When Can You Pull From a Roth IRA? Age, 5-Year Rule, Exceptions

You can withdraw from a Roth IRA at any time, but what it costs you depends on which part of the account you touch. Your own contributions come out tax-free and penalty-free whenever you want them, at any age. Earnings are stricter: to pull those out completely tax-free, you generally have to be at least 59½ and have held any Roth IRA for at least five tax years. Several exceptions let you reach earnings earlier without the 10% early withdrawal penalty, though income tax on the earnings portion may still apply.

Your Contributions Are Always Available

The money you put into a Roth IRA was already taxed before it went in, so the IRS lets you take it back out whenever you want. No age requirement, no waiting period, no cap on the amount of your contributed principal you can withdraw. You will not owe income tax or the 10% early withdrawal penalty on any part of a distribution that comes from your original contributions.¹

This works because of the IRS ordering rule. When you take money out of a Roth IRA, the withdrawal is treated as coming from three layers in a fixed sequence: regular contributions first, then conversions and rollovers (oldest first), then earnings. Most withdrawals, especially smaller ones, never reach the earnings layer at all.²

The practical implication: if you know your lifetime total of contributions, you know exactly how much you can pull out with no tax consequences. That total is what your annual Form 5498, sent by your custodian, tracks year by year.

The Five-Year Rule and Age 59½ for Earnings

Investment growth is treated differently. To take earnings out fully tax-free, you need a qualified distribution, which requires two things at the same time: the five-year holding period must be satisfied, and you must meet one of a short list of triggering events.

The five-year clock starts on January 1 of the tax year for which you made your first contribution to any Roth IRA. It is a single clock covering every Roth IRA you own, and opening a new account later does not restart it. If you made your first Roth contribution for the 2026 tax year — even if you deposited it in early 2027 before the filing deadline — the clock started January 1, 2026, and runs through December 31, 2030.³⁴

Once the five years are up, the distribution is qualified when any one of these applies:

You are 59½ or older.
You are totally and permanently disabled.
The distribution goes to a beneficiary after your death.
You are withdrawing up to $10,000 for a first-time home purchase.

For most people, the unlock is turning 59½ after the five-year clock has already run.⁵

If you pull earnings out before the five years are up, that portion is taxable as ordinary income at your regular rate even if you have already turned 59½. Someone who opens their first Roth at 58 still has to wait until 63 for fully tax-free earnings. And unlike a traditional IRA, a Roth IRA has no required minimum distributions during your lifetime, so if you never need the money you never have to take any of it out.⁶

Exceptions That Waive the 10% Penalty Before 59½

If your withdrawal reaches into earnings before you qualify for a fully tax-free distribution, several situations let you skip the 10% early withdrawal penalty. You still owe ordinary income tax on the earnings portion in most cases; the exception only removes the penalty.

First-time home purchase. Up to $10,000 over your lifetime to buy, build, or rebuild a first home. If you have also met the five-year rule, this one becomes fully tax-free rather than just penalty-free.
Disability. Total and permanent disability lets you withdraw earnings without penalty. Combined with the five-year rule, this is also fully tax-free.⁷
Death. Distributions to your beneficiary or estate are not subject to the 10% penalty.
Higher education expenses. Tuition, fees, books, supplies, and equipment for you, your spouse, your children, or grandchildren at an eligible institution. Room and board qualify if the student is enrolled at least half-time.⁸
Unreimbursed medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income.
Health insurance premiums while unemployed, if you have received unemployment compensation for at least 12 weeks. Covers premiums for you and your family.
Substantially equal periodic payments. A series of roughly equal annual withdrawals based on life expectancy. Once started, you must continue for at least five years or until you reach 59½, whichever is later; modifying the schedule early triggers a recapture tax on all prior penalty-free amounts.⁹
Birth or adoption. Up to $5,000 per child for qualifying birth or adoption expenses.
Emergency personal expenses. One withdrawal per calendar year of up to $1,000 (or your vested balance above $1,000, if less) for unforeseeable personal or family emergencies, available for distributions after December 31, 2023.
Domestic abuse victim. Up to the lesser of $10,000 (indexed for inflation) or 50% of your account balance, for distributions after December 31, 2023.

The key distinction: these exceptions waive the 10% penalty, not the income tax on earnings. Only a qualified distribution — five-year rule plus one of the four qualifying events — lets earnings come out completely tax-free.⁵

Converted Funds Have Their Own Clock

Money you converted from a traditional IRA or 401(k) into a Roth IRA sits in the middle layer of that ordering rule, and each conversion starts its own separate five-year period. If you withdraw a converted amount before that conversion’s five years are up and you are under 59½, the 10% penalty applies to the taxable portion of the conversion, even though you are not touching earnings.⁴

Multiple conversions are tracked first-in, first-out, so the oldest one comes out first when you withdraw. Once you reach 59½, the conversion-specific five-year rule stops mattering: you can pull converted funds out without the 10% penalty regardless of when the conversion happened. Income tax on the conversion itself was already paid in the year the money moved into the Roth, not at withdrawal.²

Withdrawals From an Inherited Roth IRA

If you inherit a Roth IRA, the rules that govern when you can withdraw depend on your relationship to the original owner. A surviving spouse can roll the account into their own Roth IRA and treat it as if it had always been theirs, keeping the original five-year clock intact and avoiding any required distributions during their lifetime.

Most non-spouse beneficiaries have to empty the inherited account by the end of the 10th year following the original owner’s death. If the original owner had already reached the age for required minimum distributions from other accounts, the beneficiary must also take annual distributions during that 10-year window. Distributions from an inherited Roth IRA are generally tax-free to the beneficiary as long as the original owner’s five-year holding period had been satisfied before death.¹⁰

Reporting the Withdrawal on Your Tax Return

Even a tax-free Roth withdrawal usually has to be reported. If you take any distribution other than a rollover or a return of excess contributions, you generally file Form 8606 with your return. Form 8606 tracks the taxable and nontaxable portions of the distribution and establishes your basis for future withdrawals.¹¹

If any part of the withdrawal triggers the 10% early withdrawal penalty on earnings or converted amounts, that gets reported on Form 5329, filed alongside your regular return.¹² Keeping every year’s Form 5498 from your custodian, which records your annual contributions, gives you the running basis figure you will need when you start taking money out.

1
Internal Revenue Service. IRA FAQs – Distributions (Withdrawals)
2
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
3
eCFR. 26 CFR 1.408A-6 – Distributions
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408A – Roth IRAs
5
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions
6
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs
7
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Disability
8
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 970 (2025), Tax Benefits for Education
9
Internal Revenue Service. Substantially Equal Periodic Payments
10
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Beneficiary
11
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8606 (2025)
12
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5329 (2025)