An individual retirement account (IRA) may be a big part of what you leave your children. How it passes to them can shape their tax bills for a decade.

Your heirs are the people you name on your IRA’s beneficiary form. Most have about 10 years to empty the account they inherit. The details depend on when you die, what kind of account it is, and how that form is filled out.

The 10-Year Rule in Plain Words

Most heirs must empty your IRA by the end of the 10th year after the year you die. If you die in 2026, the deadline is December 31, 2036.

A few heirs get more time. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) calls them eligible designated beneficiaries:

  • Your surviving spouse
  • Your minor child, until they reach adulthood under IRS rules
  • An heir with a disability
  • An heir with a chronic illness
  • An heir who is not more than 10 years younger than you, such as a brother or sister close in age

If an heir gets Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Medicaid, an IRA left to them directly can put those benefits at risk. A special needs trust is designed to help keep those benefits in place. We’ll cover how that works in a future Field Guide article.

Money your heirs take out of an inherited traditional IRA generally counts as taxable income in the year they take it.

When Yearly RMDs Apply

If you were born in 1960 or later, you must start taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) from a traditional IRA at age 75. If you were born before 1960, the starting age ranges from 70½ to 73, depending on your birth year. Your first RMD is due by April 1 of the year after you reach your starting age. That deadline is called your required beginning date.

Whether your heirs must take yearly RMDs depends on when you die:

  • If you die before your required beginning date, your heirs don’t have to take anything out until the 10th year. They can take money sooner if it helps their taxes.
  • If you die on or after your required beginning date, your heirs must take an RMD every year in years 1 through 9. They must empty the account by the end of year 10.

Missing an RMD costs 25% of the amount that should have come out. If it is fixed in time (generally within two years), the penalty drops to 10%.

Roth IRAs: Still 10 Years but No Yearly RMDs

You never have to take RMDs from your own Roth IRA. Your heirs won’t have yearly RMDs either, but they still need to empty the account within 10 years.

Withdrawals are generally tax-free for your heirs. If the Roth is less than five years old, some of the growth they take out can be taxed.

Mistakes to Avoid

  • Don’t name your estate or leave the form blank. If your estate gets the IRA, your heirs lose the usual 10-year rules. If you die before your required beginning date, the account must be emptied within five years. The money also goes through your estate first, which can add time and cost.
  • Update the form after big life changes. Your beneficiary form, not your will, generally decides who gets the IRA. Review it after a death, a divorce, a birth, or a marriage.
  • Give a charity its own IRA. The IRS decides who your beneficiaries are on September 30 of the year after you die. If a charity is still on the account with your heirs on that date, the IRS can treat the account as if no person were named. Your heirs then get the same result as naming your estate. Paying the charity its full share before that date takes it off the account. Naming the charity on its own IRA avoids the problem. Check with the charity or your financial professional to set it up.
  • Split the IRA if you have several heirs. Ask the company that holds your IRA to divide it into one IRA per heir. Then name one heir on each. If you don’t, your heirs can split it after you die. The deadline is December 31 of the year after your death. If they miss it and yearly RMDs apply, the IRS uses the oldest heir’s life expectancy to set everyone’s RMDs. Each year’s RMD is the account balance divided by a life expectancy number from an IRS table. The older the heir, the smaller the number and the bigger the required withdrawal. That pushes younger heirs to take money out faster than they would on their own.
  • Tell your heirs not to take a check. A check made out to an heir counts as a withdrawal. That money can’t go back into an IRA. To move the account, your heirs should ask for a direct transfer between account companies. The inherited IRA stays in your name for their benefit.

Planning Moves While You’re Here

  • Talk with your heirs about spreading withdrawals out. Waiting until year 10 can push a large amount into one tax year. We cover that “tax balloon” in our article on RMDs, “Don’t Just Take It, Manage It: Your 2026 RMDs.”
  • If you are 70½ or older and already plan to give to charity, give straight from your IRA. Qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) are covered in “Making the Most of Charitable Giving with a QCD.”
  • Review your beneficiary forms every few years and after any major life event.

Key takeaway: Your heirs will generally have 10 years to empty an inherited IRA. For a traditional IRA, plan on yearly withdrawals either way. They are required if you die on or after your required beginning date. If you die before that date, they are optional but can keep a big tax bill from landing in year 10. A clear beneficiary form, separate accounts for each heir, and a plan for spreading withdrawals are designed to help your heirs keep more of what you leave them.

If you want help reviewing your beneficiary forms or planning withdrawals with your heirs in mind, a Trailhead Meeting is a good place to start.

Schedule a Trailhead Meeting

This article draws on materials from the 2026 National Conference on Special Needs Planning and Special Needs Trusts, hosted by Stetson University College of Law.

Figures current as of October 2026 and subject to change.