How avoid penalty for inherited IRA? RMD was not taken in 2024.

[suendan13]

I inherited an IRA from my mother. She passed in 2018. I did not take the RMD in 2024. How can I void a penalty from the IRS?

[dmertz]

The only legitimate way to potentially avoid the penalty is to take the distribution late (in 2025, reportable on your 2025 tax return along with the 2025 RMD that you will be taking) and file 2024 Form 5329 requesting waiver of the penalty.  The only other way would be to ignore it and hope that the statute of limitations expires before the IRS detects the problem, but I don't suggest doing that.

TurboTax makes it extraordinarily difficult to prepare Form 5329 Part IX if you are not yet subject to RMDs from your own IRAs.  It might be simplest to prepare the 2024 Form 5329 separately according to the instructions for Part IX of this form and include it with a paper mailed 2024 tax return.