Educational only: This page quotes federal statute, Treasury regulations, IRS forms, instructions, publications and notices from named primary sources, observed on 30 September 2026. It does not evaluate any reader's return, account or circumstances, and it is not financial, tax or legal advice. Whether a particular waiver request is granted is decided by the IRS, and nothing here predicts that outcome. Readers should consult a qualified tax professional about their own situation.
Jump to a section
- Do you still have to take the missed distribution?
- How much is the excise tax, and what is the correction window?
- How do you request a waiver on Form 5329, line by line?
- Inherited IRA: which years had relief, and do you make them up?
- Is the catch-up taxable, and how is withholding treated?
- What are the current RMD ages?
- Once the correction is done
- Frequently asked questions
- Sources and methodology
Current as of September 30, 2026. This guide follows the 2025 Form 5329 and its instructions revised November 19, 2025, which are the current final versions. The IRS posted draft 2026 instructions on September 4, 2026 carrying the same procedure and line structure; a draft is not operative guidance, and this page will be re-checked when the 2026 final posts.
Key takeaways
- The tax is 25 percent of the shortfall and it is imposed on the payee, not the custodian. S1
- The 10 percent rate needs two things, both inside the correction window: receiving the missed amount from the same plan, and submitting a return reflecting the tax. Taking the money alone does not get you there. S1
- Taking the distribution and settling the tax are separate obligations. The distribution requirement rolls forward until it is satisfied. S2
- The waiver is requested with “RC” and the amount to be waived on the dotted line next to line 54a and/or 54b, with a statement of explanation attached, paying only the tax that remains on line 55. S3
- 2025 is the first year with no inherited-IRA relief. The relief in Notices 2022-53, 2023-54 and 2024-35 covered 2021 through 2024 and has expired. S2
- Relieved years do not have to be made up, and the 10-year deadline is not extended, per Treasury's preamble to the final regulations. S2
- The catch-up is ordinary income in the year received, not the year it was owed, and it cannot be rolled over. S4
- “Reasonable error” is not defined in the statute, the regulation or the instructions. This page offers no definition and no list of accepted reasons, because no primary source provides one. S1
If you missed all or part of a required minimum distribution, five separate things are now true, and most explanations blur them.
You still have to take the distribution. An excise tax of 25 percent of the shortfall is imposed on you, not the custodian, and it drops to 10 percent only if you meet two statutory conditions inside the correction window.
You can ask the IRS to waive the tax for reasonable error, using a specific entry on Form 5329. The catch-up distribution is ordinary income in the year you receive it. And any tax withheld from it is treated, for estimated-tax purposes, as paid evenly through the year.
Several of the pages that rank for this question still state the pre-2023 rate of 50 percent, show the old single-line layout of Form 5329, or leave open a question Treasury settled in 2024.
This guide sets out the current procedure from the primary sources only: 26 U.S.C. §4974, the Treasury regulation in force for tax years from 2025, the 2025 Form 5329 and its instructions, Publication 590-B, the IRS notices on inherited-IRA relief, and the withholding and estimated-tax provisions.
Each of the five obligations gets its own section, in the order you will deal with them. Nothing here is tax advice; it is what the sources say, with the gaps in them stated as gaps.
Do You Still Have to Take the Missed Distribution?
| Correcting the distribution | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Does paying the excise tax satisfy the distribution requirement? | No; the requirement rolls forward | S2 |
| Which account must the catch-up come from? | Any one of the plans that could have satisfied it | S2 |
| Can the catch-up be rolled over? | No; RMD amounts are not eligible | S4 |
| Does a late catch-up count as a timely distribution on the form? | No; excluded from lines 53a and 53b | S3 |
two obligations — taking the missed amount and settling the excise tax. Neither one discharges the other, and the form is built to keep them apart. S2
The regulation is explicit that if a required minimum distribution could have been satisfied “from any one of a number of qualified retirement plans (such as an individual retirement account under section 408(a) or a section 403(b) plan), then the corrective distribution may be taken from any one of those qualified retirement plans” S2.
In practice that means an IRA owner with several accounts takes the missed amount from whichever is convenient.
What you cannot do is put it back: Publication 590-B states that “Amounts that must be distributed (required minimum distributions) during a particular year aren’t eligible for rollover treatment.” S4
The form treats the late catch-up carefully. The instructions for lines 53a and 53b say: “Do not include on line(s) 53a and/or 53b, any distribution(s) received after the deadline for taking the minimum required distribution or during the correction window.” S3
So the catch-up does not reduce the shortfall you report; the shortfall is what it was on the deadline. Taking the money late earns you the reduced rate, or supports a waiver request, but it does not make the shortfall zero.
Readers with a self-directed account holding metals should also read the guide to RMDs from a gold IRA, since the same rules apply to an account that cannot be partly liquidated without a sale.
How Much Is the Excise Tax, and What Is the Correction Window?
| The §4974 excise tax | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Rate on the shortfall (tax years beginning after Dec 29, 2022) | 25 percent | S1 |
| Reduced rate when both correction-window conditions are met | 10 percent | S1 |
| Condition 1: receive the missed amount, from the same plan, during the window | Required | S1 |
| Condition 2: submit a return reflecting the tax, during the window | Required | S1 |
| Tax year the tax belongs to | The year containing the missed deadline | S3 |
| Form 5329 line for the 10 percent computation | Line 54a | S6 |
| Form 5329 line for the 25 percent computation | Line 54b | S6 |
| Where the total goes | Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 8 | S6 |
10 percent is the reduced rate, and it needs two things inside the window: the distribution and a filed return reflecting the tax. Taking the money alone does not get you there. S1
The statute's own words matter here because the popular shorthand loses one of the two conditions.
The reduced rate applies to a taxpayer who “(A) receives a distribution, during the correction window, of the amount which resulted in imposition of a tax under subsection (a) from the same plan to which such tax relates, and (B) submits a return, during the correction window, reflecting such tax” S1.
Filing is a condition, not a formality. That is why the 2025 form splits Part IX into a-lines and b-lines: line 54a applies the 10 percent rate, line 54b applies 25 percent S6, and the instructions state that the tax “is due for the tax year that includes the last day by which the minimum required distribution must be taken” S3.
How long is the window? The statute defines its end as “the earliest of” three events: the date of mailing a notice of deficiency, the date the tax is assessed, or “the last day of the second taxable year that begins after the end of the taxable year in which the tax under subsection (a) is imposed” S1.
It defines the start as “the date on which the tax under subsection (a) is imposed,” and neither the statute nor the regulation gives that phrase a calendar date.
So the window is bounded by events, not by a countdown: it opens when the tax is imposed for the year of the missed deadline, and it closes on whichever comes first of a deficiency notice, an assessment, or the end of the second taxable year that begins after that year.
The IRS FAQ paraphrases this as “within two years”; that is shorthand for the third end event only, and it stops being true the moment a deficiency notice is mailed or the tax is assessed. This page does not offer a day count, because the sources do not.
Before SECURE 2.0 the rate was 50 percent and there was no reduced rate; any page still quoting 50 percent is describing tax years that began before December 30, 2022.
How Do You Request a Waiver on Form 5329, Line by Line?
| Waiver step (Instructions for Form 5329, 2025) | What to do | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | Reasonable error, and reasonable steps are being taken to remedy it | S1 |
| Step 1 | Complete lines 52a and 52b, and 53a and 53b, as instructed | S3 |
| Step 2 | Enter “RC” and the waived amount in parentheses on the dotted line next to line 54a and/or 54b; subtract it and enter the result | S3 |
| Step 3 | Complete line 55; pay any tax due that is reported on line 55 | S3 |
| Attachment | A statement of explanation | S3 |
| After filing | The IRS reviews and decides; if not granted, it notifies you of any additional tax | S3 |
| No income tax return due? | File Form 5329 by itself, on paper, with your address on page 1 and your signature on page 3 | S3 |
| Prior year? | Use that year's version of the form | S3 |
RC is the entry that requests the waiver, on the dotted line next to line 54a or 54b of the 2025 form. Pages that put it on line 52 are describing a form layout that no longer exists. S3
Two points the instructions settle that advice pages get wrong.
First, you do not pay the full tax and then ask for it back. The instruction is to enter “RC” and the amount of the shortfall you want waived, “Subtract this amount from the total shortfall you figured without regard to the waiver, and enter the result on line(s) 54a and/or 54b, as applicable,” then “Complete line 55 as instructed. You must pay any tax due that is reported on line 55.” S3
If you request a full waiver, line 55 is zero and nothing is due with the filing.
Second, the request goes with the form, not in a separate letter: the instructions say to “attach a statement of explanation and file Form 5329 as follows” S3.
What that statement must contain is not prescribed. “Reasonable error” is undefined in the statute, the regulation and the instructions, and the lists of accepted reasons found on advisor sites are experience, not authority. This page does not reproduce them.
The 2024 regulations also added two automatic waivers that no top-ranking page mentions.
One applies where the person who owed the RMD died during the year without taking it: the tax “is waived automatically” if the beneficiary “takes a corrective distribution in the amount needed to satisfy that distribution requirement no later than the tax filing deadline (including extensions thereof) for the taxable year of that beneficiary that begins with or within that calendar year (or, if later, the last day of the calendar year following that calendar year)” S2.
The other covers an eligible designated beneficiary who defaulted into life-expectancy payments, missed one, and elects the 10-year rule by the end of the ninth year after the death S2. A beneficiary in either position may not need a Form 5329 request at all.
The regulation now in force is §54.4974-1 S2; its predecessor, §54.4974-2, applies only to earlier taxable years, and pages citing it as current authority are out of date.
If you also missed a rollover deadline, the guide to the 60-day rollover relief routes covers that separate procedure.
Inherited IRA: Which Years Had Relief, and Do You Have to Make Them Up?
| Inherited-IRA relief | Coverage | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Distribution years covered by the three notices | 2021 through 2024 | S8 |
| Relief given | IRS will not assert the §4974 excise tax | S7 |
| Who was covered | Designated beneficiaries where the owner died on or after the required beginning date in 2020 to 2023, not using the life-expectancy exception; certain successor beneficiaries | S7 |
| First year with no relief | 2025 | S2 |
| Must relieved years be made up? | No | S2 |
| Does the 10-year deadline extend? | No | S2 |
2025 is the first calendar year in which a beneficiary subject to annual RMDs under the 10-year rule has no IRS relief to fall back on. A missed 2025 amount is handled by the procedure on this page. S2
The relief was narrow and it is over. It applied to specified RMDs: annual amounts owed by a designated beneficiary of an owner who died on or after the required beginning date, where the beneficiary was on the 10-year rule rather than the life-expectancy exception, and to successor beneficiaries in the same position.
It never applied to an owner's own lifetime RMDs, to eligible designated beneficiaries taking life-expectancy payments, or to accounts inherited before 2020.
Each notice extended the previous one by a year; the last, Notice 2024-35, covered 2024 for deaths in 2020, 2021, 2022 or 2023 S8. No successor notice for 2025 or 2026 was found, and the 2025 edition of Publication 590-B points only to Notice 2024-35.
The question a 2022 accountancy article left open, whether the unrelieved years must be caught up later, was answered by Treasury when it finalized the regulations.
The preamble gives the example: “if an employee died in 2020, then in 2025, there are six years remaining in the 10-year period without regard to whether the designated beneficiary took distributions in 2021, 2022, 2023, or 2024. In 2030, the designated beneficiary must take a distribution of the remaining account balance” S2.
The relieved years are gone; the outer deadline is unchanged.
For the rules that decide which category a beneficiary falls into, the pages on inherited gold IRA rules and gold IRA beneficiary rules cover eligible designated beneficiaries, the required beginning date and the 10-year rule.
Is the Catch-Up Taxable, and How Is Withholding on It Treated?
| Income tax and withholding | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Year the catch-up is taxed | The year received | S4 |
| Can it be rolled over? | No | S4 |
| Default withholding on a nonperiodic IRA distribution | 10 percent | S11 |
| Form to change the rate | Form W-4R, line 2 | S9 |
| How withholding counts toward estimated tax | One-fourth on each due date, by default | S5 |
| Election to use actual withholding dates | Check box D in Part II of Form 2210 and attach it | S5 |
| Does withholding affect the §4974 excise tax? | No; the tax is on the gross shortfall and is paid by the payee | S1 |
one-fourth of the year's withholding is treated as paid on each estimated-tax due date, unless you show the actual dates. A December catch-up with tax withheld is spread back over the whole year by default. S5
A practical question comes up repeatedly: if I take several years of missed RMDs in December, does withholding on that distribution help with the underpayment penalty, or did I need to have made estimated payments?
The statute answers it. Section 6654(g) provides that withholding for the year is deemed a payment of estimated tax and “an equal part of such amount shall be deemed paid on each due date for such taxable year, unless the taxpayer establishes the dates on which all amounts were actually withheld” S10.
The Form 2210 instructions apply the same rule: “you are considered to have paid one-fourth of these amounts on each payment due date unless you can show otherwise” S5. So withholding taken in December is treated as if a quarter of it had been paid on each due date.
If the actual dates would help you instead, the instructions say “you must check box D in Part II” and attach Form 2210 S5.
Withholding is a payment of income tax, and the two taxes are distinct.
No IRS document quoted here addresses withholding and §4974 in the same sentence; the conclusion that withholding has no bearing on the excise tax is an inference from the statute's structure, and it is offered as that rather than as a quotation.
The structure is this: the excise tax is measured on the amount by which the required distribution exceeds the amount actually distributed, the statute says it “shall be paid by the payee” S1, and Form 5329 has no withholding line. On that reading a $20,000 catch-up with $2,000 withheld is still a $20,000 corrective distribution for §4974 purposes, and the $2,000 goes toward income tax.
The default rate is in the statute: the payer “shall withhold from such distribution an amount equal to 10 percent of such distribution” S11, and Form W-4R states that “For nonperiodic payments, the default withholding rate is 10%” S9.
Because the catch-up lands in the year received, two or more years of distributions can stack into one year's income; no primary source offers relief for that, and the withdrawal and tax estimator can show what a stacked amount does to a marginal rate.
What Are the Current RMD Ages, and Where Does the Statute Leave a Gap?
| Applicable age | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Attains age 72 after Dec 31, 2022 and age 73 before Jan 1, 2033 | 73 | S12 |
| Attains age 74 after Dec 31, 2032 | 75 | S12 |
This section exists so that the page does not misstate the threshold that decides whether an RMD was owed at all.
The statute reads: “(I) In the case of an individual who attains age 72 after December 31, 2022, and age 73 before January 1, 2033, the applicable age is 73.” and “(II) In the case of an individual who attains age 74 after December 31, 2032, the applicable age is 75.” S12
Popular summaries convert this into birth years; that is a reasonable interpretation but not the text, and the text leaves an individual who turns 73 during 2033 outside both clauses on a literal reading. The regulations use “applicable age” without repairing the gap.
Readers planning distributions around these thresholds can compare the strategy after age 73 and what SECURE 2.0 changed.
Once the Correction Is Done: the Account, Not the Distribution
The procedure above is complete: the distribution taken, the excise tax figured on the right line, the waiver requested if it applies, the income tax and withholding accounted for. What follows is a separate question, and it only arises once the correction itself is finished.
Keep two amounts firmly apart. The corrective distribution is money that had to leave the account. It is ordinary income in the year you receive it and, as Publication 590-B puts it, required minimum distribution amounts “aren’t eligible for rollover treatment” S4.
It cannot be moved into a gold IRA, a self-directed IRA, or any other retirement account, and no provider can change that.
The remaining balance is the separate thing: whatever stays in the retirement account after the shortfall has been distributed. That balance continues under the ordinary rules, and it is the only part that any future transfer, rollover or custodian decision could ever concern.
Savers who have just been through a missed distribution sometimes conclude that the annual requirement is harder than it needs to be with an account that cannot be divided without a sale, and they start looking at how the remaining balance is held and valued.
That is a planning question about the account, never about the amount just distributed.
The guide to meeting an RMD from a gold IRA covers the valuation and liquidity mechanics, and the rollover eligibility matrix sets out which account types can move where and which amounts are never eligible.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the penalty for missing a required minimum distribution?
An excise tax of 25 percent of the shortfall, imposed on the person who should have received the distribution. It drops to 10 percent if, inside the statutory correction window, you both take the missed amount from the same plan and file a return reflecting the tax. Before SECURE 2.0 the rate was 50 percent; that figure applies only to tax years beginning before December 30, 2022.
If I take the missed RMD now, does the excise tax go away?
Not by itself. Taking the distribution and settling the excise tax are separate obligations. The late catch-up is excluded from the amount that reduces the reported shortfall on Form 5329; it qualifies you for the 10 percent rate if you also file inside the window, and it supports a waiver request for reasonable error. Only a granted waiver removes the tax entirely.
Where exactly do I request the waiver on Form 5329?
On the 2025 form, complete lines 52a, 52b, 53a and 53b, then enter RC and the amount you want waived in parentheses on the dotted line next to line 54a and/or 54b, subtract that amount, enter the result, complete line 55, and attach a statement of explanation. You pay only the tax that remains on line 55; a full waiver request computes to zero due at filing.
I inherited an IRA and missed the annual amounts in 2021 to 2024. Do I have to make them up?
No. IRS Notices 2022-53, 2023-54 and 2024-35 said the IRS would not assert the excise tax for specified missed RMDs in those years, and Treasury's preamble to the final regulations states that the relief does not require taxpayers to make up the missed distributions and does not extend the 10-year deadline. The relief ended with 2024; 2025 is the first year with none.
Which year is the catch-up distribution taxed in?
The year you receive it. Publication 590-B states that distributions from a traditional IRA are taxable in the year you receive them, and RMD amounts are not eligible for rollover. Taking two or more years of missed distributions in one calendar year stacks them into that year's income; no primary source provides relief for that.
Does withholding on the catch-up help with the underpayment penalty, and does it affect the excise tax?
It helps with underpayment: under section 6654(g), withholding for the year is deemed a payment of estimated tax with an equal part treated as paid on each due date, unless you elect to show actual dates on Form 2210. It has no bearing on the excise tax, which is measured on the gross shortfall, is paid by the payee, and has no withholding line on Form 5329.
Can I file Form 5329 if I do not otherwise have to file a tax return, or for a past year?
Yes. If you do not have to file an income tax return, file Form 5329 by itself, on paper, at the time and place you would file Form 1040, with your address on page 1 and your signature on page 3. For a prior year, use that year's version of the form; if you have no other changes and did not file a return for that year, file it by itself, otherwise with Form 1040-X.
Sources and Methodology
This guide is a procedural summary of primary sources for IRA owners and beneficiaries who missed a required minimum distribution.
Its authorities are 26 U.S.C. §4974 (excise tax, waiver and correction window), Treasury Regulation §54.4974-1 as published in T.D. 10001 (in force for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, replacing §54.4974-2), the 2025 Form 5329 and its instructions revised November 19, 2025, Publication 590-B (2025), IRS Notices 2022-53, 2023-54 and 2024-35, the preamble to T.D. 10001 in the Federal Register, 26 U.S.C. §6654 and §3405 with the 2025 Form 2210 instructions and the 2026 Form W-4R, and 26 U.S.C. §401(a)(9)(C).
Every figure and quotation was checked against the live source document, and every quotation is reproduced verbatim. Advisor, CPA and law-firm pages were read to identify questions and contradictions, not as authority.
Employer-plan correction programs (EPCRS) and state tax are outside scope. Nothing here is tax or legal advice.
The regulation is cited to the Federal Register text of T.D. 10001 rather than the eCFR rendering, because the eCFR version of §54.4974-1(g)(3) omits subparagraph (i), which this page quotes. The IRS posted draft 2026 instructions for Form 5329 on September 4, 2026 carrying the same waiver procedure and line structure; a draft is not operative, so this page follows the 2025 final instructions.
Six points are unresolved in the primary sources and are stated as limits rather than answered: the correction window's start date has no calendar rule; “reasonable error” is undefined; the process after a denied waiver is not described beyond IRS notification; whether the reduced rate and a waiver can be combined on one filing is mechanically possible on the form but not stated as a rule anywhere; the age-75 transition leaves the 2033 cohort unassigned on a literal reading; and multi-year shortfalls where balances changed have no computation guidance.
One conclusion on this page is an inference rather than a quotation, and is labelled as such: that withholding has no bearing on the §4974 excise tax follows from the statute's structure, since no IRS document quoted here addresses the two together.
No statistic of any kind is stated on this page; the 25 percent figure is a statutory rate, not a finding about how often RMDs are missed.
Source register (12 authorities)
All twelve are primary law, forms, instructions, publications or notices, and all were reachable when checked on 30 September 2026. Government authorities are linked under this site's standing nofollow treatment; no commercial source is cited or linked anywhere in this guide.
- S1 — United States Code (Cornell LII), “26 U.S.C. §4974, Excise tax on certain accumulations in qualified retirement plans” (Current through 2026) The anchor source for the 25 percent rate, the 10 percent reduced rate and its two conditions, the definition of the correction window by its start and end events, the waiver standard, and the rule that the tax is paid by the payee. Observed 30 September 2026.
- S2 — Federal Register (Treasury Department / IRS), “T.D. 10001, Required Minimum Distributions, final regulations including Treas. Reg. §54.4974-1 and §1.401(a)(9)-1 (89 FR 58886, July 19, 2024)” (19 July 2024) The regulation in force for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, and the source for the roll-forward rule, the corrective-distribution account rule, the two automatic waivers, and the preamble finding on relieved years. Cited to the Federal Register text because the eCFR rendering omits §54.4974-1(g)(3)(i). Observed 30 September 2026.
- S3 — Internal Revenue Service, “Instructions for Form 5329 (2025), revised November 19, 2025” (19 November 2025) The operative waiver procedure: the RC entry on the dotted line next to line 54a and/or 54b, the subtraction, the statement of explanation, payment of line 55 only, the tax year the tax belongs to, and filing by itself or for a prior year. Observed 30 September 2026.
- S4 — Internal Revenue Service, “Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)” (2025) The source for the year a distribution is taxable and for the rule that required minimum distribution amounts are not eligible for rollover treatment. Observed 30 September 2026.
- S5 — Internal Revenue Service, “Instructions for Form 2210 (2025), Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals, Estates, and Trusts” (2025) The source for the default treatment of withholding as paid one-fourth on each payment due date, and for the election to establish the actual withholding dates. Observed 30 September 2026.
- S6 — Internal Revenue Service, “Form 5329 (2025), Additional Taxes on Qualified Plans (Including IRAs) and Other Tax-Favored Accounts” (2025) The form itself: the Part IX line structure, the 10 percent computation on line 54a, the 25 percent computation on line 54b, and where the total is carried. Observed 30 September 2026.
- S7 — Internal Revenue Service, “Notice 2022-53, Certain Required Minimum Distributions for 2021 and 2022” (October 2022) The first of the three inherited-IRA relief notices, and the source for the relief's wording and the population it covered. Expired; not current relief for 2025 or later. Observed 30 September 2026.
- S8 — Internal Revenue Service, “Notice 2024-35, Certain Required Minimum Distributions for 2024 (extending Notices 2022-53 and 2023-54)” (April 2024) The last of the three relief notices, covering 2024 for the specified deaths. No successor notice for 2025 or 2026 was found. Expired. Observed 30 September 2026.
- S9 — Internal Revenue Service, “Form W-4R (2026), Withholding Certificate for Nonperiodic Payments and Eligible Rollover Distributions” (2026) The form that changes the withholding rate on a nonperiodic distribution, and the source for the stated default rate. Observed 30 September 2026.
- S10 — United States Code (Cornell LII), “26 U.S.C. §6654, Failure by individual to pay estimated income tax” (Current through 2026) The statutory rule that withholding for the year is deemed a payment of estimated tax, with an equal part deemed paid on each due date unless the taxpayer establishes the actual dates. Observed 30 September 2026.
- S11 — United States Code (Cornell LII), “26 U.S.C. §3405, Special rules for pensions, annuities, and certain other deferred income” (Current through 2026) The statutory default withholding rate on a nonperiodic distribution. Observed 30 September 2026.
- S12 — United States Code (Cornell LII), “26 U.S.C. §401(a)(9)(C), required beginning date and applicable age” (Current through 2026) The applicable-age thresholds, written in attainment dates rather than birth years. The statute's own text is quoted because popular summaries convert it into birth-year cohorts. Observed 30 September 2026.
Update history
- September 2026 — initial publication. Built from primary sources with every quotation reproduced verbatim. The five obligations are kept in separate sections, the correction window is described by its statutory start and end events rather than a countdown, and the inherited-IRA relief is presented as historical and expired.
- Next scheduled review: when the 2026 Form 5329 and instructions are finalized, when any new IRS notice on inherited-IRA RMDs issues, and on any amendment to §4974 or §54.4974-1.
How to Cite This Page
Source: 401ktogoldira.org — Missed an RMD? The Current Procedure:
Take the Distribution, Figure the Excise Tax, Request the Waiver on Form 5329.
https://401ktogoldira.org/missed-rmd-correction-waiver/
(sources last reviewed 30 September 2026)Quote the procedure with its scope. The correction window is defined by its statutory start and end events rather than a fixed number of years, the reduced rate requires both a corrective distribution and a filed return inside that window, and the inherited-IRA relief described here covered 2021 through 2024 and has expired.
This page is educational and does not evaluate any reader's return, account or circumstances. It quotes federal statute, regulations, forms, instructions, publications and notices, and it cannot establish whether a particular waiver request will be granted; that is decided by the IRS. Readers should consult a qualified tax professional about their own return before filing.
Article reviewed and edited by Daniel M. — editor, 401kToGoldIRA.org. Last verified: 30 September 2026. How figures on this site are produced and checked is set out in the research methodology, and errors are handled under the corrections policy.
Further Reading
Gold IRA RMD StrategyMeeting an annual RMD from an account whose assets cannot be partly liquidated without a sale.
Missed the 60-Day Rollover DeadlineThe separate relief routes when a rollover, rather than a distribution, was missed.
Inherited Gold IRA RulesWhich beneficiary category applies, and which annual amounts it requires.