How to calculate an inherited IRA RMD

Find your beneficiary category, then your divisor: your age in the year after the death in Table I, less 1 for each year since. Divide last December 31's balance by it. For an adult child of an owner who died in 2023 at 79: $180,000 ÷ 32.3 = $5,572.76 for 2026, and the account must be empty by December 31, 2033.

The tool is set to that case; change any input to see yours.

Balance, last December 31$ Tax year

The original owner

Owner's birth year Year the owner died

The person I inherited from had inherited it too (I am a successor)

You

Your birth year Taken so far this year$

Your beneficiary category what these mean

Surviving spouse of the owner Minor child of the owner, under 21 at the death Disabled or chronically ill Not more than 10 years younger than the owner, or older Anyone else: an adult child, grandchild, niece, friend

Assumed yearly growth, for the schedule only%

Your 2026 RMD $0

General information, not tax or financial advice. Confirm with your custodian or a tax professional.

How this figure was found

Year by year

Balances after this year assume the growth rate you set; the divisors do not depend on it.

Year	Age	Divisor	Start balance	Required

The steps, worked

Pick your category. An adult child is "anyone else", so the 10-year rule applies: empty by December 31, 2033.
Check the required beginning date. The owner, born in 1944, had passed it long before 2023, so there are yearly amounts in years 1 to 9 as well.
Find the divisor. The child, born in 1972, was 52 in 2024. Table I at 52 is 34.3; less 2 for 2025 and 2026 gives 32.3. The owner's own remaining figure (11.9 at 79, less 3) is shorter, so 32.3 is used.
Divide: $180,000 ÷ 32.3 = $5,572.76, due by December 31, 2026.

General information, not tax or financial advice. Confirm with your custodian or a tax professional. The tables are IRS Publication 590-B (2025), Appendix B.

Questions people ask next

Do I take a yearly amount under the 10-year rule?

Only if the owner died on or after their required beginning date. If they died before it, there is no yearly amount, only the 10-year deadline. See the 10-year rule.

What if the owner had not taken their RMD in the year they died?

The beneficiaries take what was left of it. See RMD in the year of death.

What if several people inherited the account?

This calculator works out one beneficiary's account. It does not cover several beneficiaries on one account, trusts or estates.

When is the inherited IRA RMD due?

By December 31 of each year. There is no April 1 grace for heirs.