Required Minimum Distributions: When They Start, How Much and the December 31 Deadline

1Which accounts, and when they start

RMDs apply to tax-deferred retirement savings: traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs and SIMPLE IRAs, and workplace plans such as 401(k), 403(b) and governmental 457(b) plans. They do not apply to a Roth IRA during the owner's lifetime, and since 2024 they no longer apply to designated Roth accounts inside 401(k) and 403(b) plans.

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People born in 1950 or earlier have already started under the older rules. Someone born in 1953, for example, turned 73 in 2026, so their first RMD is due by April 1, 2027, and their second by December 31, 2027.

2The first-year choice: April 1 or December 31

The first RMD is the only one you can delay into the following year. That sounds like a gift, but it means taking two distributions in the same year: the delayed first one by April 1 and the second by December 31. Both count as income that year, which can push you into a higher tax bracket, raise the taxable share of your Social Security benefits or lift your Medicare premiums through the income-related surcharge two years later.

For many people, taking the first RMD in the year they reach the starting age spreads the income more evenly. Compare both years' expected income before choosing. Our guides to taxes on Social Security and IRMAA explain the two thresholds most likely to be affected.

3How the amount is figured

For each account, divide the balance on December 31 of the previous year by the distribution period for your age that year. Most people use the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table; an account owner whose spouse is more than ten years younger and the sole beneficiary uses a different table with longer periods, which lowers the RMD.

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4Several accounts, several rules

• IRAs. Figure the RMD for each traditional IRA, add them up and take the total from any one or more of them.
• 403(b) accounts. The same is true of several 403(b) accounts: add the RMDs and withdraw from any of them.
• 401(k) and 457(b) plans. Each plan's RMD must be taken from that plan.
• Still working. If you work past the starting age and do not own 5 percent or more of the company, your current employer's plan may let you wait until April 1 after you retire. The exception does not apply to IRAs or to plans from former employers.

Plans and IRA custodians usually calculate the RMD and remind you, but the responsibility for taking it is yours. Ask the custodian to confirm the figure, especially in the first year or after moving money between accounts.

5Taxes on the withdrawal

An RMD from a pre-tax account is taxed as ordinary income in the year you take it, and it cannot be rolled over into another retirement account. IRA custodians withhold 10 percent for federal income tax unless you choose a different amount, including none; workplace plans have their own withholding rules. Our guide to federal tax brackets shows how the extra income is taxed, and people 65 and older may also benefit from the senior deduction.

If you give to charity, a qualified charitable distribution can help. From age 70½, you can have up to an annual limit sent directly from an IRA to a qualifying charity; the amount counts toward your RMD and is left out of your taxable income. It must go straight from the custodian to the charity, not through your bank account.

6Making the withdrawals routine

The simplest protection against a missed deadline is automation. Most custodians will pay the RMD in monthly or quarterly installments, or in one payment on a date you choose, and recalculate it each January. Spreading it over the year also smooths your income, and choosing withholding at the same time can save you from estimated tax payments.

The years before the starting age are worth planning too. Money converted from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA is taxed in the year of the conversion but is then free of RMDs for the rest of your life, so some people convert part of a balance in lower-income years between retiring and the starting age. Whether that pays depends on your tax rates now and later, which is a question for a tax professional.

7If you miss it, or take too little

The penalty is an excise tax of 25 percent of the amount you should have withdrawn and did not. It falls to 10 percent if you take the missed amount and file a corrected return within the correction window, which generally runs two years. You report it on Form 5329.

The IRS can waive the tax entirely if the shortfall came from a reasonable error and you are taking steps to fix it, such as a custodian's mistake, a serious illness or a misunderstanding of the rules. To ask, take the missed distribution as soon as you can, file Form 5329 and attach a short letter explaining what happened. Taking more than the minimum is never penalized, though the extra does not count toward next year's RMD.

8Inherited accounts follow different rules

Beneficiaries face their own schedule. A surviving spouse can usually treat an inherited IRA as their own. Most other beneficiaries who inherited from someone who died in 2020 or later must empty the account within ten years, and if the original owner had already begun RMDs, they may also need to take yearly distributions during those ten years. The rules turn on who you are, when the owner died and whether they had started, so check IRS Publication 590-B or ask the custodian before the first December 31.