Her Husband Was Nine Years Younger. When He Died She Left the IRA in His Name Instead of Rolling It Into Hers, and the IRS Can’t Ask Her for a Withdrawal Until the Year He Would Have Turned 73
Most custodians steer surviving spouses straight toward a rollover, and most surviving spouses accept without knowing the option they just gave up could have sheltered a decade of growth from the IRS entirely.
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If you inherited a traditional IRA from a spouse who was younger than you, the custodian almost certainly steered you toward a spousal rollover: retitle the account in your name, treat it as your own. That default can cost you years of tax deferral you were legally entitled to keep.
A surviving spouse who leaves the account as an inherited IRA in the deceased spouse’s name does not have to take a required minimum distribution until the year the deceased would have reached the required beginning age. When the deceased was nine years younger, that is close to a decade of untouched growth and continued control over your taxable income.
Buried Rule Custodians Rarely Volunteer
The required beginning date for a traditional IRA is April 1 of the year after the owner turns 73, the age set by the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. When a spouse dies before that date, the surviving spouse who remains a designated beneficiary is not required to begin distributions until the year the decedent would have reached that age.
Suze Orman put the mechanics plainly: if you keep the inherited account as a beneficiary IRA, “the RMDs from this account would be based on your deceased spouse’s age… you could, if you wanted, wait till they would have turned 72, and you wouldn’t have to withdraw money from this at all till then.” The age has since moved to 73, but the structure is identical.
Where the Rule Actually Lives
The statutory anchor is Internal Revenue Code §401(a)(9)(B)(iv), the surviving-spouse exception, with operational detail in IRS Publication 590-B. SECURE 2.0 added a separate election under Section 327, effective for deaths in 2024 and later, letting a surviving spouse be treated as the deceased employee for distribution purposes. That election accomplishes the same deferral while letting the survivor use the more favorable Uniform Lifetime Table once distributions start, rather than the Single Life Table applied to beneficiaries.
Three Paths, One Decision
Rolling the IRA into your own name starts the RMD clock on your age. Remaining a beneficiary of an inherited IRA starts the clock on when your deceased spouse would have turned 73. Making the Section 327 election gives you decedent-timing with owner-style life expectancy math. When the deceased was younger, all three options produce years of extra deferral versus a rollover.
Access Question That Flips the Answer
The rollover carries a real cost for a widow under age 59½: withdrawals become subject to the 10% additional tax on early distributions. Distributions from an inherited IRA taken as a beneficiary are exempt from that additional tax at any age. A younger widow who needs the money should remain a beneficiary for access; one who does not should remain a beneficiary for deferral. The rollover generally wins only when the surviving spouse is older than the decedent, past 59½, and focused on naming her own beneficiaries.
Reversibility Is the Point
A surviving spouse can generally roll an inherited IRA into her own name later. The reverse is not available. Starting as a beneficiary preserves every option; starting with a rollover forfeits the deferral immediately and permanently. Orman noted: “A spouse has many, many privileges that nobody else has… the spouse can take over the IRA… as if it was his or her own.” Take the privilege on your schedule.
What the Deferral Actually Buys
Years without a forced distribution are years you decide what shows on your 1040. That controls the taxable share of Social Security and Medicare income-related monthly adjustments. Under the 2026 IRMAA schedule, a single filer stays at the base $202.90 Part B premium only while modified adjusted gross income remains at or under $109,000; crossing that line pushes the premium to $284.10. Those deferral years are also the window to execute Roth conversions at chosen brackets.
Catch Your Children Will Feel
Non-spouse beneficiaries who inherit later face the 10-year rule under the SECURE Act, and if the account was in pay status, annual RMDs are required inside that window. That distribution often lands in their peak earning years (it is one of several IRS rules that quietly drain six figures from inherited accounts, and we mapped the rest in a free guide here). Before you sign anything, tell the custodian in writing: do not process a spousal rollover; retitle the account as an inherited IRA for the benefit of the surviving spouse, with distributions based on the decedent’s age.
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David Beren has been a Flywheel Publishing contributor since 2022. Writing for 24/7 Wall St. since 2023, David loves to write about topics of all shapes and sizes. As a technology expert, David focuses heavily on consumer electronics brands, automobiles, and general technology. He has previously written for LifeWire, formerly About.com. As a part-time freelance writer, David’s “day job” has been working on and leading social media for multiple Fortune 100 brands. David loves the flexibility of this field and its ability to reach customers exactly where they like to spend their time. Additionally, David previously published his own blog, TmoNews.com, which reached 3 million readers in its first year. In addition to freelance and social media work, David loves to spend time with his family and children and relive the glory days of video game consoles by playing any retro game console he can get his hands on.
