When Can You Withdraw From an IRA Without Penalty?

You can withdraw from an IRA without penalty once you reach age 59½. Before that, Traditional IRA withdrawals normally carry a 10% early-distribution tax on top of ordinary income tax, but federal law waives the penalty for more than a dozen specific situations, including first-home purchases, higher education costs, large medical bills, disability, birth or adoption, and disaster relief. Roth IRAs work differently: your original contributions come out at any age, tax- and penalty-free, because you already paid tax on them going in.

Age 59½: The Main Threshold

Under the Internal Revenue Code, reaching age 59½ removes the 10% additional tax on Traditional IRA distributions.¹ After that birthday, you can take out any amount for any reason. You don’t need to show a hardship, and you don’t file extra paperwork with the IRS. The distribution still counts as ordinary income for the year you receive it, so income tax applies, but the penalty is gone.

The rule is the same at every custodian. Request the distribution, receive the funds, and report the amount when you file your return.

Roth IRA Withdrawals at Any Age

Roth IRAs use after-tax dollars, so the withdrawal rules are more flexible. Every Roth distribution follows a specific IRS ordering: contributions come out first, then converted or rolled-over amounts, then earnings.² That order controls what’s taxable.

Your Contributions

You can pull your original Roth contributions out at any time, at any age, for any reason. No income tax, no 10% penalty. This is why Roth IRAs are often described as more accessible than Traditional IRAs for someone who might need the money before retirement.

Conversions

Amounts you converted from a Traditional IRA or rolled in from an employer plan carry their own five-year waiting period. Each conversion starts a separate clock beginning January 1 of the year the conversion happened. Take out converted money before 59½ and before that conversion’s five years are up, and the 10% penalty applies to the taxable portion of the conversion.² After 59½, the five-year clock on conversions no longer matters for penalty purposes.

Earnings

Earnings are the last dollars out. To withdraw them completely tax- and penalty-free, two things have to be true: the account must have been open at least five tax years (measured from January 1 of the year of your first Roth contribution), and you must be at least 59½, disabled, or a beneficiary taking the distribution after the owner’s death. If either piece is missing, withdrawn earnings can be subject to income tax and the 10% penalty.³

Penalty Exceptions Before Age 59½

If you need Traditional IRA money before 59½, the following situations let you skip the 10% penalty. Income tax on the taxable portion still applies — only the additional 10% is waived.

First-Time Home Purchase

You can withdraw up to $10,000 toward buying or building a primary residence. The cap is lifetime, per person, so spouses drawing from separate IRAs could access up to $20,000 combined. Under the SECURE 2.0 Act, the $10,000 figure is indexed for inflation starting after 2024.⁴

Qualified Education Expenses

Tuition, fees, books, supplies, equipment (including computers), and room and board for at least half-time students at an eligible postsecondary institution qualify. The exception covers expenses for you, your spouse, children, or grandchildren, and it has no fixed dollar cap beyond the actual cost of qualified expenses.⁵

Unreimbursed Medical Expenses

Out-of-pocket medical costs above 7.5% of your adjusted gross income can be paid with penalty-free IRA money. The expenses have to be paid in the same tax year as the distribution.⁴

Health Insurance While Unemployed

If you’ve received unemployment compensation for at least 12 consecutive weeks, you can use IRA funds penalty-free to pay health insurance premiums for yourself, your spouse, or your dependents.

Total and Permanent Disability

A physical or mental condition that leaves you unable to perform any substantial work, and is expected to be fatal or of indefinite duration, qualifies. The IRS uses its own definition here, which is not identical to the Social Security Administration’s. Receiving SSDI or SSI does not automatically make you eligible.⁶

Terminal Illness

If a physician certifies you have an illness or condition reasonably expected to result in death within 84 months, you can withdraw any amount penalty-free. The certification must be in place at or before the time of the distribution. You may repay the distribution to the IRA within three years.⁷

Birth or Adoption

Up to $5,000 per child, following a birth or finalized legal adoption. The distribution has to occur within one year of the child’s arrival.⁴⁶

Domestic Abuse

A victim of domestic abuse by a spouse or domestic partner can withdraw up to the lesser of $10,000 (indexed for inflation) or 50% of the account balance without the penalty.⁴

Federally Declared Disasters

If you live in an area affected by a qualified federally declared disaster, you can withdraw up to $22,000 per disaster without the 10% penalty. The income can be spread over three tax years, and the distribution may be repaid within three years.⁸

Emergency Personal Expenses

You can take up to $1,000 per year for an unforeseeable or immediate personal or family emergency. You generally can’t take another emergency distribution for three calendar years unless you repay the earlier one or make qualifying contributions that replace the amount.⁹

Military Reservists on Active Duty

Reservists called to active duty for at least 180 days can take penalty-free distributions during the active-duty period.⁴

IRS Levy

If the IRS levies your IRA to satisfy a tax debt, the resulting distribution is exempt from the 10% penalty.⁴

Substantially Equal Periodic Payments

If none of the specific exceptions fit and you still need income from your IRA before 59½, a series of substantially equal periodic payments (sometimes called a “72(t) plan”) is the fallback. You commit to taking roughly equal annual distributions calculated under one of three IRS-approved methods: the required minimum distribution method, the fixed amortization method, or the fixed annuitization method.¹⁰

Once the payments start, you have to keep them going for at least five years or until you reach 59½, whichever is later. Modify or stop them early — take more or less than the calculated amount — and the IRS applies the 10% penalty retroactively to every distribution you took under the plan, plus interest on the deferred penalty for each prior year.¹⁰ SEPP plans work best when you’re confident you won’t need to change the payment for several years.

The 60-Day Rollover Trap

Moving money between IRAs isn’t a withdrawal if you do it correctly, but it can become one by accident. If your custodian sends a distribution check directly to you and you plan to put the money in another IRA, you have 60 days from the date you receive the funds to deposit them into the new account.¹¹ Miss the deadline and the IRS treats the full amount as a taxable distribution, along with the 10% penalty if you’re under 59½.

You’re also capped at one indirect (60-day) rollover across all your IRAs in any 12-month period, no matter how many accounts you own.¹¹ Direct trustee-to-trustee transfers, where the money moves between custodians without passing through your hands, aren’t subject to the 60-day clock or the once-per-year limit and are generally safer.

One more wrinkle: when a distribution is paid to you directly, the custodian typically withholds 10% for federal taxes unless you opt out on Form W-4R.¹² To roll over the full original amount, you have to replace the withheld portion out of pocket within the 60 days. Otherwise, the withheld amount is itself a taxable distribution.

At Age 73, the Question Flips

The penalty question runs in one direction until age 73. Starting the year you turn 73, Traditional IRA owners must begin taking required minimum distributions, and failing to take one triggers a 25% excise tax on the shortfall (reduced to 10% if corrected within two years).¹³ Roth IRA owners are exempt from RMDs during their lifetime. If you’re approaching 73, the concern shifts from avoiding a penalty for withdrawing too soon to avoiding a penalty for not withdrawing enough.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 72 – Annuities; Certain Proceeds of Endowment and Life Insurance Contracts
2
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions From Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) – Section: Ordering Rules for Distributions
3
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 557, Additional Tax on Early Distributions From Traditional and Roth IRAs
4
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions
5
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 970 (2025), Tax Benefits for Education – Section: Education Exception to Additional Tax on Early IRA Distributions
6
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions From Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) – Section: Exceptions
7
Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2024-02, Miscellaneous Changes Under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022
8
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8915-F
9
Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2024-55, Certain Exceptions to the 10 Percent Additional Tax
10
Internal Revenue Service. Substantially Equal Periodic Payments
11
Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions
12
Internal Revenue Service. Pensions and Annuity Withholding
13
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs