<prompt> Human: My 78 year old father passed away in November of 2017.He did not list a beneficiary on his IRA, so we had to take it to probate. The probate just completed, and I finally got access to his account as I am the executor and I found that he had not taken his RMD for 2017. I understand that the estate must take the RMD in the year of his death 2017, but we could not because we did not have access to his account due to his death. Even if I would have known he didnt take it, I could not have authorized the distribution until just last week when probate completed.Everything I read online just says that the estate will owe a 50 tax on the missing RMD. This penalty does not seem appropriate for this situation. Is there some way to ask for an exception? Thanks for your help...  <response>: You might be able to appeal. There are ways to avoid penalties for other tax related things when people die. According to this linked doc for example if you fail to file the tax return there is a penalty unless the failure is due to reasonable cause. The deceased died so could not make the withdrawal and the Administrator did not have the authority through probate until after the end of the year sounds like it would meet the standard of reasonable.Call the IRS. Contrary to typical expectations they are usually very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable, especially if they bump you to a specialist. 