Free RMD calculator. Get your 2026 required minimum distribution amount by age and IRA balance. SECURE 2.0 rules, penalties, and withdrawal tips.
A Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) is the amount the IRS forces you to withdraw from your tax-deferred retirement accounts each year starting at age 73. Under the SECURE 2.0 Act, the RMD age is 73 for anyone born between 1951 and 1959, and rises to 75 for those born in 1960 or later. If you turned 73 in 2026, your first RMD must be taken by April 1, 2027, with every subsequent RMD due by December 31 of each year.
The formula is straightforward: RMD = Prior-Year-End Account Balance ÷ IRS Uniform Lifetime Table Distribution Period. A 73-year-old with $500,000 in a Traditional IRA on December 31, 2025 would owe $500,000 ÷ 26.5 = $18,868 in RMDs for 2026.
RMDs apply to Traditional IRAs, SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and governmental 457(b) plans. They do not apply to Roth IRAs during the owner's lifetime, and beginning in 2024, Roth 401(k)s were also exempted from lifetime RMDs — a major change that makes the Roth vs. Traditional decision even more significant for high-balance savers.
The IRS publishes the Uniform Lifetime Table (used by most retirees whose spouse is not more than 10 years younger) to determine your distribution period. Here are the key divisors for 2026:
| Age | Distribution Period | RMD on $500K | RMD on $1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| 73 | 26.5 | $18,868 | $37,736 |
| 74 | 25.5 | $19,608 | $39,216 |
| 75 | 24.6 | $20,325 | $40,650 |
| 76 | 23.7 | $21,097 | $42,194 |
| 77 | 22.9 | $21,834 | $43,668 |
| 78 | 22.0 | $22,727 | $45,455 |
| 79 | 21.1 | $23,697 | $47,393 |
| 80 | 20.2 | $24,752 | $49,505 |
| 81 | 19.4 | $25,773 | $51,546 |
| 82 | 18.5 | $27,027 | $54,054 |
| 83 | 17.7 | $28,249 | $56,497 |
| 84 | 16.8 | $29,762 | $59,524 |
| 85 | 16.0 | $31,250 | $62,500 |
| 90 | 12.2 | $40,984 | $81,967 |
| 95 | 8.9 | $56,180 | $112,360 |
Notice how the percentage you must withdraw climbs each year: at 73 you withdraw about 3.77% of your balance, at 85 it's 6.25%, and by 95 it's 11.24%. This is by design — the IRS built the table so your tax-deferred accounts deplete over your expected lifetime.
Carol Weston is 74 on December 31, 2026. On December 31, 2025, her retirement accounts looked like this:
Carol's 2026 RMD calculation:
Carol's RMD is taxed as ordinary income at her marginal rate. If her combined household income puts her in the 22% federal bracket, she'll owe roughly $7,247 in federal tax on the distribution, plus any state tax.
This is the single most commonly missed rule: you cannot mix-and-match across account types.
Getting the aggregation rules wrong is the leading cause of RMD penalties — not forgetting the RMD entirely.
Before 2023, missing an RMD triggered a 50% excise tax on the shortfall. SECURE 2.0 reduced this to 25%, and further reduced it to 10% if you correct the mistake within two years by withdrawing the missed amount and filing Form 5329.
Example: If Carol had skipped her $32,941 RMD, she would owe $8,235 in penalty tax (25%) on top of the regular income tax. If she caught it within two years and self-corrected, the penalty drops to $3,294 (10%). The IRS will also frequently waive the penalty entirely if you file Form 5329 with a "reasonable cause" explanation and take the distribution promptly.
If you're charitably inclined and age 70½ or older, a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) lets you send up to $108,000 (2026 limit, indexed annually) directly from your IRA to a qualified charity. The QCD counts toward your RMD but is excluded from your taxable income entirely.
This is vastly better than withdrawing the RMD and then donating: a direct QCD avoids raising your AGI, which means it can reduce Medicare IRMAA surcharges, Social Security taxation, and the phase-out of deductions. For retirees who itemize only marginally or take the standard deduction, QCDs are often the single best tax move available after 70½.
The decade between retirement (often 60-65) and your RMD start year is prime planning territory. Three strategies dominate:
If you retire at 63 and delay Social Security until 70, you have a 7-10 year window of potentially low taxable income. Converting Traditional IRA balances to Roth during those years at 12% or 22% rates can shrink your future RMDs dramatically. Our Roth vs. Traditional comparison walks through the conversion math.
Withdrawing from Traditional IRAs in your 60s — even if you don't need the cash — fills lower tax brackets and reduces the balance subject to future RMDs. Many retirees in the 12% bracket during their 60s will face 22-24% rates once RMDs and Social Security stack together.
Place high-growth assets (stock index funds) in Roth accounts where no RMD forces them out, and place bonds or slower-growth holdings in Traditional accounts. This way, your Traditional IRA grows more slowly and produces smaller forced distributions, while your Roth compounds aggressively tax-free.
Inherited IRA rules changed dramatically after the SECURE Act (2020). Most non-spouse beneficiaries must now drain the entire inherited IRA within 10 years of the original owner's death. If the decedent was already taking RMDs, annual RMDs are also required during those 10 years under Final Regulations issued in 2024.
Spouses have more flexibility — they can treat the inherited IRA as their own, rolling it into their existing IRA and using their own age for RMD calculations. Eligible Designated Beneficiaries (minor children of the deceased, disabled or chronically ill individuals, and beneficiaries less than 10 years younger than the decedent) can still use life expectancy distributions.
Every major brokerage now calculates your RMD automatically and will set up automatic distributions on a schedule you choose (monthly, quarterly, or one annual lump). Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab, and E*TRADE all offer RMD dashboards inside the retirement accounts section of their platforms. Still, verify the numbers yourself using the formula above — brokerages occasionally miss inherited account aggregation or use incorrect birthdates.
If you're still building toward retirement rather than withdrawing, use our capital gains tax calculator to model taxable account strategies, or the home affordability calculator to plan housing expenses that coordinate with RMD-driven cash flow.
For your current employer's 401(k), the "still-working exception" lets you delay RMDs until you actually retire — but only if you own less than 5% of the company. This exception does NOT apply to IRAs, SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, or 401(k)s from former employers. Those RMDs must start at 73 regardless of your work status.
You can't roll it back into a retirement account, but you can absolutely move the after-tax proceeds into a taxable brokerage account, a Roth IRA if you have earned income (up to the contribution limit), or a 529 plan for grandchildren. The RMD requirement is about distributing from the tax-deferred account — not about spending the money.
25% of the shortfall under current law (reduced from 50% by SECURE 2.0), dropping to 10% if you self-correct within two years. File Form 5329 with your tax return to report and calculate the penalty — or to request a waiver if you missed the RMD for reasonable cause and have since corrected it. The IRS routinely grants waivers for first-time, promptly-corrected mistakes.
No — as of 2024, Roth 401(k) and Roth 403(b) accounts are exempt from lifetime RMDs, matching the treatment Roth IRAs have always received. This was one of the most important changes in SECURE 2.0. You still need to avoid confusion with inherited Roth 401(k)s, which do require distributions under the 10-year rule.
Yes. You can transfer shares directly from your IRA to a taxable brokerage account at their current market value, and that transfer counts toward your RMD. The shares get a new cost basis equal to the transfer value, and you owe ordinary income tax on that amount. This is useful when you don't want to sell positions during a market downturn — the shares leave the IRA but stay invested.
If you were born in 1960 or later, your RMD age is 75, not 73. Anyone born between 1951 and 1959 uses age 73. Anyone born in 1950 or earlier uses the prior rules (age 72 or 70½ depending on birth year). Double-check your birth year against the table — miscalculating the start age is the most expensive mistake in retirement planning because the compounding effect of delayed RMDs over a decade can be substantial.
By Ziv Shay — Last updated April 2026
Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Required Minimum Distribution rules are complex and interact with your specific tax situation, account types, and beneficiary elections. Consult a qualified financial advisor or tax professional before making withdrawal decisions.
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