Inheriting a Sibling's IRA: EDB Rules, 10-Year Rule, and What to Do Next

If you inherited your brother's or sister's IRA, you may qualify for the stretch IRA — avoiding the SECURE Act 10-year rule entirely. The key is a single age-based test that most beneficiaries and many advisors overlook. Here's how it works.

Two different "sibling" scenarios

When people search for "sibling inherited IRA," they usually mean one of two different situations — and the rules are quite different for each.

Scenario A — You inherited your sibling's IRA (sibling was the account owner who died): This is the scenario where you are named as a beneficiary on your brother's or sister's IRA, and they have died. The EDB age rule is highly relevant here — many siblings qualify for lifetime stretch distributions.

Scenario B — You and your siblings are co-beneficiaries of a parent's (or other family member's) IRA: Your parent named three children as equal beneficiaries. Now all three siblings are inheriting together. The EDB analysis here is based on each sibling's relationship to the parent (the original owner), not to each other. Most adult children are non-EDB and subject to the 10-year rule. This scenario is governed by the multiple beneficiaries rules, including critical September 30 and December 31 deadlines.

This guide focuses primarily on Scenario A — inheriting directly from your sibling. For Scenario B, see the separate multiple beneficiaries guide.

Scenario A: the "not more than 10 years younger" EDB rule

Under the SECURE Act, five categories of eligible designated beneficiaries can still use the stretch IRA. The fifth category — and the one most relevant to siblings — is an individual "who is not more than 10 years younger than the employee" (the IRA owner).¹

For siblings, this test is straightforward: subtract the decedent's birth year from your birth year. If the result is 10 or less (or negative — meaning you're older), you qualify as an EDB.

There is no family-relationship requirement for this rule beyond the age gap. It applies to non-relatives as well — a close friend who is within 10 years of the decedent's age also qualifies. For siblings, who are usually within a few years of each other, the EDB qualification is very common and often overlooked.

Common sibling scenarios

Note that the age comparison uses the ages at the time of death (or more precisely, birth years). Twins, near-twins, and siblings born within a few years of each other will almost always qualify as EDBs.

If you ARE an EDB: stretch IRA distributions

As an EDB, you take distributions from your sibling's inherited IRA based on your own life expectancy using the IRS Single Life Expectancy Table (IRS Pub. 590-B, Table I).² The calculation works as follows:

1. Look up your age as of December 31 of the year following your sibling's death.
2. Find your life expectancy factor in the Single Life Expectancy Table.
3. Divide the prior December 31 balance by that factor. That is your annual RMD for year 1.
4. Each subsequent year, reduce the factor by 1.0 (you don't recalculate from the table — the factor simply counts down by one each year).

Annual RMD rule for EDB siblings: does the decedent's RBD matter?

For EDB stretch beneficiaries, annual distributions are always required — regardless of whether the decedent had started RMDs. The stretch IRA is entirely driven by life expectancy; there is no "pre-RBD / post-RBD" split for EDB beneficiaries the way there is for non-EDB beneficiaries under the 10-year rule.

What the decedent's Required Beginning Date does affect is the first-year RMD timing:

• Decedent died before RBD: First distribution is due by December 31 of the year following death. You use your own age as the starting point for the Single Life Expectancy Table.
• Decedent died on or after RBD: The calculation starts from the later of your life expectancy factor or the decedent's remaining life expectancy factor. Practically, for a younger sibling the "your life expectancy" factor will typically be larger (longer) and will control.

The RBD for your sibling depends on their birth year:

• Born before July 1, 1949: RBD was April 1 following the year they turned 70½
• Born July 1, 1949–December 31, 1950: RBD was April 1 following the year they turned 72
• Born 1951–1959: RBD is April 1 following the year they turn 73
• Born 1960 or later: RBD is April 1 following the year they turn 75 (SECURE 2.0)³

If your sibling died before reaching their RBD (a younger sibling who died in their 50s, for example), the calculation starts fresh from your life expectancy with no decedent-factor comparison needed.

If you are NOT an EDB: the SECURE Act 10-year rule

If you are more than 10 years younger than your sibling, you are a non-EDB and subject to the 10-year rule. The entire inherited IRA must be depleted by December 31 of the 10th year following the year of death.¹

10-year deadline by inheritance year

Annual RMDs during the 10-year window — the T.D. 10001 split

Under the final regulations in T.D. 10001 (July 2024), whether you owe annual distributions during the 10-year window depends on whether your sibling had already reached their Required Beginning Date when they died.⁴

• Sibling died before their RBD (Group A): No annual RMDs during the 10-year window. You can take distributions in any amounts and years you choose, as long as the account is fully depleted by December 31 of year 10.
• Sibling died on or after their RBD (Group B): Annual distributions are required starting in the year after death, calculated using the Single Life Expectancy Table based on your age. Full depletion is still required by year 10 — the annual minimums are a floor, not a cap.

Missing an annual RMD when one is required triggers a 25% excise tax (reduced to 10% if corrected within the IRS's two-year correction window under SECURE 2.0).³ For sibling beneficiaries in Group B, particularly those who inherited in 2024 or 2025 (now that the 2021–2024 IRS waivers have expired), this is a live obligation. See how to correct a missed inherited IRA RMD if you've already missed one.

Scenario B: multiple siblings inheriting from a parent

When two or more siblings are named as co-beneficiaries on a parent's (or grandparent's, aunt's, uncle's, etc.) IRA, the rules are different from Scenario A. Here, the EDB analysis is based on each sibling's relationship to the original owner, not to each other.

Adult children are almost always non-EDB beneficiaries of their parent's IRA (unless they qualify as disabled or chronically ill). The "not more than 10 years younger" rule doesn't help here — an adult child is typically 25–40 years younger than the parent, far outside the 10-year window.

The critical issues for multiple siblings co-inheriting are:

• September 30 deadline: The "beneficiary determination date" — by this date following the year of death, any sibling who wants to disclaim their share must do so. If a non-individual beneficiary (like an estate) is also named, they must be paid out or disclaimed by September 30 to preserve the other beneficiaries' ability to use the 10-year rule rather than the 5-year rule.
• December 31 deadline: To establish separate accounts (so each sibling can take distributions independently and use their own age for any RMD calculations), separate inherited IRA accounts must be established by December 31 of the year following the year of death.
• Oldest-beneficiary penalty for missing the deadline: If separate accounts are not established in time, the oldest sibling's life expectancy factor applies to all beneficiaries — giving younger siblings a faster depletion schedule than they'd have individually.

For the complete walk-through of these deadlines, separate account rules, and what to do if the deadline has passed, see the multiple beneficiaries inherited IRA guide.

Planning considerations for sibling inheritances

Don't assume you're subject to the 10-year rule

The EDB determination should happen before you establish the inherited IRA and before you take your first distribution. Custodians don't always ask the right questions — they may default to processing you as a standard non-spouse 10-year beneficiary without asking your birth year relative to the decedent's. If you self-certify incorrectly as a non-EDB and start taking distributions on the 10-year schedule when you're actually an EDB, you haven't violated any rule — but you may be taking more taxable income than required and losing the stretch IRA's tax-deferral benefit.

EDB siblings and annual RMD documentation

As an EDB, your annual RMD is calculated from the Single Life Expectancy Table. The custodian may or may not compute this for you automatically. If they report your inherited IRA as a standard non-spouse account, they likely won't generate an annual RMD notice — you'll need to track this yourself or with your advisor. Missing an annual RMD (when you're in stretch mode) carries the same 25% excise tax as for non-EDB beneficiaries.

Inherited Roth IRA from a sibling

EDB rules apply to inherited Roth IRAs as well. If you qualify as an EDB and inherit your sibling's Roth IRA, you use the stretch based on the Single Life Expectancy Table. However, because a Roth IRA has no Required Beginning Date (the original owner was never required to take RMDs), the annual RMD calculation for Roth EDB beneficiaries is based solely on your life expectancy — no comparison to the decedent's remaining factor is needed.

For non-EDB siblings inheriting a Roth IRA, the 10-year rule applies but no annual RMDs are required during the window — you can defer all distributions to year 10. See the inherited Roth IRA guide for the full treatment.

Naming your own successor beneficiary

Once you establish an inherited IRA, you should name a successor beneficiary — the person who inherits your inherited IRA if you die before it's depleted. Successor beneficiaries do not get EDB status even if they would otherwise qualify — they inherit your remaining window (or a new 10-year window if you were an EDB who died mid-stretch). Naming a beneficiary avoids the account defaulting to your estate, which triggers less favorable distribution rules.

Coordination with your own retirement accounts

For EDB siblings taking annual stretch distributions, the inherited IRA creates an additional, ongoing stream of ordinary income in addition to any distributions from your own IRAs, 401(k)s, or Social Security. At ages 65–75, this can interact significantly with Medicare IRMAA thresholds, Social Security benefit taxation, and Roth conversion opportunities from your own accounts. See inherited IRA and IRMAA and inherited IRA and Social Security for the coordination details.

Sources

1. SECURE Act of 2019 (Pub. L. 116-94), § 401, amending IRC § 401(a)(9)(H) (10-year rule) and IRC § 401(a)(9)(E)(ii) (eligible designated beneficiary categories, including the "not more than 10 years younger" category at § 401(a)(9)(E)(ii)(V)). IRS — Retirement Topics: Beneficiary.
2. IRS Publication 590-B (2025), Appendix B, Table I — Single Life Expectancy Table, effective for distribution years beginning 2022, per T.D. 9930 (November 2020). Life expectancy factors referenced: age 63 = 24.5. IRS Publication 590-B.
3. SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (Div. T of Pub. L. 117-328), § 107 (raising RMD age to 73 for those born 1951–1959 and 75 for those born 1960+), § 302 (reducing RMD excise tax from 50% to 25% with 10% correction-window rate). IRS — RMD FAQs.
4. IRS T.D. 10001, "Required Minimum Distributions," final regulations, July 18, 2024. Confirms that non-EDB beneficiaries of post-RBD decedents must satisfy annual RMDs during the 10-year window. IRS — RMDs for IRA Beneficiaries.
5. IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 — 2026 tax parameters. Referenced for no specific dollar amounts in this guide; bracket numbers cited elsewhere on this site. IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (PDF).

EDB categories and 10-year rule references verified against SECURE Act statutory text (IRC § 401(a)(9)(E)(ii)) and IRS Publication 590-B (2025 edition). RBD ages reflect SECURE Act and SECURE 2.0 thresholds. Age comparison rule: "not more than 10 years younger than the employee" — a beneficiary older than the decedent always qualifies.