing schedule and take it by December 31.
  4. Plan the remaining withdrawals across the years left. With a compressed window, spreading the withdrawals deliberately matters more, not less, because of tax bunching.

Calculate my successor RMD schedule

For the full treatment, including the EDB stretch continuation and the ambiguous successor-to-an-EDB case, see the in-depth guide: Successor Beneficiaries: Inheriting an Already-Inherited IRA.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Do I get a new 10-year period as a successor beneficiary?

No. The 10-year clock does not reset. You inherit only the years remaining on the original beneficiary's schedule, measured from the original owner's death.

How do I calculate my annual RMD as a successor beneficiary?

Divide the prior December 31 account balance by the next factor in the predecessor's factor-minus-one sequence. Your own age is never used.

What if the original beneficiary died before taking that year's RMD?

The successor must take the year-of-death RMD by December 31 of the year the beneficiary died. It does not carry forward.

What happens if my parent was an eligible designated beneficiary on the life-expectancy stretch?

You generally continue their schedule rather than restarting based on your own life expectancy. There is a genuinely ambiguous case: a successor to an EDB who was taking life-expectancy payments may receive a new 10-year period measured from that beneficiary's death. Confirm with a qualified tax professional.

Can I roll an inherited inherited IRA into my own IRA?

No, unless you were the spouse of the original account owner. A non-spouse successor must keep the account as an inherited IRA and continue the distribution schedule.

Do the same successor rules apply to an inherited Roth IRA?

Yes. The schedule continuation rules apply the same way; the distribution timing rules do not change. The tax treatment differs (qualified Roth distributions are generally tax-free), but the schedule works the same way.

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Disclaimer. Educational purposes only, not tax, legal, or financial advice. Successor beneficiary rules are among the most fact-specific in the RMD framework; verify everything with a qualified tax professional before acting. The authoritative sources are IRS Publication 590-B, the IRS RMD FAQs, and the 2024 final regulations.