Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) Calculator

Divide the account's balance on December 31 of last year by the distribution period in the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table for the age you reach this year. At age 75 the divisor is 24.6, so a $500,000 balance means an RMD of $20,325.20.

Under the SECURE 2.0 Act, RMDs start at age 73 if you were born 1951–1959, and 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. Earlier rules applied to older owners, whose RMDs have already begun: 70½ if you were born before July 1, 1949; 72 if you were born July 1, 1949 – December 31, 1950.

Your first RMD is due by April 1 of the year after you reach your RMD age. Every later RMD is due by December 31. If you delay the first one into April, you'll take two RMDs in that year, which can raise your taxable income and tax bracket.

You may owe a 25% excise tax on the amount you should have withdrawn but didn't. The rate falls to 10% if you take the missed amount and report the tax on Form 5329 within the correction window, generally by the end of the second year after the year of the shortfall. You can also ask the IRS to waive the tax if the shortfall was due to reasonable error and you are fixing it.

Traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, and workplace plans such as 401(k), 403(b), 457(b) and profit-sharing plans. Roth IRAs have no RMDs while the original owner is alive. Starting in 2024, Roth accounts inside 401(k) and 403(b) plans are also exempt during the owner's lifetime. Beneficiaries who inherit any of these accounts, including Roth accounts, do have to take distributions.

You must calculate the RMD for each IRA separately, but you can add the amounts together and withdraw the total from any one or more of your IRAs (traditional, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs count together). 403(b) contracts can be combined with each other the same way. RMDs from 401(k) and 457(b) plans must be taken separately from each plan, and IRA and workplace-plan RMDs can't be used to satisfy one another.

Often, for your current employer's plan. If the plan allows it, you can wait until April 1 of the year after you retire, unless you own more than 5% of the business. This exception doesn't apply to IRAs (including SEP and SIMPLE IRAs) or to plans from former employers, which follow the normal RMD age.

Yes. From age 70½, you can have your IRA custodian send money directly to an eligible charity as a qualified charitable distribution (QCD). A QCD counts toward your RMD and isn't included in your taxable income, up to an annual limit. It isn't available from 401(k)s or from an ongoing SEP or SIMPLE IRA.

Only if your spouse is the sole beneficiary of the account for the whole year and is more than 10 years younger than you. Then you use the IRS Joint and Last Survivor Table, which has longer distribution periods and gives a smaller RMD. In every other case, married or not, you use the Uniform Lifetime Table this calculator uses.

Yes. The RMD is only the minimum; you can take more at any time. But extra withdrawals don't count toward future years' RMDs, and the withdrawals are generally taxed as ordinary income.