Year of Death 

It is cus­tom­ary for peo­ple to wait until year end to take their required min­i­mum dis­tri­b­u­tion.There­fore, it is like­ly that peo­ple die hav­ing not tak­en their RMD for the year. That RMD must be tak­en and report­ed on the ben­fi­cia­ry tax returns before the IRA is dis­trib­uted to beneficiaries. 

Death after Required Beginning Date

We already dis­cussed how a ben­e­fi­cia­ry takes dis­trei­bu­tions at IRA Dis­tri­b­u­tion Rules. But what if no des­ig­nat­ed ben­e­fi­cia­ry was named? (e.g. no ben­e­fi­cia­ry names at all or one that does not qualiy, such as an estate?). Then the IRA may be emp­tied over the remain­ing life expectan­cy of the deceased, using the dis­tri­b­u­tion table for ben­e­fi­ci­aires, sub­stract­ing 1 each year from the age for the divisor. 

Death Before Required Beginning Date

If a ben­e­fi­cia­ry is named, then we have no prob­lem and just fol­low the rules out­lined at IRA Dis­tri­b­u­tion Rules. How­ev­er, if no des­ig­nat­ed ben­e­fi­cia­ry was named (e.g. no ben­e­fi­cia­ry names at all or one that does not qualiy, such as an estate), then the IRA must be emp­tied by the end of the 5^th year fol­lowng the own­ers date of death. No dis­tri­b­u­tions are required in the interim. 

For a very tech­ni­cal explna­tion of post Death issues, get a copy of Natal­ie Choates book.