Inherit a $600,000 IRA in the Same Year Your Own RMDs Begin at 73, and Two Mandatory Withdrawals Hit One Tax Return. About $85,000 of Forced Income Can Push a Couple Into the 24% Bracket and Over Medicare’s Threshold, and Advisors Explain How to Sequence the Two Deadlines

When a $600,000 inherited IRA arrives in the same year your own required withdrawals begin, two separate tax deadlines start at once, and the overlap can move a comfortable retirement budget into territory many couples have worked for years to avoid…

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He reached age 73 in the same year his own required minimum distributions were set to begin. Late the previous year, his mother died and left him her traditional IRA, which held $600,000 at year-end. She had been taking RMDs for two decades.

He and his wife, both enrolled in Medicare, had structured their budget around about $165,000 of pension, Social Security and investment income in adjusted gross income. That kept them in the 22% bracket and below the Medicare surcharge line. Then two custodian notices arrived: one for the RMD on his $1,300,000 IRA and another for the inherited account. Both had to be completed by December 31.

Together, those withdrawals add $85,642 to one joint return. That pushes the couple into the 24% bracket and above Medicare’s income threshold.

Two distribution clocks begin in the same year

The first deadline is his own. Under SECURE 2.0, anyone born on or after January 1, 1951 has a required beginning date tied to age 73. His divisor comes from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table: 26.5 at age 73.

The second deadline comes from his mother’s IRA. He is not more than 10 years younger than the original owner, so he falls under the SECURE Act 10-year rule. That means the account must be emptied within 10 years of the owner’s death, which sets the outside deadline at December 31, 2035. Because she died after her required beginning date, annual withdrawals are also required until then. IRS Publication 590-B bases those withdrawals on the longer of his single life expectancy or hers. At age 73, his single-life factor is 16.4.

Failing to take either withdrawal can trigger a tax equal to 25% of the shortfall under Internal Revenue Code Section 4974(a).

How $85,642 of forced income lands on one return

Add that amount to the couple’s baseline income and AGI rises to $250,642. After the joint standard deduction of $32,200, taxable income comes to $218,442. Without the RMDs, taxable income would have been $132,800.

The 24% rate begins at joint income above $211,400, so part of the RMD stack is taxed at 24% and the rest at 22%. Federal tax on the forced income totals $18,982.08. The extra standard deduction available to taxpayers age 65 and older trims that figure slightly, but they still remain in the 24% bracket.

Medicare uses prior-year income. In other words, 2026 income affects the 2028 surcharge. At the 2026 thresholds, joint MAGI above $218,000 adds $81.20 a month to Part B and $14.50 to Part D for each person. For the couple, that works out to $2,296.80 a year. This two-year lag is one of nine IRS rules that can slowly drain retirement accounts, and the rest are covered in a free guide here.

A $35,000 charity transfer can move them back under the line

Advisors manage the two deadlines by controlling how each dollar leaves the accounts. For couples who support charity, the most useful tool is the qualified charitable distribution. Section 408(d)(8) allows an IRA owner age 70½ or older to transfer money directly from the IRA to a charity and keep it out of gross income, up to an annual cap of $100,000, indexed for inflation. A QCD also counts toward his own RMD.

Suppose the couple already gives $35,000 a year to charity. If that same $35,000 goes straight from his IRA to the charities, AGI falls to $215,642, which is below the Medicare line. Taxable income drops to $183,442, all of it in the 22% bracket. Tax on the remaining forced income falls to $11,141.24, and the surcharge disappears. Compared with the original route, the household keeps $10,137.64.

Timing is the second lever. Owners may take their first RMD as late as April 1 of the year after they reach age 73. Delaying the first withdrawal would reduce 2026 AGI to $201,585, but 2027 would then include two of his own RMDs plus the inherited one. Advisors usually save that option for years when the current-year tax hit is unusually high.

The third consideration is the inherited account’s runway. The annual RMD is only a minimum. In years when income is already near a surcharge threshold, taking additional withdrawals up to that level can spread the balance out before 2035 forces the rest out at once.

Five steps to take before year-end

1. Get written confirmation from the inherited IRA custodian that the original owner had already reached her required beginning date, and ask which life-expectancy factor it uses.
2. Pull the prior December 31 balance for each account and calculate each RMD separately. The inherited RMD must come from the inherited account.
3. Project 2026 MAGI against the $218,000 joint threshold before making the final withdrawal.
4. Request QCDs as direct transfers from the IRA trustee to the charity, as required by Section 408(d)(8)(B)(i).
5. Map the inherited balance across each year through 2035, and review the plan with a CPA before year-end.

The key number to remember is $218,000. When two RMD deadlines begin in the same year, every dollar kept below that line through a charity transfer or careful timing helps protect both the 22% bracket and the Medicare premium.