Subject: Re: Reading tea leaves
Ah, here it is Pub 590B
"Payment under the 10-year rule.
If the IRA owner dies before the required beginning date [that is, before the decedent was taking RMDs] ... no distribution is required for any year before the 10th year."

So it depends on whether or not the person was taking RMDs, which used to be age 70 1/2, is now 73, and will be 75 in 2033.

Yes, I have read this interpretation from multiple sources.

Question is: how much is the RMD? If the beneficiary is, say, 25 years old, then he isn't going to find his RMD in the tables that are published. The tables I've seen start at age 72.