What the IRS's 2023 Change to RMDs for Inherited IRAs Means for Clients

What You Need to Know

Penalty relief for taxpayers who failed to take RMDs in 2021 or 2022 ends in 2023.
2023 RMDs will be calculated as though the 2021 and 2022 RMDs had been taken.
Clients should continue to pay close attention to final IRS regulations on these RMD rules.

The IRS has thrown a couple of curveballs when it comes to interpreting the new 10-year payout rule for inherited IRAs post-SECURE Act.

First, nearly two years in, it announced that annual required minimum distributions (RMDs) would be required for beneficiaries of account owners who were already in pay status at the time of death. Later, it provided penalty relief for taxpayers who failed to take those RMDs in 2021 or 2022.

That penalty relief ends as of 2023, absent further action. All of this leaves beneficiaries looking forward to 2023 and wondering how their 2023 RMDs should be calculated given the blanket RMD waiver for 2021 and 2022.

While it’s possible that the rules could change, we do have some clues as to how those 2023 RMDs should be calculated — although advisors should continue to carefully watch for updated IRS guidance or final regulations.

10-Year Rule and RMDs: Background

As most clients understand, beneficiaries who inherit IRAs and do not qualify as eligible designated beneficiaries are now subject to the “10-year rule.” The 10-year rule functions much like the old five-year rule. Beneficiaries must empty the inherited account within 10 years of the account owner’s death, meaning that they can only stretch their tax liability over that 10-year period.

When the new rule was first announced, most experts expected that annual RMDs would not be required during the 10-year distribution period. In other words, it was expected that beneficiaries could wait until year 10 to empty the account completely and remain in compliance.

In proposed regulations, however, the IRS announced that the opposite was true if the original account owner had already begun taking RMDs during their lifetime. In other words, if the owner died after his or her required beginning date, the beneficiary would be required to take annual distributions from the account over the 10-year distribution period and would not be permitted to wait and withdraw the entire amount as a lump sum.

If the original account owner died before the required beginning date, no annual RMDs are required, and the beneficiary could elect to withdraw the entire account balance as a lump sum in year 10. That same rule dictates whether the successor beneficiary will be required to take annual RMDs after the successor inherits the account from the original beneficiary.