RMD Calculator: Your Required Minimum Distribution and What It Costs in Tax

A required minimum distribution (RMD) is the smallest amount the IRS makes you withdraw each year from a traditional IRA, 401(k) or similar pre-tax account once you reach your start age: 73 if you were born from 1951 through 1959, and 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. The calculation is one division. The harder questions come after it: what the withdrawal does to your tax bill, whether you need to spend it, and whether to act years ahead to make it smaller.

The calculator below gives this year’s RMD in its top half. The bottom half runs your balance to age 95 and prices each year’s RMD against 2026 federal rules, including the Social Security each IRA dollar makes taxable and the Medicare surcharges that start at higher incomes.

How the RMD is calculated

Divide the account’s value on December 31 of last year by the distribution period for the age you reach this year, taken from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. ^{1, 2} The IRS’s own example is a $100,000 IRA at age 75: the divisor is 24.6, so the RMD is $4,065. ²

Divisors from IRS Publication 590-B, Appendix B, Table III. The last column applies each rate to the same $1,000,000; a real balance changes from year to year.

The required rate starts near 4% and doubles by 90. The dollar amount depends on what the account has done in the meantime, so an account that earns more than its required rate keeps producing larger RMDs. The current table took effect in 2022, when Treasury updated the life expectancies behind it. At age 72 the divisor rose from 25.6 to 27.4, which cut that year’s RMD by about 7%. ³ If your spouse is your sole beneficiary and more than 10 years younger, you use the Joint and Last Survivor table instead, which gives a smaller RMD. ²

When RMDs start, and the first-year trap

SECURE 2.0 raised the start age in two steps. As written, the statute gives people born in 1959 two start ages, 73 and 75. Treasury’s July 2024 proposed regulations would set it at 73, and the final regulations issued the same month left that paragraph reserved. ^{4, 5} Until a final rule settles it, plan on 73 if you were born in 1959. In February 2026 the IRS said its other pending RMD rules will apply no earlier than the calendar year that begins six months after they are published, and that until then taxpayers may use a reasonable, good-faith reading of the statute. ⁶

Your first RMD is due by April 1 of the year after you reach your start age. Every later RMD is due by December 31 of its own year, so using the April 1 extension puts two RMDs in one year’s income. ⁷ For someone born in 1953 with $1 million, waiting until April 2027 would add about $37,700 to 2027 income on top of the 2027 RMD. Take the first RMD in the year you reach your start age unless that year’s income is unusually high, as it might be in a final year of salary.

If you are still working, your current employer’s plan can usually wait until April 1 of the year after you retire, unless you own 5% or more of the company. That exception never applies to IRAs. ¹

Which accounts have RMDs

• Traditional, rollover, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs. You calculate each IRA’s RMD, then may take the total from any one or more of your IRAs.
• 403(b) accounts. The same totaling works across your 403(b)s, but not between a 403(b) and an IRA.
• 401(k) and 457(b) plans. Each plan’s RMD has to come out of that plan.
• Roth IRAs. No RMDs during the owner’s life.
• Roth 401(k) and Roth 403(b) accounts. No lifetime RMDs since 2024, under SECURE 2.0. ⁴

Each owner’s RMD comes out of that owner’s own accounts, so a withdrawal from your spouse’s IRA does not count toward yours. ¹

If you miss an RMD

The penalty is an excise tax of 25% of the amount you failed to take, reduced to 10% if you correct it within two years. You report it on Form 5329. The IRS can waive it entirely when the shortfall came from reasonable error and you are fixing it: take the missed amount out and attach an explanation to the form. ¹

Why RMDs exist

Minimum distribution rules entered the tax code in 1962, when the Self-Employed Individuals Tax Retirement Act required payouts from the new Keogh plans to begin by 70½. ⁸ They were rewritten several times in the 1980s, most recently by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, effective after 1988. ⁹ The Congressional Research Service gives the purpose as keeping tax-advantaged accounts from “being used as permanent tax shelters or as vehicles for transmitting wealth to beneficiaries.” ¹⁰

An RMD changes when tax is paid. Congress’s scorekeepers estimated that raising the start age from 70½ to 72 would cost $8.9 billion over ten years, and that SECURE 2.0’s move to 73 and 75 would cost $7.0 billion over ten years. ^{11, 12}Those estimates are small next to the accounts involved because the deferred tax is still collected later, mostly after the ten-year window. IRA owners held $14.6 trillion at the end of 2023. Owners 70 and older held $5.7 trillion of it and took 57% of the $515 billion withdrawn that year, a figure that includes withdrawals above the minimum. ¹³

Who the RMD rule constrains

The rule only binds people who would otherwise withdraw less than the minimum. The research puts that group at a large minority.

• Before 70½, few retirees touch these accounts. In household survey data, only 18% of people aged 60 to 69 with retirement accounts withdrew anything in a given year. After 70½, withdrawals rose to about 5% of balances a year. ¹⁴
• A study of 1.8 million IRA owners in IRS data from 2000 to 2013 estimated that 32% to 52% would prefer to withdraw less than their RMD. Between 45% and 60% of owners aged 70 to 74 withdrew within half a percentage point of their RMD, rising to 60% to 70% at ages 85 and older. ¹⁵
• Congress suspended RMDs in 2009 and 2020. About a third of TIAA-CREF participants subject to RMDs stopped withdrawals in 2009, ¹⁶ and IRA withdrawals by people over 72 fell substantially in 2020. ¹⁷
• A 2024 study of IRS data estimated that the RMD penalty causes 16.2% of traditional IRA holders to withdraw in years they otherwise would not. ¹⁸
• In Vanguard’s 2025 survey of its retired clients, 39% said they do not touch their savings until RMDs begin. ¹⁹

The academic studies use the rules before 2020, when RMDs began at 70½ and the penalty was 50%. ¹⁵ Everyone else already withdraws more than the minimum to spend, and the rule costs them nothing. The payout table explains part of this. A retiree who spends more than 4.1% of the balance each year from the IRA meets the RMD through age 75; the required rate passes 5% at 81 and 6% at 85.

Is the RMD table a good spending rule?

Some retirees spend exactly the RMD each year, and the research on that habit is split. In simulations by Sun and Webb, spending the RMD beat a fixed 4% rule and spending only interest and dividends, though it spent too little at younger ages. ²⁰ Blanchett found an RMD-based approach captured 99.89% of the efficiency of his dynamic benchmark. ²¹A 2026 life-cycle model with taxes and Social Security found that withdrawing only the RMD cost the equivalent of $1,321 to $9,919 for a 66-year-old, and that taking the larger of a fixed percentage and the RMD cut that loss about in half. ²² Taken together, the table works as a floor for spending and a poor ceiling. An earlier model from the same research group found that delaying or eliminating RMDs would change lifetime consumption little, with larger effects on withdrawals and taxes for households that want to leave bequests. ²³

What an RMD costs in tax

An RMD is ordinary income, and the tax on it depends on what else is in that year’s return. Three features of the federal code can push the cost of an extra IRA dollar above your bracket rate.

Social Security becomes taxable

Up to 85% of Social Security benefits become taxable once provisional income, which is your other income plus half your benefits, passes $25,000 for single filers or $32,000 for joint filers, with a second threshold at $34,000 or $44,000. ²⁴ Those amounts were set in 1983 and 1993 and have never been indexed for inflation. ²⁵ Inside the phase-in range, each extra IRA dollar adds 50 or 85 cents of taxable Social Security, so a dollar in the 12% bracket can cost 22.2 cents. Planners call this the tax torpedo.

Medicare premiums rise in steps

Medicare’s income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA) adds a surcharge to Part B and Part D premiums once modified AGI passes $109,000 for single filers or $218,000 for joint filers in 2026. At the first tier the surcharge is $81.20 a month for Part B plus $14.50 for Part D, per person. ²⁶ Premiums are set from the tax return two years earlier, so a 2026 RMD affects 2028 premiums. ²⁷ The tiers are cliffs: one dollar over a threshold costs the whole tier for the year.

The senior deduction phases out

From 2025 through 2028, taxpayers 65 and older get an extra deduction of up to $6,000 each, reduced by 6% of modified AGI above $75,000 for single filers or $150,000 for joint filers. ²⁸ Inside the phase-out, each extra dollar of income removes 6 cents of deduction, which adds about 1.3 points to the marginal rate in the 22% bracket. IRA distributions are not net investment income, but they do raise the modified AGI that decides whether the 3.8% net investment income tax applies to your other investment income. ²⁹

One couple, four balances, and the survivor

To see how these interact, we ran the calculator for a couple born in 1960, whose RMDs start at 75 in 2035, with $60,000 a year of Social Security and no other income, at four pre-tax balances. We then reran each case for a survivor who files single from 75 and keeps $36,000 of Social Security. Figures are in today’s dollars, with 2026 tax rules held constant and the unindexed Social Security thresholds shrinking 2.5% a year in real terms.

Summitward calculation with the calculator above. “Next $1k” is the federal tax on $1,000 more of IRA income, per dollar. “Tax from RMD” is federal tax with the RMD minus federal tax without it. Hypothetical households; results change with every input.

For the married couple with $1 million, the RMD falls in the 12% bracket, but the next IRA dollar costs 22.2% because it also makes Social Security taxable. At $2 million the couple is past the torpedo range at 75, so the next dollar costs 12%, rising to 22% by 80 as the RMD grows. The married $4 million couple crosses the first IRMAA threshold at 80.

The survivor pays more on the same RMD at every balance: 47% more at $1 million, and at $2 million the survivor is over the first IRMAA threshold the year RMDs begin. A married projection assumes both spouses live to 95. After a death, the surviving spouse can file jointly for that year and then usually files single, ³⁰ with brackets about half as wide and one Social Security check instead of two. If the survivor treats the inherited IRA as their own, the RMDs continue, figured on the survivor’s own age. Run the calculator’s survivor toggle at a few ages before deciding how much pre-tax money is too much.

Ways to lower the tax, and when to skip them

Roth conversions before the start age

Converting pre-tax money to a Roth IRA moves the tax to the conversion year and shrinks every later RMD. At equal tax rates the conversion changes nothing. $100,000 growing 6% a year for 20 years and taxed at 25% on withdrawal leaves $240,535; paying the 25% now and growing $75,000 in a Roth also leaves $240,535. The gain or loss comes from the gap between the rate you pay to convert and the rate the money would face later.

That makes the calculator’s “next $1k” column the number to compare. For the married $1 million couple above, RMD dollars cost 22.2% in the first years and 12% from 85 on. Converting during working years at 22% or 24% would gain them little or nothing.Converting in the gap years between retirement and Social Security, when the 12% bracket is often empty, would gain more. A survivor facing 22% to 28%, or heirs in high brackets, strengthen the case.

McQuarrie’s present-value analysis reaches a similar conclusion. He calls conversions aimed at reducing RMDs “a risky bet, often with small upside and substantial downside,” and finds them least risky for people who can convert at 12% or less, whose heirs will be in higher brackets, or who are temporarily in a low bracket. In his base case, with a small gap between today’s rate and the future rate, the converter has to live to 100 or more to see cash come back. ³¹ Coopersmith and Sumutka found that tax-aware withdrawal ordering left retirees more than 16% wealthier after 25 years than the conventional order while paying more total tax. ³² The target is after-tax wealth; the smallest lifetime tax bill is a different target.

A conversion in an RMD year has to come after that year’s RMD. The first dollars out of an IRA count toward the RMD, and an RMD cannot be rolled over or converted. ^{33, 34}

Qualified charitable distributions

From age 70½, you can send up to $111,000 a year (the 2026 limit) directly from an IRA to a charity. ³⁵ The transfer counts toward your RMD and stays out of AGI, ² so it also stays out of the Social Security and IRMAA calculations above. Donor-advised funds and supporting organizations cannot receive QCDs. ³³ For anyone who gives to charity and takes the standard deduction, a QCD is usually the cheapest way to give. The calculator’s QCD field shows the effect on your own numbers.

Reinvesting the RMD

Nothing requires you to spend an RMD. After tax, the money can go into a taxable brokerage account in the same funds, and many custodians will distribute shares in kind, reported at fair market value, without a sale. ³⁶ Your market exposure stays the same. What changes is that future returns on that money are taxed each year as dividends and realized gains instead of being deferred.

When to leave it alone

If the calculator shows an RMD-year rate at or below your rate today, if your RMDs are smaller than what you plan to spend, or if most of your savings are already in Roth or taxable accounts, the RMD needs no planning beyond meeting the deadline.

Inherited IRAs follow different rules

Most non-spouse beneficiaries must empty an inherited IRA by the end of the tenth year after the owner’s death. If the owner had already reached their required beginning date, the final regulations also require annual RMDs in years one through nine. Those rules apply from 2025, after the IRS waived penalties for missed annual amounts from 2021 through 2024. ^{4, 37} Spouses, minor children, disabled or chronically ill beneficiaries, and beneficiaries not more than 10 years younger than the owner have other options. The calculator does not model inherited accounts; the IRS FAQ covers each case. ¹

Frequently asked questions

What is the RMD age in 2026?

73 if you were born from 1951 through 1959, and 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. The 1959 answer comes from proposed regulations that are not yet final. Someone born in 1953 turns 73 in 2026, so 2026 is their first RMD year.

How do I calculate my RMD?

Divide the account balance on December 31 of last year by the Uniform Lifetime Table divisor for the age you reach this year. A $500,000 IRA at age 75 has a divisor of 24.6, for an RMD of $20,325.

Can I take all my RMDs from one account?

For IRAs, yes: add up each IRA’s RMD and take the total from any of them. The same works across 403(b) accounts. Each 401(k) or 457(b) plan has to pay its own RMD.

Do Roth 401(k)s have RMDs?

Not since 2024. SECURE 2.0 removed lifetime RMDs from Roth 401(k) and Roth 403(b) accounts, matching Roth IRAs.

What happens if I miss an RMD?

You owe a 25% excise tax on the shortfall, cut to 10% if you correct it within two years. Take the missed amount, file Form 5329, and ask for a waiver if the miss came from reasonable error.

Can I reinvest my RMD?

Yes, in a taxable account, including in kind. You cannot put it back into an IRA or convert it to a Roth.

Does my RMD raise my Medicare premiums?

It can. RMDs count in the modified AGI that sets IRMAA, using your return from two years earlier. For 2026 the first surcharge tier starts above $109,000 single or $218,000 joint.

Can I give my RMD to charity?

Yes, through a qualified charitable distribution from age 70½, up to $111,000 per IRA owner in 2026. It counts toward the RMD and is excluded from income. It has to go directly to the charity, and donor-advised funds do not qualify.

Key takeaways

• The math is one division. Last December 31’s balance divided by the Uniform Lifetime Table divisor, starting at 73 or 75 depending on birth year.
• An RMD forces a withdrawal, and spending stays your choice. After tax, the money can be reinvested, in kind if your custodian allows it.
• The rule binds a large minority. IRS data put the share who would withdraw less at 32% to 52%; the rest already take more.
• The bracket understates the cost. Social Security inclusion, IRMAA tiers and the 2025-2028 senior deduction phase-out can make an RMD dollar cost more than the bracket rate.
• Check the survivor years. In our modeled household, the same RMD cost a single-filing survivor 47% more federal tax than the couple.
• Convert only when today’s rate is lower.Compare it with the RMD-year rate, and use QCDs if you give to charity.

Related guides

• Roth Conversion Calculator: How Much to Convert Each Year compares filling each bracket before RMDs start, to age 95.
• Roth Conversion Ladder: A Step-by-Step Strategy covers converting in the low-income years before RMDs and Social Security begin.
• Tax-Aware Decumulation: A Guide for Self-Directed High Earners sequences withdrawals across brackets, NIIT, IRMAA and ACA subsidies.
• Roth vs. Traditional 401(k) and IRA: The Tax Math That Actually Matters is the same rate comparison made at contribution time.
• When to Claim Social Security: The Math Behind the Decision affects how many low-tax years you have before RMDs.
• Donate Appreciated Stock or Use a DAF? compares other ways to give; QCDs often beat both after 70½.
• Don’t Automatically Roll Over Your Old 401(k) includes the still-working exception and what a rollover changes.

Sources

1. Internal Revenue Service. “Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs.” Read October 2026. irs.gov
2. Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), 2025 edition, Appendix B. irs.gov
3. Treasury Decision 9930, “Updated Life Expectancy and Distribution Period Tables Used for Purposes of Determining Minimum Required Distributions.” 85 Fed. Reg., November 12, 2020. govinfo.gov
4. Internal Revenue Bulletin 2024-33, T.D. 10001, final regulations on required minimum distributions, August 12, 2024. irs.gov
5. Treasury and IRS. “Required Minimum Distributions,” proposed regulations, 89 Fed. Reg. 58644, July 19, 2024. govinfo.gov
6. Internal Revenue Service. Announcement 2026-7, Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-11, March 9, 2026. irs.gov
7. Internal Revenue Service. “Retirement Topics: Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs).” Read October 2026. irs.gov
8. U.S. House of Representatives. Conference Report 87-2411 on H.R. 10, Self-Employed Individuals Tax Retirement Act of 1962. finance.senate.gov
9. Internal Revenue Service. “Required Distributions,” Employee Plans continuing professional education text, revised April 2002. irs.gov
10. Elizabeth A. Myers. “Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) Rules for Original Owners of Retirement Accounts.” Congressional Research Service IF12750, August 29, 2024. congress.gov
11. Joint Committee on Taxation. JCX-54-19R, estimated revenue effects of the SECURE Act provisions, December 17, 2019. jct.gov
12. Joint Committee on Taxation. JCX-21-22, estimated budget effects of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, December 22, 2022. jct.gov
13. IRS Statistics of Income. Individual Retirement Arrangements, Table 4, tax year 2023 (age totals summed by Summitward). irs.gov
14. James M. Poterba, Steven F. Venti and David A. Wise. “The Drawdown of Personal Retirement Assets.” NBER Working Paper 16675, January 2011. nber.org
15. Jacob A. Mortenson, Heidi R. Schramm and Andrew Whitten. “The Effects of Required Minimum Distribution Rules on Withdrawals from Traditional IRAs.” National Tax Journal 72(3), 2019, 507-542. doi.org
16. Jeffrey R. Brown, James Poterba and David P. Richardson. “Do Required Minimum Distribution Rules Matter? The Effect of the 2009 Holiday on Retirement Plan Distributions.” Journal of Public Economics 151, 2017, 96-109; NBER Working Paper 20464. nber.org
17. Elena Derby, Lucas Goodman, Kathleen Mackie and Jacob Mortenson. “Changes in Retirement Savings During the COVID Pandemic.” April 2022. arxiv.org
18. Ellen Stuart and Victoria L. Bryant. “The Impact of Withdrawal Penalties on Retirement Savings.” Journal of Public Economics 232, 2024, 105083. doi.org
19. Vanguard. “Beyond RMDs: A Better Way to Turn Retirement Savings Into Income.” December 2025. vanguard.com
20. Wei Sun and Anthony Webb. “Should Households Base Asset Decumulation Strategies on Required Minimum Distribution Tables?” Center for Retirement Research at Boston College Working Paper 2012-10. crr.bc.edu
21. David M. Blanchett. “Simple Formulas to Implement Complex Withdrawal Strategies.” Journal of Financial Planning 26(9), September 2013, 40-48. financialplanningassociation.org
22. Vanya Horneff, David A. Love and Raimond Maurer. “Rules of Thumb and Retirement Accounts.” Journal of Banking & Finance 183, 2026, 107619. doi.org
23. Vanya Horneff, Raimond Maurer and Olivia S. Mitchell. “Do Required Minimum Distribution 401(k) Rules Matter, and for Whom? Insights from a Lifecycle Model.” Journal of Banking & Finance 154, 2023, 106941; NBER Working Paper 28490. nber.org
24. Internal Revenue Service. Publication 915, Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits. irs.gov
25. Social Security Administration. “Research Note #12: Taxation of Social Security Benefits.” ssa.gov
26. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles” fact sheet. cms.gov
27. Social Security Administration. POMS HI 01101.020, IRMAA sliding scale tables and MAGI. ssa.gov
28. Congressional Research Service. R48613, on the P.L. 119-21 deduction for seniors. congress.gov
29. Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8960, Net Investment Income Tax, 2025. irs.gov
30. Internal Revenue Service. Publication 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information. irs.gov
31. Edward F. McQuarrie. “Net Present Value Analysis of Roth Conversions.” Journal of Financial Planning 37(9), September 2024. financialplanningassociation.org
32. Lewis W. Coopersmith and Alan R. Sumutka. “Tax-Efficient Retirement Withdrawal Planning Using a Linear Programming Model.” Journal of Financial Planning 24(9), September 2011, 50-59. financialplanningassociation.org
33. 26 U.S.C. 408(d)(3)(E) and 408(d)(8). law.cornell.edu
34. 26 CFR 1.402(c)-2, eligible rollover distributions. law.cornell.edu
35. Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2025-67, 2026 limitations adjusted as provided in section 415(d). irs.gov
36. Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498. irs.gov
37. Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2024-35, certain required minimum distributions for 2024. irs.gov

Editor’s note

Rules and figures were checked against IRS, CMS and SSA sources in October 2026. Pending Treasury regulations may change details for 1959 births and some plan distributions. This guide is educational and is not tax advice; confirm your RMD with your custodian or a tax professional.