RMD Calculator: Required Minimum Distributions by Age

A required minimum distribution (RMD) is the smallest amount you must withdraw each year from a traditional IRA, 401(k), 403(b) or similar pre-tax account once you reach your RMD age. Enter your birth year and last year's ending balance, and the calculator finds your IRS factor, your RMD and its deadline, the tax it adds, and the RMDs ahead.

The short answer: your RMD for a year equals the account balance on December 31 of the previous year divided by the factor for your age on your birthday this year. Most people use the Uniform Lifetime Table, where the factor is 26.5 at age 73 and 24.6 at age 75. IRS Publication 590-B works the example of a $100,000 balance at age 75: $100,000 ÷ 24.6 = $4,065 (Pub. 590-B). RMDs start at 73 if you were born from 1951 through 1959 and at 75 if you were born in 1960 or later.

The calculator is for informational purposes only, and its results are estimates. Your custodian or plan administrator reports the official figure, and the factors, deadlines and exceptions below come from the IRS rules they follow.

How is an RMD calculated?

The method is set by the regulations under 26 U.S.C. §401(a)(9) and summarized in Publication 590-B and the IRS RMD FAQs. For each account:

1. Take the balance on December 31 of last year. For your 2026 RMD that is the value at the close of 2025. A rollover that was in transit on that date (out of one account and not yet in the next) is added to the receiving IRA's balance.
2. Find your age for the year. Use the age you reach on your birthday in the distribution year, even if your birthday is in December.
3. Look up the factor. Use the Uniform Lifetime Table, unless your spouse is the sole beneficiary for the whole year and more than 10 years younger than you. In that case, use the Joint and Last Survivor Table. Both are in 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9 and Appendix B of Pub. 590-B.
4. Divide. The result is that account's RMD for the year. You can take more, but the extra doesn't count toward future years.

The calculator follows these steps. It flags the first RMD year, tracks what you have already withdrawn, and estimates the federal tax using your filing status and other income.

When do RMDs start?

The starting age, which the law calls the applicable age, depends on your birth year. It was raised by SECURE 2.0. The statute sets it at 73 for anyone who reaches 72 after 2022 and 73 before 2033, and at 75 for anyone who reaches 74 after 2032 (§401(a)(9)(C)(v)). People born in 1959 technically fit both clauses. The IRS's 2024 proposed regulations resolve this at 73 (89 FR 58644), and the calculator uses 73.

The first RMD is for the year you reach your RMD age, and the law lets you wait until April 1 of the next year to take it. That date is your required beginning date. Every later RMD is due by December 31 of its own year (Pub. 590-B). Anyone born before 1951 is already past the start and takes an RMD every year.

Uniform Lifetime Table: RMD factors by age

This is the IRS table most account owners use (26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9(c)). The share column is 1 ÷ factor: the part of last year's ending balance that you must withdraw.

The table continues to age 120 and older, where the factor is 2.0. These factors were published in 85 FR 72472 and apply to distribution years from 2022 on. The required share rises every year, so RMDs often grow even when the balance is flat.

What if your spouse is more than 10 years younger?

If your spouse is the sole beneficiary of the account and more than 10 years younger, you use the Joint and Last Survivor Table instead. You look up the factor where your age and your spouse's age (both as of your birthdays this year) meet. Because it covers two lifetimes, its factors are larger and the RMD is smaller.

Pub. 590-B's example: a $100,000 IRA, an owner who turns 75 and a spouse who turns 64 (11 years younger). The joint factor is 25.3, so the RMD is $100,000 ÷ 25.3 = $3,953 instead of $4,065.

The gap grows with the age difference. With $500,000 at 75 and a spouse who turns 60, the joint factor is 28.3. That gives $500,000 ÷ 28.3 = $17,667.84, compared with $500,000 ÷ 24.6 = $20,325.20 on the Uniform table, which is $2,657.36 less to withdraw.

Two details matter. Marital status is set on January 1: if your spouse was the beneficiary on that date, the joint table still applies for that year after your spouse's death, or after a divorce unless you also change the beneficiary designation that same year. And a spouse exactly 10 years younger stays on the Uniform table, because the test is "more than 10 years."

Should you take your first RMD by December 31 or April 1?

Waiting until April 1 delays the tax by a year, but it puts two RMDs into the same tax year. The second RMD is figured on the December 31 balance, and that balance still includes the money you didn't take yet. A distribution for last year made after December 31 doesn't reduce last year's balance (Pub. 590-B).

Worked example: born in 1953, $500,000 in a traditional IRA on December 31, 2025, single, $40,000 of other taxable income each year, and a 5% return.

• 2026 RMD (first year): $500,000 ÷ 26.5 = $18,867.92.
• Take it in 2026. The balance at the end of 2026 is $500,000 × 1.05 − $18,867.92 = $506,132.08, so the 2027 RMD is $506,132.08 ÷ 25.5 = $19,848.32.
• Wait until April 1, 2027. The balance at the end of 2026 is $525,000, so the 2027 RMD is $525,000 ÷ 25.5 = $20,588.24. In 2027 you take $18,867.92 + $20,588.24 = $39,456.16.

At 2026 rates (standard deduction $16,100 + $2,050 for age 65+ + the $6,000 senior deduction), the federal tax works out like this:

Waiting costs $638.23 more. Part of the doubled income lands in the 22% bracket, and the extra income also shrinks the senior deduction (6% of income over $75,000). The calculator runs this comparison whenever the year you enter is your first RMD year.

Waiting can still make sense in some cases. One is when your income will drop sharply next year, for example when this year still includes a final salary. Another is when the second RMD would still fit inside your current bracket.

Which accounts have RMDs, and can you combine them?

Source: IRS RMD FAQs, questions 2 and 5. IRA and 401(k) RMDs never mix. An extra withdrawal from your IRA does not satisfy a 401(k)'s RMD, and the reverse is also true.

The still-working exception

For a workplace plan, the required beginning date is April 1 after the later of the year you reach your RMD age or the year you retire. The exception is an owner of more than 5% of the business sponsoring the plan (§401(a)(9)(C)). Plans may offer this delay but don't have to. It never applies to IRAs, including SEP and SIMPLE IRAs funded by the same employer. In the calculator, choose the workplace plan account type to see the "still working" and "retired this year" options. The year you retire becomes your first RMD year for that plan, with the same April 1 option.

Qualified charitable distributions and RMDs

From age 70½, you can have your IRA trustee pay a charity directly. A qualified charitable distribution (QCD) counts toward your RMD, and up to $111,000 per person for 2026 ($108,000 for 2025) is left out of your income (IRS Notice 2025-67; Pub. 590-B has the rules; the limit is indexed under §408(d)(8)(G)). A QCD can't come from an ongoing SEP or SIMPLE IRA, the money must go straight from the IRA to the charity, and you get no charitable deduction for it.

Because a QCD keeps the money out of adjusted gross income, it can also lower the taxable part of your Social Security and the income used for Medicare premiums. A deduction can't do that. Enter your QCDs in the calculator: they reduce what you still have to withdraw and the taxable part of the RMD.

What happens if you miss an RMD?

The shortfall (the RMD minus what you took) is subject to an excise tax of 25%. It drops to 10% if you take the missed amount and file a return reporting the tax within the correction window (26 U.S.C. §4974). The window ends at the earliest of three dates: a notice of deficiency, the IRS assessing the tax, or the last day of the second tax year after the year of the shortfall. You report the tax on Form 5329.

The IRS can waive the tax if the shortfall came from reasonable error and you are taking steps to fix it. You request the waiver with a statement on Form 5329.

Example: a $10,000 RMD with only $4,000 taken leaves a $6,000 shortfall. The excise tax is $6,000 × 25% = $1,500, or $6,000 × 10% = $600 if corrected in time. The calculator shows both figures whenever the amount you entered as withdrawn falls short.

Inputs explained

• Account type: Roth accounts return "no RMD." A workplace plan unlocks the still-working options.
• RMD for year: the distribution year, which sets your age, the deadline and the tax brackets. For a year whose brackets the IRS hasn't published yet, the latest published brackets are used and labeled.
• Birth year and spouse's birth year: ages are the ages reached in the distribution year, as the tables require. Fill in the spouse only if they are the sole beneficiary.
• December 31 balance: use the year-end statement value for that one account. If you have several IRAs, you can add their balances together, because the factor is the same and IRA RMDs can be totaled.
• Already withdrawn and QCDs: these show how much is left before the deadline.
• Other taxable income and filing status: the tax estimate stacks the RMD on top of your pensions, interest, wages and the taxable part of Social Security. It applies the standard deduction, the age-65 add-on and the senior deduction. It doesn't recompute how much of your Social Security becomes taxable. For that, use the taxable Social Security calculator.
• Return and years: the projection assumes each RMD is taken at year end and the balance earns a steady return.

Three more worked examples

Married, born 1950, $800,000 IRA, 2026. Age 76, factor 23.7: $800,000 ÷ 23.7 = $33,755.27. With $70,000 of other income, filing jointly, both spouses 65+, the deduction is $32,200 + 2 × $1,650 + 2 × $6,000 = $47,500. Taxable income rises from $22,500 to $56,255.27, and federal tax rises from $2,250 to $6,254.63. The RMD adds about $4,005.

Same household, $10,000 paid as a QCD. The taxable part of the RMD drops to $23,755.27, and taxable income drops to $46,255.27. The tax is $2,480 + ($46,255.27 − $24,800) × 12% = $5,054.63, which is $1,200 less, the full 12% on the $10,000.

Projection, $100,000 at 75 with a 5% return. The RMDs are $4,065.04 (2026), $4,258.86 (2027), $4,442.05 (2028), $4,653.04 (2029) and $4,873.57 (2030). The balance still grows slightly, because 5% is more than the 4.07%–4.74% share withdrawn at these ages. Around age 81, when the share passes 5%, the balance starts shrinking at that return.

Edge cases the calculator doesn't cover

• Inherited IRAs and 401(k)s. Beneficiaries follow different rules (the 10-year rule, the Single Life Table and spousal options). This calculator covers the original owner only.
• Annuitized accounts. Payments from an annuity contract follow separate rules in 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-6.
• Year of death. If the owner dies after their required beginning date without taking that year's RMD, the beneficiary must take it.
• Roth conversions in RMD years. You can't convert or roll over an RMD. Take the year's RMD first, then convert. The Roth conversion calculator shows what converting before RMDs start would save.
• State tax. Most states tax RMDs like other IRA withdrawals. A few exclude some or all retirement income.

Related calculators and guides

For a withdrawal larger than the RMD, or for one before 59½, the IRA withdrawal tax calculator adds the early-withdrawal penalty and state tax, and the guide to IRA withdrawal tax rules and penalties explains the exceptions. RMDs raise your MAGI, which drives Medicare premium surcharges and the senior deduction. Check both with the MAGI calculator and the senior deduction calculator. The retirement income tax hub brings together the other pieces, including the Social Security COLA calculator.