Who Needs to Take a 2025 RMD?

By Sarah Brenner, JD
Director of Retirement Education

As the calendar runs out on 2025, retirement account owners and beneficiaries may face a looming deadline. December 31 is the deadline for many to take 2025 required minimum distributions (RMDs). Test your knowledge of RMDs with our quiz. Who needs to take a 2025 RMD by December 31, 2025? Answers can be found below the quiz.

1. Rick just celebrated his 73^rd birthday on November 21. He has a traditional IRA. Does Rick need to take a 2025 RMD by December 31?
2. Kate, age 75, is still working for a company that offers a SIMPLE IRA plan. Does Kate need to take a 2025 RMD by December 31?
3. Luis, age 54, inherited a traditional IRA from his father who died at age 90 in 2024. Luis is subject to the 10-year payout rule. Does Luis need to take a 2025 RMD by December 31, 2025?
4. Luis also inherited Roth IRA from his father and is subject to the 10-year payout rule. Does Luis need to take a 2025 RMD by December 31, 2025?
5. Janice, age 54, died in 2018. Her sister, Carol, age 49, inherited her traditional IRA. Carol died in 2024. Her daughter, Madi, is the successor beneficiary of this inherited IRA. Does Madi need to take a 2025 RMD by December 31, 2025?

Answers

1. NO. Rick does not need to take his 2025 RMD by December 31. Because this is the year that Rick reaches age 73, it is the first year for which he must take an RMD. The deadline for taking the first RMD is April 1 of the following year, so Rick does not need to take his 2025 RMD until April 1, 2026.
2. YES. Because Kate is age 75 in 2025, she must take an RMD from her SIMPLE IRA. It does not matter that she is still working for the company that offers the SIMPLE IRA plan. The still-working exception only applies to employer plans that are not IRA based. It does not apply to SIMPLE IRAs, so Kate must take a 2025 RMD by December 31, 2025.
3. YES. In final regulations, the IRS confirmed that if the IRA owner dies after their required beginning date (April 1 of the year following the year age 73 is reached) then annual RMDs must be taken by the beneficiary during the 10-year payout period. Due to confusion over this rule the IRS waived the requirement for 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. However, these RMDs are required for 2025. Luis will need to take his RMD by December 31, 2025.
4. NO. Roth IRA owners are never required to take RMDs during their lifetime, so all Roth IRA owners are considered to have died before their required beginning date. Therefore, no RMDs are required during the 10-year payout period for Roth IRA beneficiaries. Luis will not have to take a 2025 RMD from the inherited Roth IRA by December 31, 2025.
5. YES. Madi as a successor beneficiary is subject to the 10-year rule. She also must take an RMD for 2025. The IRS confirmed in final regulations that because annual RMDs started when the account was inherited by Carol (before the SECURE Act, when all designated beneficiaries could take stretch RMDs), those distributions must continue for the successor beneficiary. Therefore, Madi must take a 2025 RMD by December 31, 2025.

If you have technical questions you would like to have answered, be sure to submit them to [email protected], to be answered on an upcoming Slott Report Mailbag, published every Thursday.