When Can You Withdraw From an IRA? Age 59½, Exceptions, and RMDs

You can withdraw from an IRA at any age, but what it costs you depends on three things: how old you are, whether the account is a Traditional or Roth IRA, and whether your reason for withdrawing fits one of the exceptions Congress has written into the tax code. The general rule is that age 59½ is the line — before it, withdrawals usually carry a 10% penalty on top of income tax; after it, the penalty disappears.¹ At the other end, you must begin required minimum distributions from a Traditional IRA the year you turn 73.²

Withdrawals at Age 59½ and After

Once you reach 59½, you can take money out of any IRA without owing the 10% early withdrawal penalty.¹ You still owe ordinary income tax on Traditional IRA distributions because those contributions went in pre-tax. Qualified Roth withdrawals come out tax-free.

Reaching 59½ does not force you to withdraw anything. Your investments can keep growing in the account, and you can take a lump sum, set up monthly payments, or leave everything alone until required minimum distributions kick in at 73.

When you do take a distribution, your custodian withholds federal income tax at a default rate of 10% unless you file IRS Form W-4R to choose a different amount. You can elect anywhere from 0% to 100%. If you take an eligible rollover distribution paid directly to you rather than transferred to another retirement account, the custodian must withhold 20% and you cannot lower it.

Withdrawing From a Roth IRA

Roth IRAs work differently because you funded them with after-tax dollars. The IRS treats money coming out of a Roth in a set order, and that order controls what you owe.³

Regular contributions come out first. You already paid tax on this money, so it leaves at any time, at any age, with no tax and no penalty.
Conversion and rollover amounts come out next, oldest conversions first, taxable portion of each conversion before the nontaxable portion.
Earnings come out last and face the strictest rules.

That ordering is what makes Roth IRAs flexible: you can always pull out what you put in. Only once your withdrawals exceed your total contributions and conversions do you touch earnings.

To take earnings out completely tax-free, two things must be true. Five tax years must have passed since January 1 of the year you made your first Roth contribution, and you must also be at least 59½, disabled, using up to $10,000 for a first-time home purchase, or taking the distribution as a beneficiary after the account owner’s death.³ A distribution that meets both parts is a qualified distribution. Earnings pulled out before the five-year clock ends or without a qualifying condition are taxed as ordinary income and may also face the 10% penalty.

Early Withdrawal Exceptions Before Age 59½

Withdrawals before 59½ normally trigger a 10% additional tax on top of regular income tax.¹ Federal law lists specific situations where the 10% is waived. You still owe income tax on the withdrawn amount in most cases; the exception only removes the penalty.

Medical Expenses

You can withdraw penalty-free to pay unreimbursed medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income for the year.⁴ Only the portion above that threshold qualifies.

Health Insurance While Unemployed

If you lost your job and received unemployment for at least 12 consecutive weeks, you can withdraw penalty-free to cover health insurance premiums for yourself, your spouse, or your dependents.¹ The distribution must occur in the same year you received unemployment or the following year.

Disabilityh3>

If you become permanently and totally disabled, meaning a physical or mental condition prevents you from doing substantial work and is expected to last indefinitely or result in death, you can access your IRA penalty-free at any age.¹

Terminal Illness

Under the SECURE 2.0 Act, you can take penalty-free distributions if a physician certifies that you have a condition reasonably expected to result in death within 84 months.⁵ The certification must come from a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathy who is not the account holder. Terminal illness distributions can be repaid to the IRA within three years.

Higher Education Expenses

You can withdraw penalty-free to pay qualified education costs, including tuition, fees, books, supplies, and room and board, for yourself, your spouse, your children, or your grandchildren.¹ The student must be enrolled at an eligible educational institution. This exception applies only to IRAs, not to 401(k) or other employer-sponsored plans.

First-Time Home Purchase

First-time homebuyers can withdraw up to $10,000 from an IRA over their lifetime without owing the penalty.³ If you’re married and both spouses qualify, each of you can withdraw $10,000 from your own IRA for a combined $20,000. You must use the funds toward home acquisition costs within 120 days of receiving the distribution; miss that deadline and the full 10% penalty applies. The IRS defines “first-time” as someone who hasn’t owned a home in the past two years, so you may qualify even if you owned a home previously.

Birth or Adoption of a Child

You can withdraw up to $5,000 per child penalty-free following a birth or legal adoption, so long as the distribution occurs within one year of the event.¹ You can repay the amount into your IRA at any point, and the repayment is treated as a rollover, so it doesn’t count against annual contribution limits.

Emergency Personal Expenses

Starting in 2024, you can take one penalty-free distribution per calendar year for an unforeseeable personal or family emergency. The amount is capped at the lesser of $1,000 or your vested account balance above $1,000.¹ You can repay within three years, but you cannot take another emergency distribution under this provision until you’ve either repaid the prior one or made enough new contributions to cover it.

Domestic Abuse Victims

If you’ve experienced domestic abuse, you can withdraw the lesser of $10,000 (adjusted annually for inflation) or 50% of your vested account balance without penalty.⁵ The distribution must occur within one year of the abuse, and you qualify by self-certifying in writing; no additional documentation is required. Repay within three years and you can claim a refund on the income tax you paid on the distribution.

Substantially Equal Periodic Payments

If none of the exceptions fit, there is one more early-access route: a series of substantially equal periodic payments, sometimes called a 72(t) distribution plan. Under this arrangement, you commit to withdrawing roughly the same dollar amount each year based on your life expectancy, using one of three IRS-approved calculation methods.⁶

Once you begin, you must continue the payments for at least five years or until you reach age 59½, whichever comes later. If you change the amount, skip a payment, or take extra money out before that period ends, the 10% penalty applies retroactively to every distribution you took under the plan before 59½. That retroactive risk makes 72(t) a serious commitment rather than a casual early-access strategy.

Required Minimum Distributions at Age 73

Under current law, required minimum distributions from a Traditional IRA start in the year you turn 73.² Your first RMD can be delayed until April 1 of the following year, but delaying creates a double-distribution year: your first RMD plus your second RMD both come out in the same calendar year, which could push you into a higher tax bracket. Every RMD after the first is due by December 31.

Beginning January 1, 2033, the starting age rises from 73 to 75 under the SECURE 2.0 Act. If you turn 73 before that date, the current age-73 rule applies to you.

Roth IRAs are exempt from RMDs during the original owner’s lifetime, so you can leave a Roth untouched for as long as you live.²

Your RMD equals your Traditional IRA balance on December 31 of the previous year divided by a life expectancy factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table.³ If your balance was $100,000 and your factor is 24.6, your RMD would be about $4,065. The factor shrinks as you age, so RMDs rise as a percentage of your balance over time.

If you’re 70½ or older and charitably inclined, you can transfer up to $111,000 in 2026 directly from your IRA to a qualified charity as a qualified charitable distribution.⁷ The transfer counts toward your RMD but is excluded from taxable income. The money must move directly from your custodian to the charity; you cannot withdraw it and then donate.

Penalties for Missed RMDs and Excess Contributions

Missing your RMD deadline triggers an excise tax of 25% on the shortfall between what you should have withdrawn and what you actually took.⁸ Catch the mistake and withdraw the missed amount within two years and the penalty drops to 10%.⁹ Report the shortfall and penalty on IRS Form 5329 with your federal return for the year you missed.

A separate penalty hits excess contributions. Money you put in above the annual limit that stays in the account past your tax filing deadline (including extensions) is taxed 6% each year the overage remains.¹⁰ The tax compounds annually until you withdraw the excess or apply it to a future year’s limit. Removing the excess amount plus any earnings on it before the filing deadline avoids the penalty entirely.

Reporting Your Withdrawal

Every IRA distribution of $10 or more generates an IRS Form 1099-R from your custodian, with a distribution code in Box 7 telling the IRS whether the withdrawal qualifies for a penalty exception.¹¹ Common codes include Code 1 (early distribution, no known exception), Code 2 (early distribution with an exception), and Code 7 (normal distribution at 59½ or later). Check that code. If your custodian uses the wrong one, you may need to claim the exception yourself on Form 5329.

Inherited IRAs Follow Different Rules

If you inherited an IRA rather than opening your own, the timeline above doesn’t apply to you. For deaths after December 31, 2019, most non-spouse beneficiaries must empty the account by December 31 of the tenth year following the original owner’s death, and surviving spouses, minor children of the deceased, disabled or chronically ill individuals, and beneficiaries not more than 10 years younger than the deceased have more flexible options.² The wrong choice can trigger unexpected tax bills, so treat inherited accounts as their own analysis.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions
2
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs
3
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-B – Distributions From Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
4
Legal Information Institute. 26 USC 72(t)(2)
5
Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2024-55 – Certain Exceptions to the 10 Percent Additional Tax
6
Internal Revenue Service. Substantially Equal Periodic Payments
7
Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4974 – Excise Tax on Certain Accumulations in Qualified Plans
9
Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2024-35 – Certain Required Minimum Distributions
10
Internal Revenue Service. IRA Year-End Reminders
11
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498