Year-of-death RMD: who takes it?

The beneficiaries take it. The obligation does not die with the participant.

When it applies

If a participant dies on or after their Required Beginning Date and had not taken their full RMD for that calendar year, the shortfall must still come out — distributed to whoever inherits, in proportion to their shares unless the beneficiaries agree otherwise.

If the participant died before their RBD, there is no year-of-death RMD, because no distribution was yet required.

How the amount is calculated

On the participant's own figures, not the beneficiary's. It is the RMD the participant would have owed: their prior year-end balance divided by their own distribution period, using the Uniform Lifetime Table at their attained age in the year of death, or the Joint Life table if their spouse was sole beneficiary and more than 10 years younger.

The beneficiary's own schedule begins the following year and is a separate calculation entirely.

The deadline, and the relief

Strictly, the year-of-death RMD is due by 31 December of the year of death — which is unhelpful when someone dies in late December, or when the estate takes months to identify beneficiaries.

Where it gets missed

This is one of the most commonly overlooked obligations in distribution processing. The participant's account is closed, the beneficiary's inherited account is opened, and the outstanding amount from the year of death falls between the two. It is worth a standing check on every post-RBD death file.

Aggregation still applies

If the participant had several IRAs, the year-of-death RMD is calculated across all of them but can be satisfied from any one. Qualified plan balances cannot be aggregated — each plan must pay its own.