No, you are confused.
If the mother was past her own RMD beginning date (usually age 70-1/2 or up, depending on when she was born), then your wife must follow three rules regarding the inherited IRAs.
- She must withdraw all the money and close the accounts within 10 years (December 31 of the tenth year after her mother died.)
- She must take an RMD every year based on her own age and life expectancy, using the life expectancy table in publication 590-B. For example, if your wife is age 62, her life expectancy in the 2023 IRS tables is 25.4 years. So her RMD is 1/25.4th of the account balance, or 3.94%. The percentage changes each year. She can withdraw that percentage from each account, or she can combine the balances and take the combined required amount from just one of the accounts. Because of the requirement to withdraw all the money in 10 years, she may want to take more than the required minimum, to avoid a big tax bill in the 10th year. And, when she reaches her RMD beginning age, the RMD for her own IRAs or workplace plans is calculated separately from the inherited IRAs, the balances are not combined.
- If the mother was past her own RMD beginning age, and did not withdraw at least her own minimum amount before she died, the daughter must withdraw her mother's RMD in the year she died, based on her mother's life expectancy table. Then in the remaining years, she uses her own life expectancy.
If the mother had not reached her RMD beginning age (which seems unlikely, but just in case) then the daughter only has to withdraw the money by the end of the 10th year. She is not required to make RMD withdrawals in the mean time.
And lastly, remember that an RMD is the minimum amount that must be withdrawn, it is not a special transaction. Suppose the RMD amount is $5000. That can be satisfied by withdrawing $5000 on December 29, but it would also be satisfied if she withdrew $3000 in January for a vacation and another $3000 in June for a car payment. As long as the amount withdrawn over the whole year is more than the minimum needed under the formula.
