Age 75 RMD Rules: Deadlines, Calculations, and Penalties

Under the age 75 RMD rules, if you were born in 1960 or later you must begin required minimum distributions from your tax-deferred retirement accounts in the year you turn 75, with the first withdrawal due no later than April 1 of the following year. The rule comes from the SECURE 2.0 Act, which pushed the starting age up from 73 for this younger group. Miss the deadline and the IRS charges an excise tax of up to 25% of whatever you should have taken out.

Who the Age 75 Start Date Applies To

SECURE 2.0 split retirees into two groups by birth year, not calendar year:

Born 1960 or later: RMDs begin at age 75. The earliest anyone in this group will owe a distribution is 2035, when those born in 1960 turn 75.
Born 1951 through 1959: RMDs begin at age 73.

The statute defines an “applicable age” for each group. For anyone who reaches age 74 after December 31, 2032, that applicable age is 75.¹

One boundary worth naming: if you turned 70½ before 2020, none of the newer thresholds apply to you. The old 70½ rule from before the original SECURE Act still governs your account.

When Your First Distribution Is Due

Your required beginning date is April 1 of the year after you turn 75. Every RMD after that first one is due by December 31 of its own year.²

The April 1 grace period sounds helpful, but it sets a trap. If you delay your first RMD into the following calendar year, your second RMD is still due by December 31 of that same year. Two taxable distributions land in one tax year.³

Stacking two years of distributions into one return can push you into a higher tax bracket, raise your Medicare premiums two years later through the income-related surcharge (IRMAA), and cut into income-based benefits. Most people are better off taking the first RMD by December 31 of the year they turn 75 and spreading the taxable income across two years.

Which Accounts Are Covered

RMDs apply to nearly every tax-deferred retirement account: traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, 457(b)s, and profit-sharing plans.³

Roth IRAs have no lifetime RMD requirement. Neither do Roth 401(k)s or Roth 403(b)s any longer. SECURE 2.0 eliminated the employer-Roth RMD requirement starting in 2024, aligning those accounts with Roth IRAs.³

Aggregating Multiple Accounts

If you hold several traditional IRAs, you calculate an RMD for each one but can withdraw the total from whichever IRA or combination you choose.⁴

Employer plans work differently. Each 401(k) or 457(b) needs its own separate withdrawal. You cannot cover a 401(k) RMD by pulling extra from an IRA or from a different employer’s plan.³

If You’re Still Working

Still employed at 75 and participating in your current employer’s plan? You can delay RMDs from that plan until the year you actually retire. The delay applies only to that one plan. IRAs and old 401(k)s from previous employers still follow the standard schedule.³

One exclusion: if you own more than 5% of the business sponsoring the plan, this delay is off the table. You take RMDs based on age regardless of whether you keep working.¹

How to Calculate the Amount

Divide your account balance from December 31 of the prior year by a life expectancy factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table.³ The factor for age 75 is 24.6. Nearby ages, from Publication 590-B:⁴

Age 75: 24.6
Age 76: 23.7
Age 77: 22.9
Age 78: 22.0

So if your combined traditional IRA balance was $500,000 on the prior December 31 and you turn 75 in the distribution year, your RMD is $500,000 ÷ 24.6 = $20,325. The factor drops each year, meaning your required withdrawal grows even if your balance holds steady.

A separate table, the Joint Life and Last Survivor Table, applies only when your sole beneficiary is a spouse more than 10 years younger than you. That table produces a larger divisor and a smaller RMD.⁴

The RMD is a floor, not a ceiling. You can always take more, and some retirees pull larger amounts in lower-income years to smooth their long-term tax bracket.

The Penalty for Missing an RMD

Fail to withdraw the full RMD by the deadline and the IRS charges a 25% excise tax on the shortfall.⁵ That’s on top of the regular income tax when you eventually take the money. A $20,000 missed RMD carries a $5,000 penalty before income tax enters the picture.

The penalty drops to 10% if you correct the shortfall within a two-year window by taking the missed distribution and filing the appropriate return showing the reduced tax.⁵ Before SECURE 2.0, the penalty ran to 50%, so today’s rates are more forgiving. Still steep.

Report the shortfall on IRS Form 5329 (Additional Taxes on Qualified Plans), filed with your federal return for the year you missed the distribution. The IRS can waive the penalty entirely if the failure resulted from a reasonable error, such as a serious illness, a custodian’s processing delay, or confusion after an account transfer. Attach a letter to Form 5329 explaining what happened and how you corrected it.⁶

The IRS is generally reasonable when a shortfall is clearly unintentional and promptly fixed. Real trouble usually comes from not knowing a distribution was missed at all, which happens most often with inherited IRAs or forgotten accounts at former employers. A calendar reminder each fall, plus confirmation from your custodian before mid-December, is cheap insurance.

Ways to Reduce the Tax Impact

A qualified charitable distribution (QCD) lets you send money directly from your IRA to a qualifying charity. The transferred amount counts toward your RMD and stays out of your taxable income. The 2026 cap is $111,000 per person.⁷

QCD eligibility starts at age 70½, not 75. If you’re in the age 75 group, you can begin using QCDs years before your RMDs actually start, shrinking your IRA balance (and future required distributions) along the way. The transfer must go directly from custodian to charity. If the money passes through your hands first, it does not qualify.⁸

QCDs work only from traditional IRAs (and inactive SEP or SIMPLE IRAs). They cannot come from a 401(k) or other employer plan. SECURE 2.0 also created a one-time option to direct up to $55,000 in 2026 from an IRA to a charitable remainder trust or charitable gift annuity, available once in your lifetime.⁷

Because a QCD never touches your adjusted gross income, it can keep you below thresholds that trigger Medicare Part B and Part D surcharges (IRMAA), which use income from two years prior to set your premiums.⁹ A standard charitable deduction on Schedule A does not do that. For anyone approaching 75 with substantial IRA balances, timing your first distribution and using QCDs where they fit are the two moves that most reliably reduce the total tax cost of RMDs.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 401 – Qualified Pension, Profit-Sharing, and Stock Bonus Plans
2
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)
3
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 4974 – Excise Tax on Certain Accumulations in Qualified Retirement Plans
6
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5329 (2025)
7
Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs, as Adjusted for Changes in Cost-of-Living
8
Internal Revenue Service. Important Charitable Giving Reminders for Taxpayers
9
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 2026 Medicare Parts A and B Premiums and Deductibles