Tool · Decision Tree
Inherited Roth IRA: Which Beneficiary Rules Apply to You?
Roth IRA beneficiaries fall into three groups: eligible designated beneficiaries (including spouses), other designated beneficiaries, and non-designated beneficiaries. Explore the general rules for an inheritance directly from the original owner. Trusts, historical elections and successor inheritances need separate review. Individual results also assume a sole beneficiary or a qualifying separate account; unresolved multiple-beneficiary interests are not classified.
Correction: Corrected beneficiary examples and clarified trust uncertainty, historical spouse choices and separate-account limits. Read the dated correction history.
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Unresolved multiple beneficiaries or a successor inheritance need separate review. Merely dividing a balance does not establish separate-account treatment. Trusts are not classified here.
Child details
The owner’s own child must be under 21 at death. Select disability/chronic illness instead if that separate category applies.
Trust details
For Roth IRAs, the SECURE Act generally applies to owners dying in 2020 or later. Earlier inheritances depend on the beneficiary and the existing distribution method.
How it works
The beneficiary framework
The three groups
For a Roth IRA owner who dies in 2020 or later, distinguish these groups. A surviving spouse is an EDB with additional options, not a separate statutory group.
- Eligible designated beneficiaries (EDBs): surviving spouse, the owner’s child under 21 at death, a qualifying disabled or chronically ill individual, or an individual not more than 10 years younger than the owner.
- Other designated beneficiaries: individuals who do not meet an EDB category, generally subject to the 10-year rule.
- Non-designated beneficiaries: estates, charities and confirmed non-see-through trusts, generally subject to a five-year payout rule for a Roth IRA.
Eligibility is tested at the owner’s death. A grandchild is not the owner’s minor child, but can qualify under another EDB category. The age-difference test includes someone exactly 10 years younger, the same age, or older.
Roth IRA distribution rules by group
| Spouse — eligible own-account election/rollover | No owner-lifetime RMDs |
| Sole spouse beneficiary — life-expectancy method | Annual RMDs after the applicable start year |
| Owner’s minor child — life-expectancy method | Annual RMDs continue; full payout by December 31 of the tenth year after the year of turning 21 |
| Other EDB — life-expectancy method | Annual RMDs; confirm account terms/elections |
| Non-EDB inheriting directly from owner | No annual RMDs in years 1–9; full payout in year 10 |
| Non-designated beneficiary | Five-year payout rule; no annual installments |
A Roth IRA owner is treated as dying before the required beginning date. That gives a direct non-EDB beneficiary the no-annual-RMD 10-year window. It does not stop annual payments already required under a minor-child or successor EDB rule. A trust needs its own beneficiary analysis.
For a non-spouse using life expectancy, use the factor for the age attained in the year after death, then subtract one for each later year. Sole-spouse life expectancy is recalculated annually. Historical inheritances may require the 2022 table transition and prior relief; this tool does not reconstruct them.
Spouse, disability and trust limits
Spouse. Retitling as one’s own requires sole-beneficiary status and an unlimited withdrawal right; a spousal rollover is a separate route. Under inherited life-expectancy treatment, the sole spouse’s first payment is due by December 31 of the later of the year after death or the year the owner would have attained the applicable RMD age. Confirm prior elections and account terms.
The Roth qualification clock does not restart at death. With an own-account election, the earlier of the deceased owner’s or survivor’s Roth IRA clocks applies. Distributions kept in beneficiary status qualify for the federal death exception to the 10% early-distribution tax; after an own-account election, the survivor’s owner rules apply.
Disability/chronic illness. The regulations define eligibility at death, including a separate disability standard for beneficiaries under 18 and a Social Security disability safe harbor. Chronic illness has its own modified statutory and certification requirements. Checking a category here does not establish eligibility.
Trust. State-law validity, irrevocability at death (or becoming irrevocable then) and identifiable beneficiaries matter. Conduit/accumulation labels alone do not settle which beneficiaries count. Special multi-beneficiary-trust rules may apply. For an IRA, §1.408-8(b)(4) removes the regulatory requirement to deliver trust or disability/chronic-illness documentation to the custodian by October 31; substantive eligibility and custodian procedures remain relevant.
Disclaimer. A qualified disclaimer has strict conditions, including timely written refusal, no prior acceptance, and passage without the disclaimant’s direction. The general deadline is nine months after the later of the transfer or age 21. Obtain advice before accepting benefits or attempting a disclaimer.
Sources and scope
- IRS T.D. 10001 final regulations: §§1.401(a)(9)-3, -4 and -5; §1.408-8(b)(1), (b)(4), (c). The final rules generally apply to RMD calendar years beginning in 2025. The bulletin also contains separate proposed rules; they are not all final authority.
- §1.408A-6, Q&A-7 through -8: inherited qualification clock and ordering.
- IRC §4974: RMD shortfall tax, correction window and waiver.
- IRC §2518: qualified disclaimers.
- SSA POMS HI 01101.010: IRMAA MAGI is AGI plus tax-exempt interest.
This is a general Roth IRA framework, not a Traditional IRA calculator, trust certification, medical eligibility determination or individualized election recommendation.
User Guide
How to use the Inherited Roth Beneficiary Type tool
Use this tool for a Roth IRA inherited directly from its original owner. Choose the applicable category as of the owner’s death. A spouse, qualifying disabled or chronically ill person, or person meeting the age-difference test should select that category even if also an adult child, sibling or friend. The “other individual” choices assume that no EDB category applies.
Walking through the inputs
Relationship/category. This controls the general framework. For the owner’s minor child, enter the child’s whole-number age on the date of death, not their age today. EDB status requires being under 21 then.
Death period. Select 2020 or later versus 2019 or earlier. The tool does not collect an exact death year or birth dates, so most results state a deadline rule rather than a personal calendar date. Earlier inheritances require the existing distribution method, historical relief and table-transition rules.
Spousal preference. Compare own-account and inherited-account options. “Not sure” does not automatically recommend a rollover. The tool does not collect sole-beneficiary status, withdrawal rights, both spouses’ ages or prior elections.
Trust details. Supply independently confirmed see-through status and the conduit/accumulation characterization. Those two checkboxes cannot determine the trust’s complete distribution schedule. If status is unknown, seek trust-specific review instead of treating an unchecked box as a legal conclusion.
Reading the result
The result provides a conditional classification, distribution framework, deadline rule and next steps. It does not verify medical status, calculate a personal five-tax-year qualification clock, or collect a historical election record. These missing facts must not be inferred from a displayed category.
For a direct non-EDB Roth inheritance under the 10-year rule, distributions are optional in years 1–9; the account must be empty by December 31 of year 10 after the death year. Qualified inherited Roth distributions are excluded from federal gross income. Before the owner’s five-tax-year clock is complete, earnings reached under the ordering rules can be taxable. These are separate questions from the payout deadline.
Common mistakes
- Stopping a minor child’s RMDs at 21. Under life-expectancy treatment, annual payments continue after 21; the final payout deadline is added.
- Restarting a spouse’s qualification clock. Death does not restart the clock, and an own-account election uses the earlier relevant Roth IRA clock.
- Assuming every pre-2020 beneficiary stretches. Estates and other non-designated beneficiaries do not become designated beneficiaries merely because the death occurred earlier. Individual elections and account terms also matter.
- Using a blanket successor rule. A successor to a non-EDB already using the original 10-year window generally completes that window. An EDB’s death can instead start a new 10-year deadline, with annual payments continuing; sole-spouse exceptions also exist. This tool does not classify successor inheritances.
- Confusing a distribution deadline with taxability. An invalid own-account rollover by a non-spouse is not permitted, but does not make an otherwise qualified Roth distribution automatically taxable.
After classification
For a direct non-EDB inheritance, the 10-Year Schedule tool illustrates distribution timing. Confirm its inputs and limitations; a projection is not an optimal personal recommendation. For EDB, historical, spouse or trust cases, confirm the applicable method and records with the custodian and a qualified adviser. The inherited Roth IRA guide provides further context.
Worked example: siblings inheriting from a parent
Lydia (55), Marcus (52) and June (48) inherit equal shares of their father’s $900,000 Roth IRA after his 2026 death at age 78. Assume none qualifies as disabled or chronically ill, each is named directly, and the father’s first Roth IRA contribution tax year was 22 years earlier. Each is a non-EDB: no spouse or minor-child category applies, and each is more than 10 years younger than the father.
Assume each sibling’s interest qualifies for separate-account treatment. Each $300,000 share must be fully distributed by December 31, 2036. There are no annual RMDs in years 1–9 for these direct non-EDB Roth inheritances, regardless of the father’s age. All distributions in this example are qualified and excluded from federal gross income.
Lydia might choose regular withdrawals for spending, Marcus might leave more invested until later, and June might withdraw around retirement for cash-flow reasons. June does not owe “minimum RMDs” before retirement. A lower income-tax bracket does not make these already-qualified distributions more tax-free, and the distributions themselves do not increase IRMAA MAGI: that measure is AGI plus tax-exempt interest. Investment risk, cash needs and the final deadline can still lead to different choices.
Corrections and updates
September 24, 2026 — Correction: Corrected beneficiary classifications and qualified the tool’s direct-inheritance scope. Unconfirmed trust status no longer produces a five-year verdict; historical spouse choices are deferred, and results require confirmation of sole-beneficiary or qualifying separate-account treatment. Repaired examples that described qualified inherited Roth distributions as income affecting tax brackets or Medicare premiums, or treated annual withdrawals as mandatory under the ordinary ten-year rule. See the public correction record.