SECURE 2.0 RMD Rules: Start Ages, Penalties, and Roth Changes

The SECURE 2.0 Act, signed in December 2022, rewrote several core rules for required minimum distributions from retirement accounts. The SECURE 2.0 RMD rules push back the starting age to 73 or 75 depending on when you were born, cut the penalty for a missed withdrawal from 50% to 25%, end lifetime RMDs from Roth accounts inside employer plans beginning in 2024, and give surviving spouses a new election that can shrink their annual withdrawals. The rules cover traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and most other tax-deferred retirement plans.

The New Starting Ages

Before SECURE 2.0, distributions had to begin at age 72. The law replaced that single trigger with two tiers keyed to birth year:

Born 1951 through 1959: RMDs begin at age 73.
Born 1960 or later: RMDs begin at age 75.

The statute draws the lines by birthday timing. If you turned 72 after December 31, 2022, and reach 73 before January 1, 2033, your applicable age is 73. If you turn 74 after December 31, 2032, your applicable age is 75.¹ Someone born in 1960 won’t face a mandatory withdrawal until 2035.

Your First Distribution and the Two-RMD Trap

The first RMD has its own deadline: April 1 of the year after you reach your applicable age. Every RMD after that is due by December 31 of the year it applies to.²

That April 1 grace period looks helpful and often isn’t. If you push the first withdrawal into the following year, you owe two RMDs in that single calendar year: the postponed one and the one due for the current year by December 31. Both are taxable income in the same year, which can raise your tax bracket, increase your Medicare premiums, and make more of your Social Security benefits taxable. Taking the first RMD by December 31 of the year you reach the applicable age usually spreads the income more sensibly.²

A Lower Penalty for Missed Distributions

The old excise tax on a missed RMD was 50% of the shortfall, one of the harshest penalties in the tax code. SECURE 2.0 cut it to 25%.³ If you were supposed to withdraw $20,000 and took nothing, the tax is $5,000 instead of $10,000.

You can drop the penalty to 10% by fixing the mistake inside the correction window. To qualify, withdraw the missed amount and file a tax return reflecting the corrected distribution before the window closes. The window ends on the earliest of three events: the IRS mails you a notice of deficiency, the IRS formally assesses the tax, or the last day of the second tax year after the year you missed. In practice, most people have roughly two years to catch an error before the higher rate locks in.³

You report a missed distribution and any penalty on IRS Form 5329, filed with your tax return. The form also has a section to request a full waiver for reasonable cause, which the IRS grants in some cases when the shortfall was a genuine error and you’ve since taken the correct amount.⁴

No More Lifetime RMDs From Roth 401(k)s and Roth 403(b)s

Before 2024, designated Roth accounts inside employer plans were subject to RMDs during the owner’s lifetime, even though Roth IRAs were not. Many people rolled a Roth 401(k) into a Roth IRA solely to sidestep that. Starting with the 2024 tax year, Roth accounts inside employer plans are no longer subject to lifetime RMDs.⁵

A Roth 401(k) or Roth 403(b) balance can now keep growing tax-free for the rest of the owner’s life, like a Roth IRA. The change applies only during the original owner’s lifetime. Beneficiaries who inherit these accounts still face distribution requirements.

A New Election for Surviving Spouses

Section 327 of SECURE 2.0 lets a surviving spouse who inherits a retirement account elect to be treated as the deceased employee for RMD purposes.⁶ Under the election, distributions can be delayed until the year the deceased spouse would have reached the applicable age, which helps when the deceased was younger.

The election also changes the calculation. Instead of the Single Life Table normally used by beneficiaries, the surviving spouse uses the Uniform Lifetime Table, which assumes a longer distribution period and produces smaller annual withdrawals.⁷ The election is irrevocable, so the numbers deserve a careful look before committing.

The Still-Working Exception

If you keep working past your applicable age, you can generally delay RMDs from your current employer’s plan until the year you retire. The exception covers 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and similar workplace plans. It does not apply if you own more than 5% of the business sponsoring the plan.⁵

Traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, and SIMPLE IRAs are not covered. Distributions from those accounts must begin at 73 or 75 whether or not you’re still working. If you hold both an employer plan and an IRA, the IRA can be forced into pay status while the 401(k) sits untouched.⁵

Qualified Charitable Distributions

A qualified charitable distribution lets you send up to $111,000 per year in 2026 directly from your IRA to a qualifying charity.⁸ The amount transferred counts toward your RMD but stays out of your taxable income. That beats taking the distribution and claiming a charitable deduction, because the QCD reduces adjusted gross income directly.

You must be at least 70½ to make a QCD, so the strategy is available years before RMDs begin.⁷ QCDs work only from IRAs, not from a 401(k) or 403(b), and the funds must move straight from your IRA trustee to the charity.

Calculating What You Owe

The math needs two numbers: your account balance and your distribution period. Take the fair market value of the account as of December 31 of the prior year, look up your age in the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table published in Publication 590-B, and divide the balance by the distribution period.⁷

Most people use the Uniform Lifetime Table. The exception is when your sole beneficiary is a spouse more than 10 years younger; then you use the Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy Table, which produces a longer period and a smaller withdrawal.²

Aggregating Across Accounts

Rules for combining withdrawals depend on account type. Traditional IRAs each need their own calculation, but you can add the results together and pull the total from whichever IRA you choose. The 403(b) accounts get the same treatment: calculate separately, withdraw from any one or combination.⁹

Employer plans like 401(k)s do not. Each 401(k) requires its own separate calculation and its own separate withdrawal.⁹

What SECURE 2.0 Did Not Change

The 10-year payout rule for most non-spouse beneficiaries comes from the original SECURE Act of 2019, not SECURE 2.0. Most non-spouse designated beneficiaries must empty an inherited account by the end of the 10th year after the original owner’s death, with a narrow set of eligible designated beneficiaries able to stretch distributions over their own life expectancy.¹⁰ If you’re planning around an inherited IRA, the applicable framework is that earlier law rather than the 2022 changes discussed here.

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
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4974 – Excise Tax on Certain Accumulations in Qualified Retirement Plans
4
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5329
5
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs
6
Federal Register. Required Minimum Distributions
7
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-B – Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
8
Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs, as Adjusted for Changes in the Cost of Living
9
Internal Revenue Service. RMD Comparison Chart (IRAs vs. Defined Contribution Plans)
10
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Beneficiary