Eligible designated beneficiary
Eligible Designated Beneficiary (EDB) Rules
Five categories of beneficiary can stretch inherited IRA distributions over their own life expectancy instead of the 10-year rule: a surviving spouse, a minor child of the account owner, a disabled beneficiary, a chronically ill beneficiary, and any beneficiary not more than 10 years younger than the owner.
What to know first
- Being an EDB is about WHO you are relative to the decedent, not a choice you elect.
- Four of the five EDB categories use the Single Life Table and reduce the factor by 1 each year (the true "stretch").
- A minor child is the exception: the stretch only lasts until the child turns 21, then the 10-year rule takes over.
- Anyone outside these five categories is a non-eligible designated beneficiary and defaults to the 10-year rule.
The five EDB categories
The SECURE Act carved out five types of beneficiary who keep life-expectancy stretch treatment even though the general 10-year rule replaced the old stretch IRA for everyone else: a surviving spouse; a minor child of the IRA owner (not a grandchild or other minor); a beneficiary who is disabled under the IRS definition; a beneficiary who is chronically ill; and a beneficiary who is not more than 10 years younger than the owner (commonly a sibling close in age).
Disabled and chronically ill status must generally be established as of the date of death, using the same statutory definitions used elsewhere in the tax code. A beneficiary who does not meet one of these five tests is a "non-eligible designated beneficiary" and is subject to the ordinary 10-year rule instead.
How the EDB stretch is calculated
For a spouse, a disabled beneficiary, a chronically ill beneficiary, or a not-more-than-10-years-younger beneficiary, the initial life-expectancy factor comes from the IRS Single Life Table for the beneficiary’s age in the year after death, then reduces by exactly 1 in each following year until the account is exhausted.
A minor child follows a different clock: they use the same Single Life Table stretch only until they reach age 21, at which point the 10-year rule begins — so the account must be fully distributed by the end of the tenth year after the child turns 21. See the dedicated minor-child guide for that timeline in detail.
Model your inherited IRA deadline
Use the inherited IRA calculator to compare the 10-year rule, annual beneficiary RMDs, and eligible designated beneficiary schedules.
Open the inherited IRA calculatorFrequently asked questions
Does an EDB ever have to take annual RMDs?
Yes. Unlike the 10-year rule (where annual RMDs only apply in some cases), an EDB using the life-expectancy stretch takes an annual RMD every year based on the Single Life Table factor, reduced by 1 each year.
Can an EDB choose the 10-year rule instead?
In many cases the beneficiary of an account owner who died before the required beginning date can elect the 10-year rule instead of the life-expectancy stretch. Once the stretch has begun, switching back generally is not available.
Sources
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