"As long as the account had been open for at least five years at the time the account holder's passing, the earnings from the inherited Roth can also be withdrawn tax-free,"
JohnB5677, this is the same poorly worded statement as made by LindaB1993. It can easily be misread to imply that earnings distributed at any time after death are only tax free if the participant had established the account 5 or more years before death. That interpretation is a false statement. If the participant made their first Roth IRA contribution in 2014 and later died that same year, distributions from the inherited IRA would be qualified distributions in 2019 and beyond, entirely tax free without regard to whether the distribution includes earnings. Distributions prior to 2019 in this scenario would be taxable only upon dipping into earnings once all contribution and conversion basis was first distributed.
Another way to say this is that the 5-year clock for making distributions be qualified distributions does not freeze upon the death of the participant.
