Does the five-year waiting period for qualified distributions re-set for beneficiaries when the Roth IRA owner dies?
No. When your beneficiary inherits your Roth assets, your beneficiary also inherits your five-year waiting period as it relates to qualified distributions from that inherited Roth IRA. In other words, the five-year waiting period is determined independently of the five-year period for the beneficiary’s own Roth IRAs. However, if your surviving spouse treats the inherited Roth IRA as his or her own, the five-year period for qualified distributions with respect to any of your surviving spouse’s Roth IRAs (including the one that your surviving spouse treats as his or her own) ends with your Roth IRA’s five-year period, or the five-year period applicable to your spouse’s own Roth IRA, whichever is earlier.
