Inherited IRA

[rshaf1]

My sister died in September 2018. She had no will and had no designated beneficiaries for her IRA accounts. The estate went to probate. The IRA funds (Traditional and Roth) were just recently distributed (2023).

Do these funds fall under the 5-year rule or 10 year rule? Do I need to withdraw all the funds this year (5 years after date of death)? What are my options to avoid IRS penalties? 

Thank you.

[Anonymous_]

See https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-beneficiary

I will also page @dmertz.

[fanfare]

"just recently distributed"

Distributed means -->  Cash.

At this point there is no longer any IRA.

The IRA rules are not applicable.

@rshaf1 

[dmertz · Accepted solution]

The 10-year rule does not apply because your sister died before 2020.

If your sister died before her required beginning date for RMDs, the 5-year rule applies and the IRA must be distributed by the end of 2023.  If your sister died after her required beginning date for RMDs, annual RMDs are required based on your sister's age in 2018, reduced by 1 for each subsequent year.  However, RMDs were waived for 2020.

It's not clear what you mean by "the IRA funds were recently distributed."  As fanfare pointed out, a non-spouse beneficiary is not permitted to roll over a distribution.  If what you mean is that an inherited IRA was recently established in the name of the estate and then assigned out of the estate to an estate beneficiary, that would be fine, but it doesn't change the minimum distribution requirements.