Beneficiary Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) - Current Year
Use this calculator if any of the following apply:
This calculator is not designed for the additional RMD options are available to non-spouse Designated Eligible Beneficiaries for years 2020 and after. Eligible Designated Beneficiaries include a child of the account owner (but generally only until they are 18, at that point the 10 year rule begins) or a chronically ill individual. For more information please see Modification of Required Distribution Rules for Designated Beneficiaries.
IMPORTANT! This calculator has been updated for SECURE 2.0 of 2022, the SECURE Act of 2019 and the CARES Act of 2020. Future IRS published procedures may have an impact on enforcement and interpretation of these Acts.
A proposed rule for the SECURE Act was released on February 23, 2022. When finalized the new rule will change the way the RMDs are treated for non-spouse Designated Beneficiaries that use the SECURE Act 10-year rule for distributions. It is likely this new rule will be retroactive to all of 2023. Originally the required distributions under the 10-year rule required all funds to be withdrawn by the end of the year following the 10th anniversary of the account owner's death without regard to RMDs.
The proposed rule requires a beneficiary to withdraw an RMD for year 1 through 9 if the original account owner had already begun taking RMDs themselves. The remainder would then be required to be withdrawn in its entirety in year 10. This calculator follows the proposed rule with RMDs for year 1 through 9 if the account owner had required distributions before their death. All remaining funds are then required to be withdrawn in year 10.
As of 3/31/2023 the proposed rule has not been finalized. It is strongly advised you seek professional guidance in all RMDs and especially with beneficiary RMDs.
The new rules for the SECURE Act of 2019 are used when an account owner dies after 12/31/2019. Most non-spousal beneficiaries have until the end of the year that contains the 10th anniversary of the original account owner's death to withdraw all funds. There are no minimum distributions required, but for our illustration it is assumed distributions happen evenly over the 10 years.
The SECURE Act of 2019 doesn't change a spouse's option to treat inherited account as his or her own. In this case, no distributions are required until the year in which the age 75 (or 70 1/2 born before 7/1/1949, 72 born before 1/1/1951, 73 born before 1/1/1960). When distributions do begin, the spouse can use the Uniform Lifetime Table, which produces longer life expectancies than the Single Life Expectancy table, to determine the applicable life expectancy. In addition, a spouse is able to 'recalculate' or lookup a new life expectancy from the Uniform Lifetime Table each year. This produces the lowest RMD in all but the most unusual situations. This calculator will always assume that a spouse will wish to treat an inherited IRA as their own.
For account owners who died before 1/1/2020 the pre-SECURE Act rules apply. The life expectancy is usually determined using the Single Life Expectancy table and the beneficiary's age on December 31st of the year following the owner's death. However, if this is not the first year of distribution for the beneficiary, there is an additional step. First, the tool determines the original life expectancy using the Single Life Expectancy table and the beneficiary's age on December 31st of the year following the owner's death. Then, the current life expectancy is calculated by subtracting one for each year that has passed, from the original life expectancy. Likewise, in all future years, the remaining life expectancy is calculated by subtracting one for each additional year that has passed. It is not allowed to lookup or 'recalculate' a new starting life expectancy after distributions have begun.
If the account owner was younger than the beneficiary, and it was past the required begin date for required minimum distributions when the account owner died, the beneficiary can choose to use the account owner's life expectancy to calculate Required Minimum Distributions (RMD). In this special case, the result will always produce a lower RMD. If this situation occurs, this calculator will use the account owner's age to determine the applicable life expectancy when calculating RMDs. Other than using the account owner's age at death, the calculation is identical to the one stated above.