In “IRS Publication 590-B and 10-Year RMDs,” it was reported that IRS Publication 590-B had caused concerns about the application of the new 10-year rule, because examples in the publication made it appear that beneficiaries of inherited individual retirement accounts (IRAs) would have to take required minimum distributions (RMDs) based on life expectancies during the 10 year period. That has not been the prevailing understanding of the 10-year rule, which most practitioners understood to require the entire account to be distributed before the end of the 10 year period but does not require any interim distributions.

According to the website MarketWatch, an unnamed IRS spokesman has said that the examples in IRS Publication 959-B are incorrect and the publication will be revised to show that beneficiaries have 10 years to withdraw from an IRA “in whatever fashion they’d like.”

[5/25/2021 Update: The IRS website now has an undated page titled “Revisions to the 2020 Publication 590-B” which confirms that the publication will be revised and be available for download “soon.” The example on page 12 will apparently be revised by changing the facts from the death of a father to the death of a brother who is not more than 10 older than the beneficiary. In that case, the beneficiary would be an eligible designated beneficiary and the 10 year rule would not apply.]