Tool · Inherited Roth Timeline
Inherited Roth IRA — 10-Year Rule Schedule
Inherited a Roth IRA directly from its original owner? If you are an individual beneficiary who is not in a special exception group, this tool shows your December 31 deadline and the ten calendar years leading to it. It does not choose a withdrawal strategy or calculate taxes.
Correction: Corrected calendar dates and unsupported beneficiary results, replaced an invalid citation, and removed inaccurate tax-strategy claims and examples. See the dated correction history.
Calculations run in your browser. This tool does not send or save your entered values.
First, confirm the kind of inheritance
EDB means eligible designated beneficiary: a spouse, the owner's child under 21, someone meeting the disability or chronic-illness requirements, or someone not more than ten years younger than the owner. Start with the beneficiary-type tool if you are unsure.
Simply dividing an account balance does not establish separate-account treatment. A trust named as beneficiary needs its own review, even if you receive money from it.
The example uses a hypothetical 2026 inheritance and year-end balance, not your personal facts.
Before inflation, fees and taxes. A constant return is an illustration, not a prediction. Negative returns are allowed; the tool's input range is −100% to 100%.
No schedule determined
This page models only a confirmed direct, non-EDB individual inheritance after 2019. See why other cases need a different schedule.
Rule modeled
Direct non-EDB: ten years
A distribution deadline, not a tax forecast.
Empty the account by
Annual RMDs in years 1–9?
No
The entire remaining balance is due in year ten.
The countdown counts calendar dates using your device's local date; it is not a processing cutoff. Arrange withdrawals with the custodian ahead of the deadline. Earlier withdrawals are allowed.
The calendar deadline has passed. This is not a new ten-year window or a calculation of missed-distribution tax or relief; obtain case-specific help.
Timing and tax are separate questions. Inherited Roth distributions are federally tax-free when the original owner's five-tax-year qualified-distribution period has been completed. The clock does not restart at death. Before it is completed, distributed earnings can be taxable, although the death exception removes the 10% early-distribution tax. This tool does not determine that clock or calculate taxable earnings.
Ten calendar years, one final deadline
Year one is the year after death. Optional growth values assume no withdrawals; the final value is before the required distribution, not money you may leave in the inherited account afterward.
| Year | Year-end | No-withdrawal reference balance | Distribution requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
Growth formula: year-end balance × (1 + annual return) raised to the number of completed calendar years. No withdrawals, reinvestment outside the IRA, inflation, fees or taxes are modeled. Rounded dollars are display values only.
User guide and reference
What this schedule can tell you
Think of this as a calendar, not a financial plan. For the supported beneficiary category, enter the original owner's death date, choose your category and confirm the account's beneficiary arrangement. You will see the legal calendar deadline even if you skip the optional growth illustration. Annuity payout contracts are not modeled.
A required minimum distribution (RMD) is money the rules require you to take out. A Roth IRA owner has no lifetime RMDs. For post-death distribution rules, the owner is treated as dying before the required beginning date. A direct individual beneficiary who is not an EDB therefore has no annual RMDs in years one through nine, but must empty the inherited Roth by December 31 of year ten. See Treas. Reg. §1.408-8(b) and §1.401(a)(9)-3(c).
Count years after death — not from when you move the account
If the owner dies in 2026, year one is 2027 and year ten is 2036. Whether the death is January 1 or December 31, the ordinary deadline is December 31, 2036. A later transfer or withdrawal does not start a fresh ten years. The tool rejects pre-2020 and future deaths rather than applying this rule to an unsupported case.
The full remaining balance must be distributed by the deadline, including investment growth. Dividing the original inheritance by ten does not necessarily empty an account that keeps earning returns.
Why other beneficiaries do not get a deadline here
| Situation | What needs a different review |
|---|---|
| Other eligible designated beneficiary | Life-expectancy payments may be available; a permitted ten-year election may also matter. This tool does not establish an election or calculate annual life-expectancy payments. |
| Surviving spouse, inherited account | Spouse-specific choices and distribution timing depend on the method and account facts. Keeping it inherited does not make every annual payment optional. |
| Spouse, validly treated as own Roth | The spouse has no lifetime Roth IRA RMDs. Own-account withdrawal rules replace this beneficiary schedule; this is not automatically the best personal choice. |
| Owner's child under 21 at death | Age 21 is the regulatory age of majority. If EDB status is based only on being the owner's minor child, a life-expectancy method transitions to a deadline ten calendar years after reaching 21; required annual payments continue during that later window. |
| Trust, estate, charity, successor or unresolved shared interest | The beneficiary arrangement can change the rule. A trust needs its own analysis; a successor does not automatically get a new ten years. Do not use an ordinary individual result for these cases. |
EDB status is tested at the original owner's death. The categories are the surviving spouse, the owner's child under 21, a person meeting the disability or chronic-illness requirements, or an individual not more than ten years younger than the owner. That last category includes someone exactly ten years younger or older than the owner. See §1.401(a)(9)-4(e). The child rule applies to the owner's child, not every young beneficiary; separate disability or chronic-illness status can change what happens at 21.
For life-expectancy payments continuing after the child reaches majority, see the final regulations in TD 10001, the post-majority annual-payment explanation and §1.401(a)(9)-5(e)(4). We do not calculate those payments here.
Tax-free does not mean every withdrawal is qualified
The inherited account keeps the original owner's five-tax-year period. It generally starts January 1 of the first tax year for which the owner made a contribution to a Roth IRA for their benefit, including a conversion, not simply the date this particular account was opened. Once that period is completed, a distribution made to a beneficiary because of death meets the federal qualified-distribution conditions. Before then, the earnings portion can be taxable. See Publication 590-B (2025), chapter 2 and §1.408A-6, Q&As 1, 2 and 7.
A qualified Roth distribution is not included in federal adjusted gross income. It therefore does not, by itself, increase the income used for Medicare's income-related premium adjustment (IRMAA), which is adjusted gross income plus tax-exempt interest. Taxable earnings from a nonqualified distribution, or income later earned on money invested outside the Roth, are different questions. See Social Security's Medicare-premium explanation.
This tool does not estimate federal or state taxes, Medicare premiums, missed-distribution tax, or the value of reinvesting withdrawals. No state is assumed to have zero tax. It also does not decide whether leaving money invested, taking regular withdrawals or taking a lump sum fits your needs.
One date, one growth example — no claimed winner
Nadia is a non-EDB individual beneficiary who inherits directly from her father, who dies in 2026. Her separate interest qualifies for the ordinary ten-year rule. Assume its balance is $500,000 on December 31, 2026, followed by a constant 5% annual return and no withdrawals, fees or taxes. These are hypothetical amounts and assumptions, not a forecast.
| Point on the calendar | Calculation | No-withdrawal reference |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 — December 31, 2027 | $500,000 × 1.05 | $525,000 |
| Year 5 — December 31, 2031 | $500,000 × 1.055 | $638,141 |
| Year 10 — December 31, 2036 | $500,000 × 1.0510 | $814,447 before distribution |
The deadline is still December 31, 2036. Nadia must withdraw the actual entire remaining balance by then, not merely the original $500,000 or the illustrated $814,447. The account must be empty after that distribution. If she withdraws earlier or returns differ, the displayed growth values no longer describe her account. Nothing in this example establishes the best withdrawal strategy.
Useful next steps
Confirm the beneficiary category, the custodian's account and processing requirements, and the original owner's Roth contribution records. Keep your actual withdrawal records separately; this page saves none. For more context, read the ten-year rule guide, explore the beneficiary-type tool, or see the inherited Roth first-year illustrations and their separate scope limits. An unsupported case or a missed deadline needs case-specific professional help.
Sources and scope
The timing explanation uses TD 10001, final regulations published in 2024, together with the current IRA and beneficiary regulations linked above. The 2024 final RMD regulations generally apply for distribution calendar years beginning in 2025; the statutory ten-year rule for the ordinary direct IRA inheritance described here applies to original-owner deaths after 2019. The IRS publication used is Publication 590-B (2025), not a claimed 2026 edition.
Educational calendar and arithmetic only. The page does not replace beneficiary-document review, a custodian's operational requirements or personal tax, legal or investment advice.
Corrections and updates
Correction · October 1, 2026 · Significant. Corrected timezone-sensitive dates and countdowns, removed deadlines and annual-payment results the tool could not support for spouses, EDBs and minor children, and added explicit scope and input checks. Replaced an unsupported revenue-ruling placeholder with verified sources.
Removed claims that the tool optimized tax brackets, state taxes or Medicare premiums. Qualified Roth distributions do not themselves raise IRMAA income. Replaced inconsistent strategy comparisons and misleading recommendations with one recalculated, clearly dated growth illustration; clarified the owner's five-tax-year clock, post-majority payments and the full-balance deadline. The optional growth reference now starts at December 31 of the death year, not an unspecified current balance.