Inherited IRA 10-Year Depletion Deadline: Calculate Yours

The SECURE Act requires most non-spouse beneficiaries to fully deplete an inherited IRA by a specific date — not "within 10 years," but by December 31 of the calendar year that is the 10th anniversary of the original owner's death. Enter the year of death below and see your exact deadline.

Key rule: Under IRC § 401(a)(9)(H), the deadline is December 31 of the year that is the 10th anniversary of the IRA owner's death year — regardless of what month or day the owner actually died. If your parent died on November 30, 2021, your deadline is December 31, 2031, not November 30, 2031. This matters: you have until the end of year 10, which gives you maximum flexibility on when within year 10 to take the final distribution.

10-Year Deadline Calculator

Year the original IRA owner died:

Quick-Reference Table: Death Year → Depletion Deadline

Original owner died in…	Full depletion deadline	Years remaining from 2026
2020	December 31, 2030	4
2021	December 31, 2031	5
2022	December 31, 2032	6
2023	December 31, 2033	7
2024	December 31, 2034	8
2025	December 31, 2035	9
2026	December 31, 2036	10

Applies to non-EDB beneficiaries (most non-spouse inheritors). EDB exceptions listed below. Pre-2020 deaths are not subject to the 10-year rule.

How the deadline is calculated

The governing statute is IRC § 401(a)(9)(H)(i), added by the SECURE Act of 2019. It requires that the entire balance of an inherited IRA be distributed "by the end of the calendar year which includes the anniversary of the date of death of the employee which is 10 years after the date of death."¹

Two features of this language are important:

Calendar year, not exact anniversary. The deadline is December 31 of the year containing the 10th anniversary — not the 10th anniversary date itself. An owner who died March 15, 2021 → 10th anniversary is March 15, 2031 → deadline is December 31, 2031. This gives the beneficiary the full year-10 calendar year to take the final distribution.
Year 10 is a depletion deadline, not a required distribution year. There is no mandatory distribution amount in years 1–9 under the 10-year rule standing alone. You may take $1 in year 1 and the full remaining balance on December 30 of year 10 — as long as the account is at zero by December 31. (Group B beneficiaries face an additional annual RMD obligation in years 1–9; see below.)

Important exceptions: who is NOT subject to the 10-year rule

The 10-year depletion deadline above applies to non-eligible-designated beneficiaries (non-EDBs) — the most common type of inheritor, including adult children inheriting from a parent. Five categories of Eligible Designated Beneficiaries (EDBs) under IRC § 401(a)(9)(E)(ii) receive different treatment:

Beneficiary type	Distribution rule	Deadline
Surviving spouse	Stretch over own life expectancy (or rollover to own IRA)	No 10-year deadline; see spouse options guide
Minor child of the decedent (not grandchild)	Two-phase: EDB stretch until age 21, then 10-year window begins	December 31 of the 10th year after turning 21 — see below
Disabled beneficiary (IRC § 72(m)(7))	Lifetime stretch over own life expectancy	No 10-year deadline
Chronically ill beneficiary (IRC § 7702B(c)(2))	Lifetime stretch over own life expectancy	No 10-year deadline
Not more than 10 years younger than decedent	Stretch over own life expectancy	No 10-year deadline

Minor children: the two-phase deadline

A minor child of the IRA owner (not a grandchild) qualifies as an EDB and receives life-expectancy stretch distributions during childhood — but EDB status ends when the child reaches age 21.¹ On that date, the 10-year clock starts fresh on the remaining balance. The depletion deadline is December 31 of the 10th calendar year after the year the child turns 21.

Example: A child born in 2010 inherits in 2022. The child turns 21 in 2031. The 10-year window runs 2031–2041. The depletion deadline is December 31, 2041.

Pre-2020 deaths: grandfathered stretch IRA

If the original owner died before January 1, 2020, the SECURE Act 10-year rule does not apply. Those beneficiaries inherited under the pre-SECURE "stretch IRA" rules and continue taking annual life-expectancy RMDs with no 10-year deadline. See Pre-SECURE Act Inherited IRA Rules.

What happens if you miss the year-10 deadline?

If any balance remains in the inherited IRA after December 31 of year 10, the undistributed amount is subject to a 25% excise tax under IRC § 4974.² This is the same excise tax that applies to missed annual RMDs — not a separate penalty. The balance on which the 25% applies is the full amount that should have been distributed (i.e., the entire remaining account balance, since the rule requires full depletion).

Scenario	Excise tax rate	How to fix
Year-10 deadline missed, balance remains	25% on undistributed balance	Take full distribution, file Form 5329 Part IX, pay tax
Corrected within 2-year correction window	10% (reduced rate per SECURE 2.0 § 302)	Take distribution, file Form 5329, attach reasonable-cause explanation
Reasonable cause waiver	0% if IRS grants waiver	Attach written statement to Form 5329 explaining error and remediation

The year-10 failure is different from a missed annual RMD in one practical respect: once you miss the year-10 deadline, the correct distribution is the entire remaining balance — there's no partial calculation. The entire account becomes the "accumulated amount" subject to excise tax. Taking a distribution and distributing the rest promptly is the path to the 10% correction rate.

Don't confuse year-10 full depletion with annual RMDs. Group B beneficiaries (those whose decedent died after their Required Beginning Date) owe annual RMDs in years 1–9 AND must fully deplete by year 10. These are two separate compliance requirements. Missing an annual RMD in year 3 does not reset or extend your year-10 deadline — the year-10 deadline remains fixed at December 31 of the 10th year after death. See Inherited IRA RMD Rules and Missed Inherited IRA RMD guide for annual RMD compliance.

Make the most of your remaining window

Knowing your deadline is just the starting point. The harder question is how to distribute the account across your window to minimize tax — bracket management, IRMAA calibration, Social Security provisional income, and the year-10 spike all interact. A fee-only advisor who specializes in inherited IRA planning can model the exact distribution sequence for your balance, timeline, and tax situation. Free match, no commissions, no obligation.

Group B: annual RMD obligation on top of the year-10 deadline

Many beneficiaries focus on the year-10 deadline and overlook the annual obligation that runs alongside it. Under T.D. 10001 (IRS final regulations, July 2024), non-EDB beneficiaries who inherited from an owner who had already reached their Required Beginning Date (RBD) — called Group B — must also take annual RMDs in distribution years 1 through 9, calculated via the Single Life Expectancy Table.³

These two rules operate independently:

The annual RMD is a minimum floor in each year — you can take more, but not less.
The year-10 deadline is a hard depletion requirement — the account must reach zero.

Missing an annual RMD while still within the 10-year window generates its own 25% excise tax (separate from the year-10 failure). And missing a year-3 RMD, for example, does not extend your December 31 year-10 deadline — both clocks run concurrently.

Use the Required Beginning Date Calculator to determine whether you are Group A (no annual RMDs, just year-10 deadline) or Group B (annual RMDs plus year-10 deadline). Use the Annual RMD Calculator to calculate your Group B distribution amounts.

Related tools and guides

Sources

IRC § 401(a)(9)(H), added by the SECURE Act of 2019 (P.L. 116-94). Full depletion required by December 31 of the calendar year that is the 10th anniversary of the owner's death year. Minor child EDB status ends at age 21 per § 401(a)(9)(E)(ii)(II), at which point a new 10-year window begins. IRC § 401(a)(9) (Cornell Law). Confirmed: IRS Publication 590-B (2025 edition): "by December 31 of the year containing the 10th anniversary of the owner's death." IRS Publication 590-B (2025).
IRC § 4974 excise tax on accumulations, as amended by SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 § 302. Standard rate: 25% of the amount that should have been distributed but was not. Reduced 10% rate applies if the shortfall is corrected within the two-year correction window and the beneficiary files Form 5329 Part IX with a reasonable-cause statement. The year-10 full-depletion failure is treated as a missed RMD of the entire remaining account balance. IRC § 4974 (Cornell Law). IRS — Correcting Required Minimum Distribution Failures.
T.D. 10001, July 18, 2024 (IRS final regulations on RMDs, effective January 1, 2025). Non-EDB beneficiaries inheriting from a decedent who died after their Required Beginning Date (Group B) must take annual RMDs in distribution years 1–9 using the Single Life Expectancy Table per IRS Publication 590-B, in addition to full depletion by year 10. Federal Register — T.D. 10001 Final Regulations (July 2024). IRS — RMDs for IRA Beneficiaries.
SECURE Act 2.0, § 107, amending IRC § 401(a)(9)(C): Required Beginning Date is April 1 of the year after the IRA owner turns age 73 (born 1951–1959) or age 75 (born 1960 or later). Used to determine Group A vs Group B status. IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32. IRS Publication 590-B (2025).

10-year depletion deadline rules per IRC § 401(a)(9)(H) and IRS Publication 590-B (2025 edition). Excise tax rates per IRC § 4974 as amended by SECURE 2.0 § 302. Annual RMD rules per T.D. 10001 (July 2024), effective January 1, 2025. OBBBA (July 2025) did not modify inherited IRA 10-year rule or depletion deadlines. Verified June 2026.