Are IRA Distributions Taxable After Age 70? RMDs and Roth Rules

Yes, IRA distributions are generally taxable after age 70, but the answer depends on which type of IRA you have. Every dollar you withdraw from a traditional IRA counts as ordinary income in the year you take it, regardless of your age. Qualified Roth IRA withdrawals, by contrast, come out completely tax-free. Turning 70 doesn’t unlock any tax break; instead, at age 73 federal law requires you to start taking a minimum amount out of your traditional IRA each year, and those required withdrawals are fully taxable.

How Traditional IRA Withdrawals Are Taxed

Traditional IRA distributions are taxed at your regular marginal income tax rate, not the lower long-term capital gains rate that applies to investments held in a taxable brokerage account.¹ A retiree in the 22% bracket loses roughly $2,200 in federal tax on a $10,000 withdrawal. Because most contributions went in pre-tax and grew untaxed, the IRS collects on the full amount at withdrawal.

What you spend the money on doesn’t change the tax. Medical bills, travel, a mortgage payoff, or groceries all draw from the same taxable pool. Timing does matter. A large distribution late in the year can push you into a higher bracket, so spreading withdrawals across the calendar year, or coordinating them with other income, often produces a better result.

When Part of Your Withdrawal Isn’t Taxed

Not every traditional IRA dollar was pre-tax. If you ever made nondeductible contributions because your income exceeded the deduction limits, part of your balance is after-tax money that shouldn’t be taxed again. You track this “basis” on IRS Form 8606, and each distribution is split proportionally between taxable and nontaxable portions.² The IRS applies a pro-rata rule across all your traditional IRAs combined, so you can’t just pull the after-tax portion out first. If you made nondeductible contributions over the years and haven’t been filing Form 8606, reconstruct those records before you start taking distributions.

Roth IRA Distributions After 70

Roth IRAs flip the tax equation. Contributions went in with after-tax dollars, so qualified withdrawals come out completely tax-free. A distribution qualifies when the account has been open at least five years and you’re at least 59½. Anyone over 70 has cleared the age bar, and the five-year clock has almost certainly expired, so both contributions and earnings come out without adding a penny to your taxable income.

Roth IRAs also have no required minimum distributions during the owner’s lifetime.³ You can leave a Roth untouched indefinitely, letting it grow tax-free for your heirs or for later use. That makes Roth balances especially useful for controlling taxable income in years when a large traditional IRA withdrawal would otherwise push you into a higher bracket or trigger Medicare surcharges.

Required Minimum Distributions Start at 73

Once you reach a certain age, the IRS stops letting you keep money sheltered in a traditional IRA indefinitely. You must pull out a minimum amount each year, and the full amount is taxable. Under SECURE Act 2.0, the current starting age is 73, where most retirees now fall. The starting age rises to 75 in 2033.³

How Your RMD Is Calculated

Your RMD for a given year equals your account balance on December 31 of the prior year divided by a life expectancy factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table in Publication 590-B. At age 73 the divisor is 26.5; at 74 it’s 25.5; at 75 it drops to 24.6. If your traditional IRA held $500,000 at the end of last year and you turn 74 this year, your RMD is roughly $19,608 ($500,000 ÷ 25.5). As you age, the divisor shrinks and the required withdrawal grows.

If you own multiple traditional IRAs, you calculate the RMD for each separately but can take the entire total from a single account.³ RMDs from 401(k) and 457(b) plans work differently; those must be taken separately from each plan, and you can’t satisfy a 401(k) RMD with an IRA withdrawal.

The First-Year Deadline Trap

You must take your first RMD for the year you turn 73, but you can delay that initial withdrawal until April 1 of the following year.³ Technically it’s a grace period, but it creates a tax trap. Your second RMD is still due by December 31 of that same following year. Delay the first withdrawal and you’ll report two full RMDs as income in one calendar year, which can easily bump you into a higher bracket. Most people come out ahead taking the first RMD on time.

The Penalty for Missing an RMD

Missing an RMD is one of the most expensive mistakes in retirement tax planning. If you withdraw less than the required amount by the deadline, the IRS imposes a 25% excise tax on the shortfall.⁴ On a $20,000 RMD you forgot to take, that’s a $5,000 penalty on top of the income tax you’ll still owe when you eventually withdraw the money.

There is a correction window. Take the missed distribution within two years and the penalty drops to 10%.⁴ Still painful, but far better than the full penalty.

Ripple Effects on Social Security and Medicare

Traditional IRA distributions create knock-on tax effects that catch many retirees off guard. Two hit hardest: more of your Social Security becoming taxable, and surcharges on your Medicare premiums.

Social Security Benefit Taxation

Whether your Social Security benefits are taxable depends on your “combined income,” which is your adjusted gross income plus nontaxable interest plus half your Social Security benefit. Traditional IRA distributions flow straight into that calculation. The thresholds, which Congress has never adjusted for inflation, are low:

Single filers with combined income between $25,000 and $34,000 have up to 50% of benefits taxable; above $34,000, up to 85% becomes taxable.⁵
Joint filers with combined income between $32,000 and $44,000 hit the 50% tier; above $44,000, up to 85% is taxable.⁵

A $30,000 RMD alone can push many retirees well past the 85% mark.

Medicare Premium Surcharges

Medicare Part B and Part D premiums include income-related surcharges known as IRMAA, based on your modified adjusted gross income from two years prior. For 2026, single filers pay no surcharge below $109,000. Between $109,000 and $137,000, the Part B surcharge is $81.20 per month; the top tier at $500,000 or above adds $487.00 monthly.⁶ For joint filers, no surcharge applies below $218,000, with the top tier starting at $750,000.

The two-year lookback means a large one-time distribution can raise your Medicare costs two years later. Doubling up your first RMD with your second echoes forward in exactly this way.

Cutting the Tax With a Qualified Charitable Distribution

If you give to charity, the qualified charitable distribution is one of the best tax tools available to IRA owners over 70½. A QCD moves money directly from your traditional IRA to an eligible charity, and the amount is completely excluded from your taxable income.⁷ For 2026, the annual limit is $111,000 per taxpayer.⁸ A married couple where each spouse has an IRA can each make QCDs up to that amount.

QCDs count toward satisfying your RMD for the year, which makes them doubly valuable: you meet the withdrawal requirement while keeping the income off your tax return.¹ Because the distribution stays out of adjusted gross income, it also avoids the ripple effects on Social Security taxation and Medicare surcharges described above.

Two rules matter. The transfer must go directly from your IRA custodian to the charity. If the check passes through your hands first, the IRS treats it as a regular taxable distribution even if you immediately donate the money. And the recipient must qualify under Section 170(b)(1)(A), which covers most public charities, churches, and educational institutions. Donor-advised funds and private foundations don’t qualify.

Withholding, Reporting, and Avoiding an Underpayment Penalty

Your IRA custodian reports every distribution to you and the IRS on Form 1099-R, which shows the total withdrawn, the taxable portion, and any taxes withheld.⁹ You’ll receive it by early February for the prior year’s distributions. Box 1 shows the gross amount, and Box 2a shows the taxable amount, which matters if you have after-tax basis.¹⁰

You use Form W-4R to tell your custodian how much federal tax to withhold. The default withholding rate on nonperiodic payments (which covers most IRA distributions) is 10%.¹¹ For many retirees, 10% falls short. If your marginal rate is 22% and you accept the default, you’ll owe the difference at tax time and may face an underpayment penalty.

To avoid that penalty, your total withholding and estimated payments must cover at least 90% of your current-year tax, or 100% of last year’s tax (110% if your prior-year AGI exceeded $150,000).¹² One common approach is to take your RMD late in the year and elect a high withholding rate on that single distribution. The IRS treats IRA withholding as paid evenly throughout the year, which can cover earlier quarters where you made no estimated payments.

State Income Tax Adds Another Layer

Federal taxes are only part of the picture. State treatment of IRA distributions varies widely. Several states have no income tax at all; others specifically exempt all or part of retirement income; some offer age-based, dollar-capped exclusions; and a handful tax IRA distributions the same as any other income. If you’re deciding where to retire or how much to withdraw in a given year, checking your state’s rules is worth the effort. The difference between states can easily reach thousands of dollars a year.

A Note on Inherited IRAs

Everything above assumes you’re taking distributions from your own account. If you inherited an IRA, the tax treatment still generally hits you as ordinary income, but the timing rules are different. A surviving spouse can roll the account into their own IRA and follow the standard age-73 rules. Most non-spouse beneficiaries who inherited after 2019 must empty the account within 10 years of the original owner’s death, with annual distributions required during that period if the owner had already begun taking RMDs.¹³

1
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plans FAQs Regarding IRAs Distributions (Withdrawals)
2
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8606
3
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs
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Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)
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GovInfo. 26 USC 86 – Social Security and Tier 1 Railroad Retirement Benefits
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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 2026 Medicare Parts A and B Premiums and Deductibles
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408 – Individual Retirement Accounts
8
Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2025-67 – 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 1099-R
11
Internal Revenue Service. Form W-4R – Withholding Certificate for Nonperiodic Payments and Eligible Rollover Distributions
12
Internal Revenue Service. Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals Penalty
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Internal Revenue Service. Required Minimum Distributions for IRA Beneficiaries