Required Minimum Distribution: Rules, Calculation, and Deadlines

A required minimum distribution is the smallest amount you must withdraw each year from a tax-deferred retirement account once you reach the age the IRS sets for mandatory withdrawals. The rule exists because contributions to accounts like traditional IRAs and 401(k)s reduced your taxable income going in, and the government eventually wants to tax that money coming out. For 2026, most people begin at age 73. If you were born in 1960 or later, you don’t start until 75.

Which Accounts Are Subject to RMDs

The rules cover every major tax-deferred retirement account: traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, and governmental 457(b) plans. The common thread is the upfront tax break.

Roth IRAs are the exception. You funded them with after-tax dollars, so the IRS does not require withdrawals during your lifetime. Starting with the 2024 tax year, designated Roth accounts inside employer plans, such as a Roth 401(k), got the same treatment.

When You Have to Start

Your “applicable age” depends on when you were born, the result of two rounds of legislation that pushed the start date later:

Reached 72 before 2023: you should already be taking RMDs under the original SECURE Act rules.
Reach 73 between 2023 and 2032: your RMDs begin the year you turn 73.
Born in 1960 or later: you start the year you turn 75.

These brackets come from Internal Revenue Code Section 401(a)(9), as amended by SECURE 2.0.¹

Your first RMD is due by April 1 of the year after you reach your applicable age. Every RMD after that is due by December 31.²

Why Delaying the First Distribution Can Backfire

The April 1 grace period creates a tax trap. If you push your first distribution into the next calendar year, you’ll owe two RMDs in that same year: the delayed first-year amount plus the current-year distribution due December 31. Both hit the same tax return, which can push you into a higher bracket or raise your Medicare premiums.³

Say you turned 73 in 2025. Your first RMD covers 2025 and can be taken anytime that year or by April 1, 2026. But if you wait until 2026, you also owe the 2026 RMD by December 31, 2026. That’s two full distributions on one return. Most people are better off taking the first one in the actual year they reach the applicable age.

The Still-Working Exception

If you’re still employed past your applicable age, you can delay distributions from your current employer’s plan until the year you actually retire. This applies only to the plan of the employer you’re still working for. It does not apply to IRAs, to old 401(k)s from previous jobs, or to any account where you own more than 5% of the sponsoring business.⁴

The 5% test is strict. Own more than 5% of the company’s stock, capital, or profits interest, and you must start RMDs based on your age alone, still working or not.⁵

How to Calculate Your RMD

The math needs two numbers: your account balance and your life expectancy factor. Take the fair market value of the account as of December 31 of the prior year, then divide by the factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table matching your current age.⁶

For 2026, some common Uniform Lifetime Table factors:

Age 73: 26.5
Age 74: 25.5
Age 75: 24.6

If your traditional IRA held $100,000 at the end of 2025 and you turn 75 in 2026, your RMD is $4,065 ($100,000 ÷ 24.6). You can always withdraw more, but never less.

One situation gets a more favorable divisor. If your sole beneficiary is a spouse more than 10 years younger than you, you use the Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy Table instead, and the longer combined life expectancy produces a smaller required withdrawal.⁷

If You Have Several Accounts

Calculate the RMD separately for each account. IRA owners then have flexibility on where the money comes from: you can pull the combined amount from a single IRA or split it across several.⁴

Employer plans are stricter. Each 401(k) or 457(b) must have its own RMD calculated and withdrawn from that specific account. You cannot cover one plan’s RMD by taking extra from another. 403(b) accounts are the exception and follow the same aggregation-friendly rules as IRAs.⁵

Taking and Reporting the Withdrawal

Contact the custodian holding your funds (brokerage, bank, or plan administrator) and request a distribution. You’ll specify an amount or ask them to calculate your RMD, pick a payment frequency, and set a federal income tax withholding rate. Many custodians offer an automatic annual RMD service that handles the calculation and payment on a schedule, which removes the risk of missing a deadline.

After the distribution, your custodian sends Form 1099-R to you and the IRS reporting the gross distribution and the taxable portion.⁸ You report the income on your Form 1040. Any federal tax withheld at the time of the distribution appears on the 1099-R and reduces what you owe at filing.

What Happens If You Miss One

Miss the December 31 deadline and the IRS imposes an excise tax of 25% on the shortfall, meaning the gap between what you should have taken and what you actually withdrew. The penalty drops to 10% if you fix the mistake within the correction window, which generally runs through the end of the second tax year after the year you missed. To qualify for the reduced rate, you must both withdraw the missed amount and file a return reflecting the 10% tax within that window.⁹

You report the excise tax on Form 5329, filed with your regular return for the year of the missed distribution.⁴

If the shortfall was a genuine error rather than neglect, you can ask the IRS to waive the penalty. Attach a written explanation to Form 5329 describing what went wrong and how you fixed it, and enter “RC” for reasonable cause on the relevant line along with the amount you’re asking to have waived.¹⁰ Common accepted scenarios include a custodian error, serious illness, or confusion during a rollover. The IRS grants these waivers fairly often when the missed distribution has already been made up.

Using a Qualified Charitable Distribution

If you give to charity, a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) is one of the most tax-efficient ways to handle an RMD. Instead of taking the money into your bank account as taxable income, you direct your IRA custodian to send it straight to a qualifying charity. The transferred amount counts toward your RMD but is excluded from your adjusted gross income entirely.

For 2026, you can transfer up to $111,000 per person through QCDs. You must be at least 70½ on the date of the gift, so you can start using QCDs a few years before RMDs actually begin.¹¹ A married couple with separate IRAs can each give up to $111,000.

You don’t claim a charitable deduction for a QCD, since the money was never counted as income to begin with. But keeping the distribution out of your adjusted gross income can produce follow-on savings: lower Medicare Part B and Part D premiums, reduced taxation of Social Security benefits, and possible avoidance of the 3.8% net investment income surtax. For retirees who take the standard deduction and wouldn’t itemize charitable gifts anyway, a QCD is generally better than a normal RMD followed by a cash donation.

One boundary worth noting: inherited retirement accounts follow a separate set of distribution rules, including a 10-year emptying requirement for most non-spouse beneficiaries who inherited in 2020 or later.⁴ If you’re a beneficiary rather than the original account owner, the ages and factors above don’t tell your whole story.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 401 – Qualified Pension, Profit-Sharing, and Stock Bonus Plans
2
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)
3
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Reminds Retirees: April 1 Final Day to Begin Required Withdrawals From IRAs and 401(k)s
4
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs
5
Internal Revenue Service. RMD Comparison Chart (IRAs vs. Defined Contribution Plans)
6
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions From Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
7
Internal Revenue Service. IRA Required Minimum Distribution Worksheet – Spouse 10 Years Younger
8
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-R, Distributions From Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc.
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4974 – Excise Tax on Certain Accumulations in Qualified Retirement Plans
10
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5329 (2025)
11
Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs, as Adjusted