Want your exact RMD number - your life expectancy factor, the dollar amount, the effective withdrawal rate, and the tax estimate? Enter your age and prior year-end balance in the calculator.
Open the RMD Calculator →A required minimum distribution is the amount you must withdraw each year from a traditional IRA or pre-tax workplace plan once you reach age 73 (age 75 if born in 1960 or later). The RMD equals your prior December 31 balance divided by a life expectancy factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table - 26.5 at age 73, falling each year. RMDs are taxed as ordinary income, a missed RMD carries a 25 percent excise tax (10 percent if corrected timely), and Roth IRAs are exempt during the owner's lifetime.
- Formula: RMD = prior Dec 31 balance ÷ Uniform Lifetime Table factor for your age.
- Starting age 73 under SECURE 2.0 for those born 1951-1959; age 75 for those born 1960 or later (from 2033).
- Required beginning date: the first RMD is due by April 1 of the year after you turn 73; later RMDs by December 31.
- Roth IRAs have no lifetime RMD, and from 2024 neither do Roth 401(k)/403(b) accounts.
- The penalty is 25 percent of any RMD you fail to take, cut to 10 percent if corrected within two years.
- RMDs are ordinary income and can raise your bracket, Social Security taxation, and Medicare IRMAA.
- Aggregation: IRA RMDs combine and can come from one IRA; each 401(k) RMD must come from that plan.
- QCDs let an IRA owner satisfy the RMD tax-free, up to $108,000 in 2025 and $111,000 in 2026.
- Inherited accounts use the Single Life Table and the 10-year rule, not the Uniform Lifetime Table.
- Spouse 10+ years younger: the sole-beneficiary spouse exception uses the Joint Life Table for a smaller RMD.
What Required Minimum Distributions Are
A required minimum distribution (RMD) is the minimum amount the law forces you to withdraw each year from most tax-deferred retirement accounts once you reach a set age. The rule exists because traditional IRAs and pre-tax workplace plans let your money grow without tax for decades; the RMD ensures the government eventually collects income tax on those balances rather than letting them pass untaxed to heirs.
The governing statute is IRC §401(a)(9), and the detailed mechanics live in IRS Publication 590-B. The core idea is simple: each year you divide the account's value at the end of the prior year by a life expectancy factor published by the IRS, and the result is the smallest amount you must take. You can always take more, but taking less than the RMD triggers a stiff penalty.
Why RMDs Matter for Planning
RMDs are not just a compliance chore. Because they are taxable and grow as a percentage of the account each year, they can quietly push retirees into higher brackets, make more of their Social Security taxable, and raise Medicare premiums. Good planning - Roth conversions before 73, qualified charitable distributions, and careful withdrawal sequencing - starts years before the first RMD is due.
When RMDs Start (SECURE 2.0 Ages 73 and 75)
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 raised the RMD starting age in two steps. If you reach age 72 after December 31, 2022 - generally anyone born from 1951 through 1959 - your RMDs begin at age 73. If you were born in 1960 or later, the starting age is 75, which first takes effect in 2033. The earlier ages of 70 and a half and 72 still matter only for people who were already taking RMDs under the old rules.
| Birth year | RMD starting age | First RMD year |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 or earlier | 72 (or 70½ pre-2020) | Already begun |
| 1951 - 1959 | 73 | Year you turn 73 |
| 1960 or later | 75 | Year you turn 75 (2033+) |
The Required Beginning Date
Your required beginning date is April 1 of the year after the year you reach your starting age. That is the deadline for your very first RMD only. Every RMD after the first is due by December 31 of its year. The catch with delaying the first RMD to April 1 is that you then take two RMDs in the same calendar year - the delayed first one and the on-time second one - which can spike your taxable income. For most people, taking the first RMD in the year you turn 73 (rather than waiting until April 1) keeps income smoother.
The Still-Working Exception
If you are still employed at the company that sponsors your 401(k) or 403(b), and you do not own more than 5 percent of the business, you can usually delay RMDs from that specific plan until April 1 after you retire. This exception does not apply to IRAs, and it does not apply to plans from former employers.
How the RMD Is Calculated
The calculation has two inputs and one division. Take the account's fair market value on December 31 of the prior year, then divide by the life expectancy factor for your age from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table (Table III). The result is your RMD.
- Step 1 - Prior year-end balance. Use the December 31 value from the year before the distribution year. For a 2026 RMD, use the December 31, 2025 balance.
- Step 2 - Life expectancy factor. Look up your age in the Uniform Lifetime Table. The factor is 26.5 at 73 and falls every year.
- Step 3 - Divide. RMD = balance ÷ factor. A $500,000 balance at age 73 gives $500,000 / 26.5 = $18,868.
| Age | Factor | Age | Factor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 73 | 26.5 | 85 | 16.0 |
| 74 | 25.5 | 86 | 15.2 |
| 75 | 24.6 | 88 | 13.7 |
| 76 | 23.7 | 90 | 12.2 |
| 78 | 22.0 | 92 | 10.8 |
| 80 | 20.2 | 95 | 8.9 |
| 82 | 18.5 | 100 | 6.4 |
| 84 | 16.8 | 120+ | 2.0 |
Because the factor shrinks each year, the share of the account you must withdraw rises: about 3.77 percent at 73, roughly 5 percent at 80, and over 8 percent by 90. The RMD Calculator looks up the factor and does the division for any age and balance. The Uniform Lifetime Table covers most owners; the spouse-more-than-10-years-younger exception uses a different table (see below).
Which Accounts Require RMDs
RMDs apply to nearly every tax-deferred retirement account. The list includes traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, governmental 457(b) plans, and profit-sharing and other defined contribution plans. You compute an RMD for each account, but the rules on combining them differ in a way that traps the unwary.
- Traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs aggregate. Total the RMDs across all of them and take the combined amount from any one IRA.
- 403(b) accounts aggregate only with other 403(b) accounts, separately from IRAs.
- 401(k) and other employer plans do not aggregate. Each plan's RMD must be taken from that plan.
This matters because the 25 percent penalty applies to a shortfall in any single bucket. Pulling extra from an IRA does not cover a missed 401(k) RMD. If you have several account types, map each one before you decide where the cash comes from.
Roth Accounts and RMDs
Roth IRAs are the major exception to the RMD rules. During the original owner's lifetime, a Roth IRA has no required minimum distributions at all, so the owner can let the balance compound tax-free for as long as they live. This is one of the strongest reasons to consider Roth conversions before RMD age: money moved to a Roth is removed from the future RMD base entirely.
Designated Roth accounts inside workplace plans used to be treated less favorably, but SECURE 2.0 fixed that. Beginning in 2024, Roth 401(k) and Roth 403(b) accounts are no longer subject to lifetime RMDs, matching Roth IRA treatment. Before 2024, holders often rolled a Roth 401(k) to a Roth IRA specifically to avoid the RMD; that step is no longer necessary for the RMD reason, though rollovers can still make sense for other reasons.
Inherited Roth accounts are a different story. A beneficiary who inherits a Roth IRA generally must still take distributions - most non-spouse beneficiaries under the 10-year rule - even though those distributions are usually tax-free.
The 25 Percent Missed-RMD Penalty
Failing to take a full RMD is one of the more expensive mistakes in the tax code. The IRS imposes an excise tax under IRC §4974 equal to 25 percent of the amount you should have withdrawn but did not. SECURE 2.0 cut this from the old 50 percent rate, but 25 percent is still steep.
There is a meaningful escape hatch. If you correct the shortfall - take the missed amount - within a two-year correction window and file Form 5329, the penalty drops to 10 percent. Beyond that, the IRS has long had the authority to waive the penalty entirely for reasonable cause. To request a waiver, you take the missed distribution, file Form 5329, and attach a statement explaining why the RMD was missed and what you did to fix it. The IRS routinely grants these waivers for honest mistakes.
The practical lesson is to never simply ignore a missed RMD. Take the distribution as soon as you discover the error, file the form, and either pay the reduced penalty or request a waiver. Doing nothing is the only way to end up paying the full 25 percent.
Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs)
A qualified charitable distribution is the most tax-efficient way for a charitably inclined retiree to satisfy an RMD. An IRA owner who is at least 70 and a half can direct the IRA custodian to send money straight to a qualified charity. The amount counts toward the RMD but is excluded from gross income entirely.
The income exclusion is what makes a QCD powerful. A normal taxable RMD raises adjusted gross income, which can increase the taxable portion of Social Security, trigger Medicare IRMAA surcharges, and shrink other AGI-sensitive benefits. A QCD sidesteps all of that because the money never appears in income in the first place. For a retiree who takes the standard deduction, a QCD is almost always better than donating cash and trying to itemize.
- Annual limit: $108,000 per person in 2025, rising to $111,000 in 2026, indexed for inflation.
- Eligibility age: 70 and a half, which is younger than the RMD starting age, so QCDs can begin before RMDs do.
- Direct transfer required: the funds must go directly from the IRA to the charity; a check made out to you does not qualify.
- Eligible charities only: donor-advised funds and private foundations generally do not qualify.
Inherited Account RMDs
RMDs for inherited accounts follow a separate and more complex set of rules. Beneficiaries do not use the Uniform Lifetime Table; they use the Single Life Table (Table I) and, for most people who inherited after 2019, the 10-year rule introduced by the original SECURE Act.
The 10-Year Rule
Most non-spouse beneficiaries who inherit an IRA or workplace plan after 2019 must empty the account by the end of the tenth year after the owner's death. If the original owner had already begun RMDs before dying, the beneficiary must also take annual distributions in years one through nine, then clear the remainder by year ten. If the owner died before their required beginning date, only the year-ten deadline applies.
Eligible Designated Beneficiaries
Certain beneficiaries get more favorable treatment and can stretch distributions over their own life expectancy: a surviving spouse, a minor child of the owner (until majority, then the 10-year clock starts), a disabled or chronically ill person, and a beneficiary not more than 10 years younger than the owner. Surviving spouses have the most flexibility, including the option to treat the IRA as their own.
Tax Planning Around RMDs
The years between retirement and the first RMD are the prime planning window. Once RMDs begin, your taxable income has a rising floor you cannot avoid, so the goal is to shrink the future RMD base and smooth income before that floor kicks in.
- Roth conversions before 73. Converting traditional IRA dollars to a Roth in lower-income years pays tax now at a known rate and removes that money from the RMD base forever. The Roth Conversion Tax Calculator models the cost.
- Take the first RMD on time. Avoid stacking two RMDs into one year by skipping the April 1 deferral unless you have a specific income-timing reason.
- Use QCDs if you give. They satisfy the RMD without raising AGI, protecting Social Security taxation and Medicare premiums.
- Watch the IRMAA cliffs. Medicare Part B and D surcharges are based on AGI from two years earlier, so a large RMD or conversion can raise premiums later.
- Coordinate with Social Security. A large RMD can push more of your benefits into the taxable range; see the Social Security taxability guide.
Because every dollar of an RMD is ordinary income, the interplay with Social Security, Medicare, and your bracket is where the real money is made or lost. Modeling a few years ahead almost always beats reacting in April.
Want to see your exact RMD, the effective withdrawal rate, and the income tax it creates? Run your numbers in the calculator.
Open the RMD Calculator →Practitioner Insight (LMN Tax Inc.)
The single biggest RMD save happens before the first RMD is ever due. Clients in the gap between retiring and turning 73 often have unusually low taxable income, and that is the window to do Roth conversions at 12 or 22 percent rather than watching the balance grow into a forced 24 or 32 percent withdrawal a decade later. We map a multi-year conversion plan that fills up a target bracket each year and shrinks the future RMD base.
The first-year timing decision matters more than people expect. You can defer the very first RMD to April 1 of the following year, but that forces two RMDs into one calendar year, and the second one is based on a different year-end balance. We have seen clients accidentally trigger an IRMAA surcharge or push Social Security to the 85 percent taxable tier by stacking. Unless we are deliberately shifting income, we take the first RMD in the year the client turns 73.
Aggregation errors cause real penalties. A client with two old 401(k)s and three IRAs assumed one big withdrawal covered everything. It did not: the 401(k) RMDs each had to come from their own plan. We now build an account map for every RMD client showing exactly which bucket each dollar must come from, because a missed RMD in one account is a 25 percent excise tax even when the client over-withdrew elsewhere.
For charitable clients, the QCD is the first tool we reach for. Sending the RMD straight to charity keeps it out of AGI, which protects the taxable share of Social Security and avoids the two-year-lagged Medicare premium bump. Most of our charitable retirees take the standard deduction, so a QCD beats writing a check and itemizing nearly every time. We coordinate the QCD amount with the RMD so the required distribution is satisfied to the dollar.
Real-World Scenarios
When the General Rules Do Not Apply
- Spouse more than 10 years younger. A sole-beneficiary spouse more than 10 years younger means you use the Joint Life and Last Survivor Table, which gives a larger factor and a smaller RMD.
- Inherited accounts. Beneficiaries use the Single Life Table and usually the 10-year rule, not the Uniform Lifetime Table.
- After-tax basis. Nondeductible IRA contributions (Form 8606) make part of each distribution a tax-free return of basis, so the taxable amount is lower than the full RMD.
- Still-working exception. A non-5-percent owner still employed can often delay the current employer's 401(k) RMD until retirement; IRAs get no delay.
- Year-of-death RMD. If the owner dies before taking that year's RMD, the beneficiary must take the remaining amount that year.
- State income tax. Many states tax RMDs; some exempt retirement income. Check your state separately.
- Annuitized balances. An IRA fully annuitized into a lifetime income stream has its own RMD treatment and is not a simple balance-divided-by-factor calculation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What to Do Next
Use the RMD Calculator with your prior December 31 balance to get your first RMD, then decide whether to take it on time or by the April 1 deadline - and avoid accidentally stacking two RMDs into one year.
Use the gap years to shrink the future RMD base. Model a Roth conversion with the Roth Conversion Tax Calculator and read the Roth Conversion Tax Guide.
A large RMD can make more of your Social Security taxable. Check the effect with the Social Security Tax Calculator and the AGI & MAGI Calculator.
A qualified charitable distribution can satisfy the RMD tax-free. Confirm whether the standard deduction or itemizing is better with the Senior Standard Deduction Calculator before choosing how to give.
Related Tools and Guides
- IRC §401(a)(9) (Cornell LII) — Required Distributions — The statutory requirement that distributions begin by the required beginning date and the minimum-distribution computation.
- IRS Publication 590-B — Distributions from IRAs — Appendix B life expectancy tables (Uniform Lifetime Table III, Joint Life Table II, Single Life Table I) and the prior-Dec-31-balance method.
- IRS Retirement Topics — Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) — Starting age 73, the required beginning date, accounts subject to RMDs, the Roth IRA exemption, and the 25% / 10% excise tax.
- IRS RMD FAQs — The April 1 first-year rule, aggregation rules for IRAs versus employer plans, and the still-working exception.
- SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (Division T of P.L. 117-328) — Section 107 raised the RMD age to 73 (then 75 in 2033); Section 302 cut the missed-RMD excise tax to 25% (10% if corrected); Section 325 ended Roth 401(k) lifetime RMDs from 2024.
- IRS — Qualified Charitable Distributions — The QCD rules that let an IRA owner satisfy the RMD tax-free, the age 70½ eligibility, and the annual dollar limit.