RMD Calculator

The short answer

• RMDs start at 73 if you were born from 1951 to 1959, and at 75 if you were born in 1960 or later.
• Your RMD is last December 31’s balance divided by the factor for your age: 26.5 at 73, so about 3.8% of the balance.
• A $500,000 IRA at 73 has a first RMD of about $18,868.
• Miss it and the excise tax is 25% of the shortfall, cut to 10% if you correct it quickly.

What an RMD is

Traditional IRAs and 401(k)s let money grow without tax for decades, with tax paid only when it comes out. A required minimum distribution (RMD) is the IRS making sure it eventually does come out and gets taxed. Each year from your RMD age you must withdraw at least a set share of each account. You can always take more; the RMD is only the floor.

Roth IRAs have no RMDs for the original owner, and since 2024 neither do Roth 401(k)s. That is one reason people move money into Roth accounts before RMDs begin, which our Roth conversion calculator can price.

When RMDs start

The SECURE Act of 2019 and SECURE 2.0 of 2022 raised the starting age twice:

The year you reach that age is your first RMD year. Someone born in 1953 turned 73 in 2026, so 2026 is their first RMD year. Someone born in 1960 won’t take one until 2035.

How the RMD is worked out

Two numbers decide your RMD for 2026:

1. The account balance at the close of business on December 31, 2025.
2. The factor (the "distribution period") for the age you reach on your birthday in 2026, from the IRS table that applies to you.

Your age for the table is the age you reach in the calendar year, even if your birthday is on December 31. If you rolled money between accounts late in the year, the receiving account’s balance may need adjusting; your provider usually handles this.

The Uniform Lifetime Table

Most people use Table III, the Uniform Lifetime Table, from Publication 590-B. It was updated for 2022 to reflect longer lives, which made RMDs slightly smaller.

The share rises every year. By your 90s, the RMD is often more than the account earns, so the balance starts to fall even with good returns.

A spouse more than 10 years younger

If your spouse is the sole beneficiary of the account for the whole year and is more than 10 years younger, you use Table II, the Joint and Last Survivor table, instead. It is based on both your life expectancies, so the factor is larger and the RMD smaller.

At 75 with a 60-year-old spouse, a $500,000 IRA has an RMD of about $17,668 rather than $20,325. Where the spouse is 10 years younger or less, the Uniform table applies because it already assumes a beneficiary 10 years younger. The calculator picks the right table for you.

How RMDs change over time

At 5% a year the balance holds near $500,000 into the mid-80s while the RMD climbs, then falls as RMDs outpace growth: about $467,574 at 90 and $374,947 at 95. From 73 to 95 the RMDs add up to about $712,376, all taxed as income. With no growth at all, the RMD is largest in the first years and falls slowly: from $18,868 at 73 to $13,420 at 95.

Someone born in 1960 with $500,000 at 66 who lets it grow 5% a year until RMDs start would have about $775,664 at 75, and a first RMD of about $31,531.

Deadlines and the first-year option

1. Year you reach RMD ageFirst RMD year

   Can be taken in that year or delayed to April 1 of the next year.

2. April 1 of the next yearLast day for the first RMD

   If you wait, the second RMD is also due by December 31 of that year.

3. December 31 every year afterDeadline for each later RMD

   Based on the previous December 31 balance.

Which accounts, and from where

Consolidating old 401(k)s into one IRA makes RMDs simpler, since you then have one calculation and one withdrawal. A traditional IRA is also where most rollovers end up.

The still-working exception

If you are still employed at your RMD age and don’t own 5% or more of the company, most plans let you delay RMDs from your current employer’s 401(k) until April 1 after the year you retire. The exception doesn’t cover IRAs or plans from earlier jobs. Some people roll old 401(k)s and even IRAs into their current plan, if it accepts them, to use the exception.

If you miss an RMD

SECURE 2.0 cut the penalty from 50% to 25% of the amount not taken, and to 10% if you correct it within the correction window, generally by the end of the second year after the year it was due. Report it on Form 5329.

The IRS can waive the tax if the shortfall was due to a reasonable error and you are fixing it: take the missed amount, then file Form 5329 with a short explanation asking for the waiver.

How RMDs are taxed

RMDs from pre-tax money are ordinary income, taxed at your federal bracket rate and usually your state’s. If you made nondeductible IRA contributions, part of each withdrawal is a tax-free return of that basis (tracked on Form 8606). You can have federal tax withheld from the distribution, which is treated as paid evenly through the year, a useful way to cover tax on other income too.

With a $20,325 RMD and a 22% rate, the tax is about $4,472. Our federal income tax calculator shows how the RMD fits into your full return.

Knock-on effects on Social Security and Medicare

Because RMDs raise your income, they can make more of your Social Security taxable (up to 85% once provisional income is above $34,000 single or $44,000 joint) and push you over the Medicare IRMAA thresholds, which raise Part B and Part D premiums two years later. In 2026 the surcharges start above $109,000 of modified AGI ($218,000 joint). Our Social Security calculator shows the tax on your benefits.

Giving your RMD to charity

From age 70½, you can send money straight from an IRA to a qualified charity as a qualified charitable distribution (QCD). In 2026 the limit is $111,000 per person. A QCD counts toward your RMD but is left out of your income completely.

That is usually better than taking the RMD and deducting the gift: most retirees take the standard deduction, so the gift would give no tax benefit, and a lower income can also reduce tax on Social Security and Medicare premiums. The money must go directly from the IRA to the charity, not to a donor-advised fund.

Ways to lower future RMDs

• Roth conversions in the years between retiring and RMD age, filling up a low tax bracket each year.
• Spending traditional money first in your 60s while delaying Social Security, which also raises your guaranteed income.
• A QLAC (qualifying longevity annuity contract): money used to buy one is left out of the RMD balance until payments start, by 85 at the latest.
• QCDs if you give to charity anyway.

When in the year to take it

You can take the RMD in one amount or in pieces, at any time in the year. Taking it in December leaves the money invested longer, which the calculator assumes. Monthly withdrawals work like a paycheck. Either way, don’t leave it to the last week of December, when providers are busy. If you don’t need the money, you can reinvest it in a taxable account, or in a Roth IRA if you have earned income.

Inherited accounts

Inherited IRAs follow different rules. A surviving spouse can usually treat the IRA as their own. Most other beneficiaries must empty the account by the end of the 10th year after the death, and if the owner had already started RMDs, they must also take yearly RMDs during those years. Minor children, disabled or chronically ill beneficiaries and those not more than 10 years younger can stretch withdrawals over their life expectancy. The calculator covers your own accounts only.

Common mistakes

• Using the current balance instead of last December 31’s.
• Taking the total for several 401(k)s from just one of them.
• Forgetting a small old IRA or 403(b).
• Delaying the first RMD without planning for two in one year.
• Rolling an RMD over into another IRA; RMDs can’t be rolled over.
• Using the Joint Life table when the spouse isn’t the sole beneficiary.

Key numbers