How does this RMD calculator work?
Enter your account balance as of December 31 of last year, your birth year, the distribution year, and an estimated rate of growth. The calculator matches your age in the distribution year to the correct factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table, divides your balance by that factor to show your required minimum distribution, and projects future RMDs forward using your growth assumption. It also applies the SECURE 2.0 starting ages of 73 and 75 depending on your birth year.
What will my RMD actually be?
Your required minimum distribution equals your retirement account balance at the end of the prior year, divided by an age-based factor the IRS publishes. A 74-year-old with $450,000 sitting in a Traditional IRA would use a Uniform Lifetime Table factor of 25.5, putting the RMD at roughly $17,647 for the year ($450,000 divided by 25.5). Under current law, RMDs start at age 73 for most people. Plug your own balance and age into the calculator above for an exact figure, then keep reading for the rules, the tables, and how RMDs fit into a broader tax plan.
How to use this RMD calculator
- Enter your balance. Use your tax-deferred account's value as of December 31 of the year before, which is the number the IRS formula is built on.
- Enter your age. Provide the age you will turn during the distribution year, and the tool automatically pulls the matching Uniform Lifetime Table factor.
- Check your result. Dividing your balance by that factor gives you the smallest withdrawal that keeps you clear of the IRS penalty for the year.
Consider Diane, age 74, opening her first retirement account statement of the year. Her Traditional IRA holds $450,000 and she has no other tax-deferred money. She types in $450,000 and her age, the tool matches the 25.5 factor for 74-year-olds, and it returns an RMD of about $17,647.
Diane's budget does not actually need all of that cash. Her plan is to satisfy the IRS in full, then redirect a portion into a MYGA sitting in a non-qualified account, letting the money she was forced to pull out keep earning a locked, guaranteed rate. She is separately weighing a Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract for a future tax year, since that structure can pull a slice of IRA money out of the RMD math entirely until she reaches her mid-eighties.
Before committing to any of it, Diane runs the tax impact by a professional first, since the government treats every withdrawn dollar as ordinary taxable income for that year.
Which accounts trigger an RMD?
Required withdrawal schedules do not touch every retirement account, but they do reach most of the tax-deferred ones, and coming up short on the required amount triggers a steep IRS penalty.
Traditional IRAs are the account type most people picture. They let you defer paycheck income from taxation until later, and in exchange the IRS requires withdrawals to begin once you reach the applicable age.
SEP and SIMPLE IRAs follow the identical RMD schedule as a Traditional IRA. Even though these are built for self-employed savers and small-business staff, the distribution requirement does not change.
Workplace plans, including 403(b), 457(b) and 401(k) accounts, are also on the hook for minimum distributions. There is one carve-out: staying employed past 73 without owning more than 5% of the company lets you postpone RMDs from that specific employer's plan until you actually retire.
Anyone hunting for guaranteed income from these accounts can consider a Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuity, which locks in a fixed rate while still satisfying the distribution rule.
Which accounts are RMD-free?
Roth IRAs carry no RMD obligation for as long as the original owner is alive. Since the contributions were already taxed going in, the IRS has no reason to force withdrawals on any timetable, and the balance can keep compounding tax-free indefinitely.
Roth 401(k) accounts lost their RMD requirement starting in 2024 under SECURE Act 2.0. Before that change, holders needed to roll the balance into a Roth IRA or take distributions to sidestep the rule. That extra step is now unnecessary.
Health Savings Accounts are likewise exempt. Money parked in an HSA remains available for qualified medical costs with no forced withdrawal timeline whatsoever.
What exactly counts as a required minimum distribution?
A required minimum distribution is the smallest sum the IRS forces you to pull from a tax-deferred retirement account each year, starting once you cross a specific age. The rule exists to stop retirement savings from compounding tax-deferred forever.
Take a concrete case. Walter, 76, holds $380,000 in a Traditional IRA as of the prior December 31. To find his RMD he takes that balance and divides it by the age-76 Uniform Lifetime Table factor, which is 23.7.
The math: $380,000 divided by 23.7 comes out to $16,034.
Every RMD dollar counts as ordinary income in the year it comes out, which can quietly bump you into a higher bracket, raise your Medicare premiums, or make more of your Social Security taxable. Getting ahead of those thresholds with a deliberate income strategy can save real money. Our Roth conversion calculator is worth running to see whether moving some IRA dollars into a Roth before RMDs begin makes sense in your situation.
What age do RMDs kick in?
SECURE Act 2.0 ties your starting age to the year you were born:
- Born in 1950 or earlier: RMDs already started at age 72
- Born 1951 through 1959: RMDs start at age 73
- Born in 1960 or later: RMDs start at age 75, beginning in 2033
The deadline for your very first RMD stretches to April 1 of the following year, once you have reached your applicable age. From there, every subsequent RMD must come out by December 31 instead. Wait until that spring deadline for your opening distribution and you will end up owing two RMDs within the same calendar year, a combination that can push you into a noticeably bigger tax bill than spacing them out would.
For instance, someone who turned 73 during 2025 has an April 1, 2026 deadline for their first RMD, with the second one due by December 31, 2026. Both would land on the same tax return.
RMDs handle the back end of tax-deferred withdrawals. On the front end, the rule to know is the age 59 and a half threshold that governs early-withdrawal penalties.
What is the penalty for missing an RMD?
Skip an RMD and you face a 25% excise tax on the shortfall, the difference between what you should have withdrawn and what you actually took. That is already an improvement: before 2023 the penalty sat at a punishing 50%, and SECURE Act 2.0 cut it down.
There is a further break available. Fix the mistake within two years, meaning you withdraw the missed amount and file an amended return, and the penalty drops to just 10%.
Run the numbers on a $25,000 missed RMD. The 25% penalty would cost $6,250, while catching the error in time brings that down to $2,500. Either figure is money worth avoiding, so use the calculator above every year to confirm your exact number.
A missed RMD usually traces back to something mundane rather than a deliberate choice: a spouse who managed the accounts passes away, a custodian's automatic distribution program has a glitch, or someone simply forgets a smaller old 401(k) from a job they left years ago. If that happens, correct it as soon as you catch it and file IRS Form 5329 to request the reduced penalty or a full waiver, since the IRS can excuse the excise tax entirely when the shortfall was a reasonable error and you are actively fixing it.
The RMD formula, step by step
The formula behind all of this is short:
RMD = Prior December 31 account balance / IRS life expectancy factor
The IRS keeps three separate life expectancy tables in circulation, though nearly everyone uses the Uniform Lifetime Table. Switching to a different table only makes sense when your sole beneficiary is your spouse and the age gap between you runs past a decade.
Here is a full walkthrough. Howard turned 72 and his Traditional IRA sat at $300,000 at year end. The Uniform Lifetime Table lists a distribution period of 27.4 for age 72, so his RMD for the following year comes to $300,000 / 27.4 = $10,949.
Suppose Howard also carries a 401(k) worth $150,000. That account owes its own separate RMD: $150,000 / 27.4 = $5,474. IRA balances can be combined and the total pulled from whichever IRA you choose, but employer plans do not get that flexibility. Each one must satisfy its own RMD individually.
A lot of retirees redirect RMD proceeds straight into guaranteed income. Our immediate annuity calculator shows how a lump sum like that could translate into a monthly payment instead.
Married couples with a meaningful age gap should also check whether the standard table applies to them. If your spouse is your sole beneficiary and is more than 10 years younger, the IRS uses a different table, the Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy Table, which stretches the divisor out and lowers the required withdrawal compared to the Uniform Lifetime Table most people use. That difference can add up meaningfully over a decade of distributions, so it is worth confirming which table actually applies to your situation before assuming the standard factor is correct.
Where can the money go after you withdraw it?
You cannot put an RMD back into the same tax-deferred account, but there are several productive places for it once it is out.
A taxable brokerage account. Income tax was already paid on the withdrawal itself, so whatever it earns from that point forward gets the more favorable capital gains treatment instead of being taxed as ordinary income.
A Roth conversion, done separately. You cannot convert the RMD dollars themselves into a Roth, but nothing stops you from taking the RMD and then converting additional IRA funds into a Roth the same year. That accelerates today's tax bill in exchange for eliminating future RMDs on whatever gets converted.
A new annuity purchase. Funding a MYGA or fixed annuity in a non-qualified account with RMD proceeds turns money you were forced to withdraw into new guaranteed growth.
A Qualified Charitable Distribution. Once you hit 70 and a half, you can send as much as $111,000 a year (the 2026 limit, adjusted for inflation) straight from your IRA to a qualified charity. That transfer counts toward your RMD without being added to your taxable income.
For anyone charitably inclined, a QCD is often the single most tax-efficient way to satisfy an RMD, since the money never touches your adjusted gross income at all. That matters beyond just your federal bracket, because a lower AGI can also help keep Medicare IRMAA surcharges and the taxable share of Social Security benefits in check, two thresholds that a large ordinary-income RMD can otherwise push you across.
See the full lineup of retirement and annuity calculators for more tools, and check the IRS Required Minimum Distributions page or IRS Publication 590-B for the official tables and rules.
Frequently asked questions
Am I allowed to withdraw more than my required minimum?
Yes, the RMD figure is only a floor, not a ceiling. You are free to take out as much as you like beyond it, and the entire withdrawal counts as ordinary income either way. Withdrawing extra this year will not shrink next year's requirement, because each year's RMD is recalculated fresh from the prior December 31 balance and that year's own age factor.
Do inherited IRAs carry their own RMD rules?
Yes, though the details hinge on your relationship to the original owner and when you inherited the account. Under the SECURE Act, most non-spouse heirs who inherited after 2019 must drain the account within a 10-year window. A surviving spouse has more flexibility and can generally treat the IRA as their own, following the standard distribution rules that would have applied to them anyway.
What happens if I own several IRAs at once?
Each Traditional IRA needs its own RMD calculated separately, using that account's own year-end balance. Once that is done, the IRS lets you combine the totals and pull the full amount from a single IRA, or split it across several, whichever suits your situation. Workplace plans do not offer this shortcut. A 401(k) or similar employer plan requires its RMD to come out of that specific plan.
Can annuity payments inside an IRA count toward my RMD?
They can, as long as the payments you receive meet or exceed the minimum amount required for that account. A number of retirees deliberately annuitize part of an IRA for exactly this reason, turning a chunk of the balance into an income stream that automatically satisfies the distribution rule going forward. Compare that approach against ordinary scheduled withdrawals using our other retirement calculators.
When did the RMD starting age move from 72 to 73?
The SECURE Act 2.0, enacted in December 2022, pushed the starting age up from 72 to 73 beginning January 1, 2023, and it steps up again to 75 in 2033. Anyone who had already turned 72 in 2022 or earlier remained under the prior rule and kept taking distributions on the original schedule.
Sources
Educational only, not investment, tax or legal advice. Tax Free Wealth Plan LLC is a licensed insurance agency, not a registered investment adviser or broker-dealer. Annuities are not bank deposits, are not FDIC insured and are not guaranteed by any government agency. Guarantees are backed solely by the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. Features, rates and availability vary by state and change over time; the contract and disclosure documents govern.