Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs): Rules, Age, and How to Calculate Them

Key Takeaways

Required minimum distributions force withdrawals from most tax-deferred retirement accounts once you reach a certain age, turning the IRS's deferred tax bill into an annual collection event. SECURE 2.0 changed several of the most-cited RMD facts — including the starting age, the Roth 401(k) rules, and the penalty rate — so any guidance written before 2023 may be out of date. This guide covers the current rules as of 2026.

Direct answer: In 2026, RMDs begin at age 73 for most people. The annual distribution amount is calculated by dividing the prior year-end account balance by a life expectancy factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. RMDs apply to traditional IRAs, rollover IRAs, SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and 457(b) plans — but not to Roth IRAs (ever, during the owner's lifetime) or to Roth 401(k)s and Roth 403(b)s (as of 2024). Missing your RMD triggers a 25% excise tax on the amount not withdrawn, reducible to 10% if corrected within two years.

• The current RMD starting age is 73; a further increase to 75 takes effect in 2033 for those born in 1960 or later.
• The first RMD may be delayed until April 1 of the following year — but doing so means two RMDs in the same calendar year.
• Roth IRAs have no RMDs during the owner's lifetime; Roth 401(k)s and Roth 403(b)s are now RMD-free as well (starting 2024).
• Multiple IRA RMDs can be aggregated and taken from any one account; 401(k) plans cannot be aggregated with IRAs.
• Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) of up to $108,000 in 2026 satisfy RMDs without adding to taxable income — a significant advantage for charitable givers who take the standard deduction.

What Is an RMD and Why Does the IRS Require It?

A required minimum distribution is the minimum amount the IRS mandates you withdraw from certain tax-advantaged retirement accounts each year once you reach the applicable starting age. The mandatory nature of the withdrawal is the mechanism through which the government eventually collects income tax on money that was contributed and grew on a pre-tax basis.

The logic is straightforward: when you contribute to a traditional IRA or a pre-tax 401(k), you receive an upfront tax deduction (or simply don't pay tax on the contributed amount in the year it goes in), and the investments inside the account grow without being taxed each year. That deferral isn't a permanent exemption — the IRS expects to collect ordinary income tax on those funds eventually. Without a mandatory withdrawal rule, some account holders would leave their retirement funds invested and growing indefinitely, deferring the tax bill beyond their own lifetimes. RMDs prevent that by forcing taxable distributions to begin no later than a set age.

The result is that RMDs create annual taxable income regardless of whether you need the money. A retired person with substantial IRA balances who lives comfortably on other income streams still faces a minimum withdrawal obligation each year, and that withdrawal is added to their gross income — potentially affecting their marginal tax rate, Medicare premium surcharges (IRMAA), the taxability of Social Security benefits, and their eligibility for certain deductions or credits. Understanding the RMD rules in advance is therefore part of retirement tax planning, not just a compliance checklist item.

A note on SECURE 2.0

The SECURE 2.0 Act, signed into law on December 29, 2022, made sweeping changes to retirement account rules including several that affect RMDs directly. The most significant changes: the RMD starting age increased from 72 to 73 (effective for those who turn 72 after December 31, 2022); RMDs from designated Roth accounts in employer plans (Roth 401(k), Roth 403(b)) were eliminated starting in 2024; the penalty for a missed RMD was reduced from 50% to 25%, with a further reduction to 10% for shortfalls corrected within two years; and the RMD age is scheduled to increase further to 75 starting in 2033 for those born in 1960 or later. Any resource that cites an RMD starting age of 70½ or 72 is reflecting an earlier rule that no longer applies for most people in 2026.

Which Accounts Require RMDs?

Not all retirement accounts have RMDs, and SECURE 2.0 changed the rules for some account types that previously did. The distinction between which accounts are subject to mandatory distributions is one of the most important planning considerations in structuring retirement savings.

Accounts subject to RMDs

The Roth IRA exception explained

Roth IRAs stand apart from every other account type in this list because they never have RMDs during the original owner's lifetime. Contributions are made with after-tax dollars, and qualified withdrawals in retirement are tax-free — but more relevantly for RMDs, the IRS has no mechanism to enforce collection of deferred taxes through mandatory distributions because there are no deferred taxes to collect. The money has already been taxed.

This means a Roth IRA can continue compounding tax-free for as long as the original owner lives, with no government-imposed drawdown requirement. For people who do not need the money in retirement and want to pass tax-advantaged assets to heirs, a Roth IRA is therefore structurally superior to a traditional IRA from an estate planning standpoint — there is no forced liquidation, and heirs receive accounts with years or decades of accumulated tax-free growth. (Roth IRA beneficiaries do face their own distribution requirements after the original owner's death, governed by a separate set of rules.)

The Roth 401(k) change under SECURE 2.0

Before SECURE 2.0, designated Roth accounts inside employer plans — a Roth 401(k) or Roth 403(b) — were anomalously subject to RMDs during the original owner's lifetime even though a Roth IRA was not. The practical workaround was to roll the Roth 401(k) balance into a Roth IRA before reaching the RMD age, which eliminated the RMD obligation. SECURE 2.0 eliminated the inconsistency: starting in 2024, designated Roth accounts in employer plans are no longer subject to RMDs, bringing them fully in line with Roth IRAs on this point.

If you were previously rolling a Roth 401(k) into a Roth IRA specifically to avoid RMDs, that workaround is no longer necessary for the RMD reason — though other reasons to consolidate accounts may still apply.

The RMD Starting Age: Current Rules and Upcoming Changes

The age at which RMDs must begin has changed three times in recent decades and is scheduled to change again. Knowing which rule applies to you depends entirely on your birth year.

The current rule (2026): age 73

For anyone who turned 72 after December 31, 2022, the RMD starting age is 73. This is the rule that applies to the majority of people approaching retirement age in 2026. If you turned 73 in 2026, your first RMD is due by April 1, 2027 — or you can take it in 2026 to avoid stacking two RMDs in 2027.

The first RMD and the April 1 rule

The IRS gives you a one-time grace period for your very first RMD: instead of having to take it by December 31 of the year you turn 73, you may delay it until April 1 of the following year. This is sometimes described as a "grace period," but it comes with an important consequence — if you use it, you must take two RMDs in that next year: the delayed first RMD (due by April 1) and the current year's RMD (due by December 31). Both are taxable income in the same year, which can create a meaningful tax spike.

Whether to delay the first RMD or take it in the year you turn 73 is a tax planning question, not just a timing one. If your taxable income is unusually low in the year you turn 73 — say, because you retired mid-year — taking the RMD that year may be advantageous. If income is high and you expect a lower tax year to follow, delaying to April 1 might make sense, as long as you account for the double-RMD consequence. Neither choice is universally correct; the right answer depends on your specific income situation both years.

Upcoming change: age 75 in 2033

SECURE 2.0 set in motion a second age increase: the RMD starting age will increase from 73 to 75 for anyone born in 1960 or later, effective for the tax year 2033. Someone born in 1960 who would otherwise face their first RMD at age 73 in 2033 will instead have until age 75 — meaning their first RMD is deferred to 2035. People born before 1960 are not affected by the 2033 change; their starting age remains 73.

Historical context

For reference: before the original SECURE Act of 2019, the RMD starting age was 70½. The SECURE Act of 2019 raised it to 72. SECURE 2.0 (2022) raised it again to 73, with the 2033 increase to 75 baked in. Anyone who turned 70½ before January 1, 2020 was subject to the old 70½ rule and is already well into taking RMDs under whichever rule applied when they began.

How to Calculate Your RMD

The RMD calculation follows a consistent formula: the prior year-end account balance divided by a life expectancy factor from an IRS table. The result tells you the minimum you must withdraw from that account in the current year.

The formula

RMD = Prior year-end account balance ÷ Life expectancy factor

The "prior year-end account balance" is the fair market value of the account as of December 31 of the preceding year. For a 2026 RMD, that's the December 31, 2025 balance. Your account custodian (the IRA provider or 401(k) plan administrator) is required to report this value and, in many cases, will calculate your RMD for you — but understanding the method yourself is important both for verification and for planning.

The IRS Uniform Lifetime Table

Most account owners use the Uniform Lifetime Table, published in IRS Publication 590-B. This table provides a "distribution period" factor for each age, reflecting the IRS's approximation of joint life expectancy for you and a hypothetical beneficiary 10 years younger than you. A higher factor means a longer expected distribution period and thus a smaller RMD in any given year.

To use the table, find your age as of December 31 of the year the RMD is for, locate the corresponding distribution period factor, and divide your prior year-end account balance by that factor.

Worked example

Illustrative example — for education only.

Suppose a traditional IRA owner turns 75 in 2026. Their IRA balance on December 31, 2025 was $400,000. Using the Uniform Lifetime Table, the distribution period factor for age 75 is 24.6.

1. Prior year-end balance: $400,000
2. Life expectancy factor (age 75): 24.6
3. RMD: $400,000 ÷ 24.6 = $16,260 (rounded)

That $16,260 must be withdrawn from the IRA by December 31, 2026 (or, if this is the first RMD, by April 1, 2027). The full amount is ordinary taxable income in the year it's withdrawn — unless a portion is directed to charity as a QCD (see below).

The calculation resets every year: the next year, the prior year-end balance will be different (reflecting investment returns, any additional withdrawals, and contributions), and the life expectancy factor will decrease by approximately one, producing a gradually increasing RMD as a percentage of the account balance over time — which is the IRS's intended effect, since it eventually forces full distribution of the account.

Where to find the Uniform Lifetime Table

The current Uniform Lifetime Table is in Appendix B of IRS Publication 590-B (Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements). The IRS updated these tables in 2022 to reflect longer life expectancies, reducing RMD amounts compared to the previous tables. Always use the current version of Publication 590-B — older tables published before 2022 will produce incorrect (too large) RMD amounts.

The Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy Table

The Uniform Lifetime Table is the default for almost all IRA and employer-plan account owners. One exception applies: if your sole designated beneficiary for the entire year is your spouse, and your spouse is more than 10 years younger than you, you may use the Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy Table instead.

Why this table produces a lower RMD

The Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy Table bases the distribution period on the actual joint life expectancy of you and your specific spouse, rather than the hypothetical 10-years-younger beneficiary assumed in the Uniform Lifetime Table. When a spouse is substantially younger — say, 15 or 20 years younger — the combined life expectancy is longer, producing a larger distribution period factor, which in turn produces a smaller RMD for any given account balance. This is the IRS's recognition that a couple with a large age gap genuinely needs the money to last longer.

How to apply it

To use this table, locate the intersection of your age and your spouse's age as of their respective birthdays in the RMD year. The factor at that intersection replaces the Uniform Lifetime Table factor in your RMD calculation. The result is a lower minimum withdrawal — and correspondingly slower depletion of the account during your lifetime — though the remaining balance will eventually be subject to the beneficiary distribution rules when the account passes to your spouse.

This election applies only if your spouse is the sole primary beneficiary for the entire tax year. If a spouse is named beneficiary along with other beneficiaries, or if beneficiary designations changed during the year, you default back to the Uniform Lifetime Table.

The Still-Working Exception: Delaying 401(k) RMDs

Unlike IRAs, which always require distributions to begin at age 73 regardless of employment status, employer-plan RMDs have an exception for people who are still working: if you are still employed and participating in the plan — and you do not own 5% or more of the company sponsoring the plan — you may defer RMDs from that employer's plan until April 1 of the year following the year you retire from that employer.

Key limits and conditions

The still-working exception applies only to the plan at your current employer. Any 401(k) or 403(b) balances from a previous employer are not covered — those accounts must take RMDs once you reach age 73, regardless of your current employment status. The practical implication is that consolidating former-employer plans into your current employer's plan (if the plan allows incoming rollovers) can extend the still-working exception to those balances as well.

The 5%-or-more ownership restriction blocks the exception for business owners and heavily concentrated employees. If you own at least 5% of the business sponsoring the plan, RMDs begin at age 73 whether or not you continue working there — you cannot use your own employment status to defer your own plan's mandatory distributions.

This exception does not apply to IRAs at all. A self-employed person with a SEP-IRA or SIMPLE IRA, for example, cannot invoke the still-working exception even if they are still running their business. IRA distributions must begin at age 73.

Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs): The Tax-Efficient RMD Alternative

A Qualified Charitable Distribution allows IRA owners age 70½ or older to transfer money directly from an IRA to a qualifying charitable organization and exclude that amount from gross income — up to an annual limit of $108,000 in 2026 (the limit is adjusted for inflation). A QCD can satisfy your RMD for the year while producing a better tax outcome than taking the distribution as income and donating the after-tax proceeds separately.

Why a QCD is different from a regular withdrawal plus a charitable deduction

The standard alternative to a QCD — taking an IRA distribution and then writing a check to charity — only provides a tax benefit if you itemize deductions. Most retirees take the standard deduction, which means a charitable contribution they make with IRA withdrawal funds produces no offsetting tax deduction: they pay full income tax on the withdrawal and lose the charitable deduction entirely. A QCD sidesteps this by excluding the transferred amount from income in the first place. The money never shows up in gross income, so there is no deduction needed — and no income to tax.

The income-exclusion benefit is also meaningful in reducing adjusted gross income (AGI) rather than just taxable income. A lower AGI reduces Medicare premium surcharges (IRMAA), reduces the percentage of Social Security benefits subject to taxation, and affects income-based phaseouts for various deductions and credits. These second-order effects make QCDs significantly more valuable than a back-of-the-envelope comparison to a straight charitable deduction suggests.

QCD mechanics and requirements

• The account holder must be at least age 70½ at the time of the distribution — not just in the calendar year, but actually at or past that age on the distribution date.
• The transfer must go directly from the IRA to the charity — the account holder cannot take the distribution personally and then donate it. The check must be made payable to the charity, or the transfer must be wired directly.
• The receiving organization must be a qualifying public charity under IRC Section 501(c)(3). Donor-advised funds, private foundations, and supporting organizations do not qualify for QCDs.
• The 2026 annual QCD limit is $108,000 per taxpayer. Married couples may each do a QCD up to the limit from their respective IRAs (not a combined limit).
• QCDs may only be made from IRAs (traditional, rollover, SEP, SIMPLE). They cannot be made directly from 401(k) or 403(b) accounts — a rollover to a traditional IRA first would be required if using employer plan assets.
• A QCD cannot exceed the amount that would otherwise be includible in gross income — contributions made after age 70½ (in limited circumstances) reduce the QCD benefit on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

One-time QCD to a split-interest entity

SECURE 2.0 introduced a new option: a one-time QCD of up to $53,000 (in 2026, inflation-adjusted) to a charitable remainder unitrust, charitable remainder annuity trust, or charitable gift annuity. This is a more complex planning tool that provides ongoing income to the donor in exchange for an eventual gift to charity; the income stream makes it structurally different from a direct charitable transfer and it counts against the overall $108,000 annual limit. This is typically a decision made with professional estate planning guidance rather than a routine RMD strategy.

Multiple Account Aggregation Rules

When you own multiple retirement accounts of the same type, the rules for how you may satisfy the combined RMD obligation differ by account type — and getting this wrong produces either undertaking (triggering the penalty) or unnecessary complexity.

IRA aggregation: calculate separately, take from any

If you own multiple traditional IRAs (including rollover IRAs, SEP-IRAs, and SIMPLE IRAs), the IRS requires you to calculate the RMD separately for each account using that account's December 31 prior-year balance. However, once you know the total combined RMD across all those accounts, you may satisfy the entire obligation by withdrawing the total amount from any one account or any combination of accounts — you are not required to take a separate distribution from each individual IRA.

This flexibility is useful for managing which accounts you draw down in what order, and can be helpful in simplifying account administration or in coordinating distributions with other income. For example, if you have three traditional IRAs, you can take the entire combined RMD from the one with the most favorable distribution terms, leaving the other two entirely untouched for that year.

403(b) plans: a similar aggregation option

Multiple 403(b) accounts have a comparable aggregation option: you calculate the RMD for each 403(b) plan separately, but the combined total may be taken from any one or more of your 403(b) accounts. This is the one exception among employer plans where cross-account aggregation is permitted — it applies only to 403(b)-to-403(b), not across different plan types.

401(k) and other employer plans: no aggregation

401(k) plans and 457(b) governmental plans do not have this flexibility. Each plan must take its own RMD independently, calculated from that plan's specific prior year-end balance. You cannot satisfy a 401(k) RMD by taking extra from an IRA, from a different employer's 401(k), or from any other source — the distribution must come from within that specific plan. Similarly, you cannot use a 403(b) distribution to satisfy a 401(k) RMD, or vice versa.

This means someone who has balances in multiple former-employer 401(k) plans must track and take separate RMDs from each. One way to simplify this is to consolidate old 401(k) accounts into a single IRA through a rollover, after which the aggregation rules for IRAs apply and the combined distribution can be taken from any single account. The tradeoff is losing any plan-specific protections (like enhanced creditor protection in certain states) that the 401(k) provided — and you should confirm you have already triggered the RMD starting age before rolling former-employer accounts into an IRA to avoid triggering a distribution you didn't intend.

The Penalty for Missing an RMD

Failing to take your full RMD by the applicable deadline — December 31 for all RMDs except the first, which can go to April 1 of the following year — triggers a federal excise tax. Under the current rules (post-SECURE 2.0), that tax is 25% of the amount that was not withdrawn.

The corrected penalty: 10% if fixed within two years

SECURE 2.0 created a "correction window": if you identify the shortfall and take the missed distribution within two years of the end of the year in which it was due, the excise tax drops from 25% to 10%. This is a meaningful reduction — particularly for missed RMDs that are discovered and corrected promptly. The correction involves taking the missed distribution and filing IRS Form 5329 to report the shortfall and pay the reduced penalty.

Worked penalty example

Illustrative example — for education only.

Suppose a traditional IRA owner was required to take a $12,000 RMD by December 31, 2026, but forgot and took nothing. The 25% penalty on the $12,000 shortfall is $3,000. If the mistake is discovered and corrected by December 31, 2028 (within two years), the 10% corrected penalty applies instead: $1,200. In either case, the $12,000 distribution is also ordinary taxable income in the year it's actually taken.

IRS waiver for certain errors

The IRS has historically been willing to waive the RMD penalty — previously 50%, now 25% — when the failure was due to reasonable error and reasonable steps are being taken to remedy it. The process involves taking the missed distribution, filing Form 5329, and attaching an explanation. The correction window established by SECURE 2.0 formalized and simplified a version of this relief, but the IRS's broader waiver authority still exists for situations outside the two-year window or involving especially compelling circumstances. Filing Form 5329 is required whether you are paying the penalty or seeking a waiver.

State taxes

RMD distributions are subject to federal income tax as ordinary income. Most states that tax income also tax IRA and retirement plan distributions, though some states exempt retirement income entirely. The federal excise tax for a missed RMD is separate from — and in addition to — ordinary income taxes owed on the eventual distribution when it is taken.

Inherited IRA RMDs: A Brief Overview

When you inherit an IRA from someone other than your spouse, an entirely different set of RMD rules applies — rules that changed significantly with the original SECURE Act (2019) and were further clarified by IRS regulations issued in 2024. The detailed treatment of inherited IRA distribution rules — the 10-year rule, eligible designated beneficiary exceptions, the spouse election to treat as own, and required annual distributions within the 10-year window — is a topic substantial enough to warrant its own guide.

The short version: most non-spouse beneficiaries who inherited IRAs after December 31, 2019 are subject to a 10-year rule requiring the entire inherited account balance to be distributed by the end of the 10th year after the original owner's death. Under IRS regulations finalized in 2024, non-spouse beneficiaries who inherited from an owner who had already begun taking RMDs must also take annual RMDs during the 10-year period (though the exact interpretation of this rule generated years of IRS guidance and transition relief). The rules for spouse beneficiaries, minor children, disabled or chronically ill individuals, and beneficiaries within 10 years of the decedent's age are different from the standard 10-year rule and in some cases more favorable.

If you have inherited a retirement account — whether recently or years ago — the applicable rules depend on when the original owner died, your relationship to the owner, and whether the owner had begun taking RMDs. Confirm the specific rules that apply to your inherited account with IRS Publication 590-B or a qualified tax adviser.

Misconceptions Versus Reality

Common Mistakes When Managing RMDs

Several RMD errors recur consistently in practice, and most of them share a root cause: acting on outdated information or applying a rule to an account type where it doesn't belong.

Delaying the first RMD without accounting for the double-distribution consequence. The option to take your first RMD as late as April 1 of the following year seems like free time, but it forces two RMDs into the same tax year: the delayed first one (April 1 deadline) and the current year's RMD (December 31 deadline). For someone in a marginal bracket where two RMDs push them into a higher rate, trigger IRMAA surcharges, or increase the taxable portion of their Social Security income, this can be meaningfully worse than simply taking the first RMD on schedule. The decision should be modeled before defaulting to the delay.

Forgetting accounts at multiple institutions. Each traditional IRA at each custodian has its own December 31 balance and contributes to your combined RMD calculation. It's easy to overlook an old rollover IRA sitting at a former employer's record keeper or a small IRA opened years ago. While the aggregation rules let you take the combined IRA RMD from any single account, you still must include all IRAs in the total calculation — omitting one produces an underpayment subject to the excise tax.

Treating QCD transfers incorrectly. A QCD must go directly from the IRA to the charity — the account holder cannot take a personal distribution and then write a check to the charity and expect QCD treatment. The check must be made payable to the qualifying charity (not to you), and the transaction must be coded as a direct charitable transfer by the IRA custodian. Taking the money personally first and donating it afterward removes the income-exclusion benefit and converts the strategy into a regular distribution with a potentially unavailable deduction.

Conflating IRA and employer-plan aggregation rules. The rule that lets you take multiple IRA RMDs from any one IRA account does not extend to 401(k) plans or across different account types. Someone who learns about IRA aggregation and assumes it applies to their old 401(k) alongside their IRA will be short on the 401(k) RMD. The aggregation rules are type-specific: IRAs aggregate with IRAs, 403(b)s aggregate with 403(b)s, and 401(k)s do not aggregate with anything except within the same specific plan.

Risks, Limitations, and Exceptions

• This guide reflects RMD rules as of 2026. Future legislation or IRS regulatory guidance may change amounts, ages, penalties, or calculation methods — verify current rules with IRS Publication 590-B, IRS.gov, or a qualified tax professional before making distribution decisions.
• The 2033 increase in the RMD starting age from 73 to 75 applies only to individuals born in 1960 or later; those born before 1960 are not affected.
• State income tax treatment of RMD distributions varies significantly — some states exempt all or most retirement income, while others tax it in full. Check your state's rules separately.
• RMDs from inherited accounts are governed by a completely different set of rules from owner RMDs, and those rules changed substantially under the SECURE Act (2019) and subsequent IRS guidance. Do not apply the rules in this guide to inherited accounts without verification.
• The QCD limit of $108,000 in 2026 is adjusted for inflation in future years — verify the current annual limit before planning a QCD strategy.
• IRA custodians and plan administrators often calculate and report your RMD to you, but the legal obligation to ensure the correct amount is distributed rests with you, not the custodian. Relying entirely on a custodian's calculation without independent verification is a common source of errors, particularly if account balances changed significantly near year-end.
• None of this guide constitutes personalized tax, legal, or financial planning advice. RMD strategies — including QCDs, the first-RMD timing decision, Roth conversions to reduce future RMDs, and inherited account rules — often benefit from professional guidance given their interaction with a person's broader tax situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources and Methodology

This guide describes required minimum distribution rules applicable to U.S. retirement account holders under federal tax law, as of mid-2026. Key sources include:

• IRS Publication 590-B (Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements): The primary IRS reference for IRA RMD calculation methods, life expectancy tables, QCD rules, and penalty provisions. The current (updated 2022) Uniform Lifetime Table reflected in this guide is contained in Appendix B of Publication 590-B.
• SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (Division T of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023): The source of the RMD age increase from 72 to 73, the 2033 increase to 75, the elimination of Roth employer plan RMDs, and the reduction of the excise tax from 50% to 25% (with the 10% correction-window option) described throughout this guide.
• IRS Notice 2023-75 and IRS final regulations on inherited IRA RMDs (2024): These provided clarification on the inherited IRA annual distribution requirements referenced briefly in this guide's section on inherited accounts.
• IRS Form 5329 instructions: The procedural basis for correcting a missed RMD and requesting penalty waiver or reduction.

This content was reviewed by the Swoopr Editorial Team in August 2026 and reflects publicly available information at that time. Tax rules change; verify current RMD amounts, age thresholds, penalty rates, and QCD limits directly with IRS.gov or a qualified tax professional before relying on any specific figure for distribution planning.

Conclusion

Required minimum distributions are the IRS's mechanism for eventually collecting taxes on the deferred growth inside tax-advantaged retirement accounts. The rules are more nuanced than they appear: the starting age is now 73 for most people (with a further increase to 75 coming in 2033), the calculation resets every year based on a life expectancy factor that shrinks over time, and the aggregation rules differ by account type in ways that catch people off guard. Roth IRAs are exempt entirely during the owner's lifetime, Roth employer plan accounts joined them in exemption starting in 2024, and QCDs offer a potentially tax-superior path for the charitable portion of any mandatory distribution. The penalty for missing an RMD is significant — 25%, reducible to 10% if corrected promptly — but the greater risk for most people is simply not understanding which accounts are subject to RMDs, when they must begin, and how to calculate the correct amount each year. Getting those basics right is the foundation of managing retirement income tax efficiently.

Related Reading

• Account Types & Trading Access — the parent hub for this content group, covering the full range of investment account types and their tax treatment.
• Inherited IRA Rules — detailed coverage of the 10-year rule, eligible designated beneficiary exceptions, and annual distribution requirements for inherited accounts.
• Roth vs. Traditional IRA — how the two IRA types differ on contributions, deductibility, withdrawals, and lifetime RMD obligations.