This question is addressing how a beneficiary of a pre-tax IRA or other retirement account should take the distribution from a decedent's retirement account. The options you asked about are first a Lump Sum, which is where a beneficiary can withdraw the entire amount of the IRA all at once. There are five-year (non-individual), 10-year (non-spouse beneficiaries) and annual life expectancy payment options (spouse beneficiary), as well.
While there are no numbers associated with your question, more then likely a Lump-Sum is more then likely to push you into a higher tax bracket, since you are taking all the money at once. Taking it over 10 years, may put you in a higher tax bracket in a given year depending upon your other income for that year.
Thank you for your question @mgar302
All the best,
Marc T.
TurboTax Live Tax Expert
27 Years of Experience Helping Clients
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