RMD Calculator
Compute your annual Required Minimum Distribution from Traditional IRA/401(k) using the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. SECURE Act 2.0 ages built in. Free.
RMD Calculator
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Compute the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) from your Traditional IRA, 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b) using the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. SECURE Act 2.0 RMD ages built in (born 1950 or earlier: 72; 1951-1959: 73; 1960+: 75). Roth IRAs have no RMDs during owner's lifetime.
| Age | Year-start balance | Factor | RMD |
|---|
How to Use the RMD Calculator
Get your prior year-end balance
Sum the December 31 balances from all your Traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and 457(b) plans. RMDs are calculated separately for each plan type but IRA RMDs can be aggregated and taken from any one IRA. Look at your year-end statement from each provider.
Enter your birth year
SECURE Act 2.0 sets your first-RMD age based on birth year. Born ≤1950: RMD at 72. Born 1951-1959: RMD at 73. Born 1960+: RMD at 75. The tool blocks the calculation if you're not yet RMD-required and explains why.
Read the RMD amount
The big number is your required withdrawal for the current calendar year. You can take it in one lump sum (year-end is most common) or split it across the year. Withholding income tax is optional but recommended — the RMD is fully taxable as ordinary income.
Plan the 10-year projection
The table below projects the next ten years at your assumed return. As your divisor shrinks, the RMD percentage grows — by age 90 you're withdrawing ~8% per year. Compare to your assumed return to see if your balance grows or shrinks over time.
RMD — The IRS's Schedule for Draining Tax-Deferred Accounts
Why RMDs Exist
Tax-deferred retirement accounts (Traditional IRA, 401(k), 403(b), 457(b)) let you grow money tax-free for decades, but the IRS wants its share eventually. Required Minimum Distributions force you to start taking taxable withdrawals at a specified age, calculated by dividing your prior-year-end balance by a life-expectancy factor from the Uniform Lifetime Table (IRS Pub 590-B Appendix B). The factor is 27.4 at age 72 and 26.5 at age 73 (1/26.5 = 3.77% withdrawal) and shrinks each year — by age 95 you're at 8.9, requiring an 11.2% annual withdrawal, and the table runs to a factor of 2.0 at 120 and over. The math is designed to drain the account over your statistical remaining lifetime.
SECURE Act 2.0 (December 2022) raised the RMD start age twice: to 73 for people who reach 72 after 2022, and to 75 for people who reach 74 after 2032. The result is a three-tier schedule: born 1950 or earlier: RMD at 72; born 1951-1959: RMD at 73; born 1960+: RMD at 75. The excise tax for missing an RMD is now 25% of the shortfall, reduced to 10% if it is corrected within the IRS's correction window, which runs to the end of the second year after the year it was due at the latest (Pub 590-B).
How RMDs Stack with Other Income
RMDs are fully taxable as ordinary income, stacked on top of Social Security, pension, and any work or investment income. A large RMD can move a retiree into a higher bracket, raise the share of Social Security that is taxed, and raise Medicare income-related premiums. That is why many people look at Roth conversions in the years before RMDs begin.
Three tactical responses: (1) Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) — a direct transfer from an IRA to charity, up to USD 108,000 for 2025 (Pub 590-B), counts toward your RMD but isn't taxable income. (2) Roth conversions in lower-bracket years 60-72 to shrink the eventual Traditional balance. (3) Single Premium Immediate Annuity (SPIA) inside the IRA — converts a chunk to a lifetime income stream that satisfies RMDs automatically but reduces flexibility.
"At age 73 the RMD is 3.77% of the balance. At 80 it's 4.95%, at 90 8.2%, at 100 15.6%, and from 120 on, half of what is left every year." — IRS Publication 590-B (2025), Table III
Roth Accounts and the Inherited-RMD Trap
Roth IRAs have no RMDs during the original owner's lifetime — a major estate-planning advantage. Designated Roth accounts in a 401(k) or 403(b) have no lifetime RMDs either (IRS RMD FAQs). However, inherited Roth IRAs DO require distributions (10-year rule for non-spouse beneficiaries post-SECURE Act 2019). Eligible designated beneficiaries (a surviving spouse, a minor child of the owner, a disabled or chronically ill person, or someone not more than 10 years younger than the owner) have additional options. The penalty for a missed inherited RMD is the same 25%/10% as for one's own RMD.
The Years Before RMDs Begin
The years between retirement and the RMD start age (73 for most people retiring now, 75 for anyone born in 1960 or later) are often a lower-income stretch: no salary, and no RMDs yet. Some retirees use them for Roth conversions, paying tax on part of the Traditional balance at today's rate so that less is subject to RMDs later. Whether that pays depends on your brackets now and later, your heirs, and state tax, so it is a question for a tax adviser with your numbers, not a rule of thumb.
Miss one and the excise tax is 25%, or 10% if corrected in time
RMD start age per SECURE 2.0: 72 (born ≤1950), 73 (1951-1959), 75 (1960+).
First RMD deadline: April 1 of the year AFTER turning RMD age. Subsequent RMDs: December 31 each year.
RMDs are calculated using the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table (Pub 590-B Appendix B). Factor 27.4 at 72, 26.5 at 73, 24.6 at 75 and 2.0 at 120 and over.
The missed-RMD excise tax: 25% of the shortfall, reduced to 10% if corrected within the IRS correction window.
Roth IRAs have no RMDs during the original owner's lifetime, and neither do designated Roth 401(k) or 403(b) accounts.
QCDs: up to USD 108,000 for 2025, direct from an IRA to charity, count toward the RMD and are not taxable income.
Still working at 73+? If you have a 401(k) at your current employer, you can delay RMDs from THAT plan until retirement (not from IRAs).
IRA RMDs can be aggregated and taken from any single IRA. 401(k) RMDs must come from EACH 401(k) separately.
Inherited Traditional IRAs follow the 10-year drawdown rule (SECURE Act 2019). Non-spouse beneficiaries must fully distribute within 10 years.
RMDs are taxed as ordinary income, so a large one can raise your bracket, the taxed share of Social Security and Medicare income-related premiums.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Per SECURE Act 2.0: birth year ≤1950 → RMD at age 72; 1951-1959 → age 73; 1960 or later → age 75. The first RMD can be deferred to April 1 of the year following the year you reach RMD age, but the second is still due by December 31 of that same year, so you would take two RMDs in one tax year.
- The IRS charges a 25% excise tax on the amount not distributed. It falls to 10% if you take the missed amount and file a return reflecting the tax within the correction window. If the shortfall was due to reasonable error and you are fixing it, you can ask for the tax to be waived on Form 5329 with a statement of explanation (Pub 590-B).
- Traditional IRA, Rollover IRA, SEP-IRA, SIMPLE IRA, Traditional 401(k), 403(b), 457(b) — all have RMDs at the SECURE 2.0 age. Roth IRA: NO RMDs during owner's lifetime. Roth 401(k) and 403(b) (designated Roth accounts): no RMDs while the owner is alive. Inherited IRAs (Traditional OR Roth): different rules — typically full distribution within 10 years for non-spouse beneficiaries (SECURE 2019).
- Partially. If you have a 401(k) at your CURRENT employer and you're not a 5%+ owner of that business, you can defer RMDs from THAT plan until you retire. This is the "still-working exception". It does NOT apply to IRAs, prior-employer 401(k)s, or to 5%+ business owners. Many older workers consolidate prior 401(k)s into the current employer plan specifically to leverage this rule.
- Qualified Charitable Distribution: a direct transfer from your IRA to a qualified charity (up to USD 108,000 for 2025 per Pub 590-B; the limit is indexed each year) that counts toward your RMD but is excluded from taxable income. For retirees who tithe or give regularly, a QCD is essentially "free" — you'd have given anyway, and now the donation also reduces your taxable income AND your IRMAA exposure. Must be a direct IRA-to-charity transfer; check writing to charity from IRA doesn't qualify.
- Three main moves: (1) Roth conversions in your 60s and early 70s — convert Traditional dollars to Roth at your current marginal rate, shrinking the balance subject to future RMDs. (2) Tax-loss harvesting in taxable accounts to offset RMD-driven income. (3) QCD strategy for charitable givers (see above). All three work best when started well before RMDs begin. After RMDs start, the tactical levers are mostly limited to QCDs and bracket-aware withdrawal timing.
- Yes — the RMD is a MINIMUM, not a maximum. You can take any amount above it as additional taxable distribution. Many retirees take exactly the RMD to minimize current-year tax; others take larger withdrawals to fund spending or to manage future-year RMDs proactively. The withdrawn amount above the RMD doesn't reduce next year's RMD calculation directly (it reduces the balance, which reduces next year's RMD slightly), but it doesn't get any special treatment beyond that.
- You use the IRS Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy Table (Table II) instead of the Uniform Lifetime Table. Factors are higher (longer joint life expectancy), meaning smaller RMDs. The spouse must be the sole beneficiary AND more than 10 years younger to qualify. This is the most common situation where the standard Uniform Lifetime Table doesn't apply — significantly reduces RMDs for couples with a large age gap.
- Fully as ordinary income at your federal + state marginal rate. They stack on top of all other income, so an RMD on top of Social Security and a pension can push part of your income into a higher bracket. They count toward AGI, which can raise the taxed share of Social Security and Medicare income-related premiums. The QCD strategy is the single most effective way to satisfy the RMD without raising taxable income for retirees who give to charity.
- Inherited IRAs are subject to the 10-year drawdown rule for non-spouse beneficiaries regardless of citizenship. US distributions to non-resident aliens are subject to US withholding, which a tax treaty may reduce; the rate depends on your country. You may owe additional tax in your home country on the gross distribution; foreign tax credits often offset most or all of the US withholding. Consult a cross-border CPA before the first distribution.
Method & sources
How it computes
RMD = prior 31 December balance / Uniform Lifetime factor for this year's age (IRS Pub 590-B 2025, Appendix B Table III, ages 72 to 120+). Applicable age: 73 if born 1951-1959, 75 if born 1960 or later (26 U.S.C. 401(a)(9)(C)(v); 1959 per the IRS proposed regulations of July 2024). Projection at the reader's assumed return. USTaxKernel.rmd, tested.
What this tool implements
- Bug fixed: Table III stopped at 100 and every older age reused 6.4, so the RMD was understated from age 101 (6.0) to 120 and over (2.0). The factor line read 27.4 at age 73; Table III gives 27.4 at 72 and 26.5 at 73, so the quoted 3.65% at 73 is 3.77%.
- Corrected against Pub 590-B (2025): the QCD limit read USD 105,000 'in 2026'; Pub 590-B gives USD 108,000 for 2025. The missed-RMD excise tax is 25%, 10% within the correction window, with a waiver on Form 5329 for reasonable error. Designated Roth 401(k)/403(b) accounts have no lifetime RMDs (IRS RMD FAQs).
- The 22% tax estimate is now the reader's own rate. Removed as unsourced: the 4% safe-withdrawal comparison, IRMAA USD 1,000-4,000, Roth-conversion savings of USD 30-50K, treaty withholding of 15-25%. The page now warns that a sole-beneficiary spouse more than 10 years younger uses Table II.
Sources
- Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs): required beginning date, excise tax, QCD limit, Appendix B Table III (Uniform Lifetime). https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590b.pdf
- Internal Revenue Service. Retirement plan and IRA required minimum distributions FAQs (designated Roth accounts, aggregation, first-year deadline). https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/retirement-plan-and-ira-requ…
- 26 U.S.C. 401(a)(9)(C)(v) (applicable age) and 401(a)(9)(E)(ii) (eligible designated beneficiary), via Cornell Legal Information Institute. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/401
- Department of the Treasury, IRS. Required Minimum Distributions, proposed regulations, 89 FR 58644 (19 July 2024): applicable age 73 for those born in 1959. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/07/19/2024-14543/r…
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