RMD Calculator

A required minimum distribution (RMD) calculator determines the minimum amount that must be withdrawn each year from a US tax-deferred retirement account such as a traditional IRA or 401(k). It is used by US retirees and beneficiaries to avoid costly penalties from the IRS for failing to take the correct minimum withdrawal.

How to Use the RMD Calculator

1. Enter the total balance in your traditional IRA, 401(k), or other qualifying account as of 31 December of the prior year.
2. Enter your age as of 31 December of the current year.
3. If you have a spouse who is your sole beneficiary and is more than 10 years younger than you, indicate this as it affects the distribution period used.
4. The calculator looks up the applicable distribution period from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table and divides your account balance by this figure.
5. The result is your required minimum distribution for the current year.

The Formula

RMD = Account Balance (31 December prior year) / Distribution Period (from IRS Uniform Lifetime Table)

The distribution period is a life expectancy factor published by the IRS that decreases as you age, requiring larger withdrawals over time as a percentage of the remaining balance. For most retirees, the table starts at a distribution period of approximately 27.4 at age 72, falling to lower figures in subsequent years.

Real-World Example

Your traditional IRA had a balance of $480,000 on 31 December of last year. You are turning 75 this year. The IRS Uniform Lifetime Table gives a distribution period of 24.6 for age 75.

RMD = $480,000 / 24.6 = $19,512

You must withdraw at least $19,512 from this account during the current tax year. The withdrawal is added to your taxable income for the year. If you fail to take this distribution, the IRS imposes an excise tax of 25% (reduced to 10% if corrected promptly) on the amount you should have withdrawn.

RMD Age Rules and Recent Changes

Under the SECURE 2.0 Act (2022), the age at which RMDs must begin was raised from 72 to 73 for those who turn 72 after 31 December 2022, and will rise to 75 for those born after 1960. RMDs generally apply to traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, and most employer-sponsored plans. Roth IRAs do not require RMDs during the account owner's lifetime, which is one of their key advantages for those who do not need the income. Inherited IRAs have different rules and typically require distributions over 10 years under current law, with some exceptions for eligible designated beneficiaries.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if I take out more than the RMD? You can always withdraw more than the RMD in any year. The RMD is a minimum, not a maximum. Additional withdrawals above the RMD are simply added to taxable income. However, you cannot carry forward excess withdrawals to reduce a future year's RMD.

Can I reinvest my RMD? Yes, but not back into a tax-deferred account. Once an RMD is distributed, you cannot contribute it to an IRA. You can invest it in a taxable brokerage account, a Roth IRA (if you are eligible to contribute), or savings.

Do I need to take an RMD from every retirement account separately? For traditional IRAs, you can aggregate the RMDs across multiple accounts and withdraw the total from any one or combination of them. For 401(k) accounts, each plan's RMD must generally be satisfied separately from within that plan.

Is an RMD subject to income tax? Yes. Distributions from traditional IRAs and most 401(k) accounts are taxed as ordinary income in the year received, as the contributions were originally made pre-tax. This can push you into a higher tax bracket, so tax planning around the timing and amount of withdrawals is important.

The distribution period over the years

The formula section above explains that the distribution period falls as the account owner ages, which raises the withdrawal as a share of the balance. The table below makes the size of that change visible. It holds the balance fixed at the $480,000 used in the worked example, so the only thing moving down the table is the distribution period published by the IRS.

A real balance does not sit still while the ages pass, and the table is not a projection of a real account. It isolates one variable. On a balance that also grows, the percentage of it withdrawn each year still climbs, but the dollar amount climbs faster, because the period is shrinking underneath a rising base.

Two rows are worth a second look. At 85 the period is 16.0, so the required distribution is exactly one sixteenth of the balance, which is 6.250%. At 100 the period is 6.4, so the account owner must withdraw a sixteenth of the balance on top of the sixth already implied by the age. The share requirement more than quadruples between 72 and 100 on an unchanged balance.

Tax on the withdrawal, worked through

The distribution itself is not lost money. It moves from a tax-deferred account to a taxable one, and the tax is what the account owner was deferring all along.

On the $19,512.20 that dividing $480,000 by 24.6 actually returns, an owner in the 22% bracket owes $4,292.68 of federal income tax, and one in the 24% bracket owes $4,682.93. Both figures ignore state tax and the effect on the taxation of Social Security benefits, which can raise the true marginal cost above the bracket rate.

The penalty for not taking the distribution is far larger than the tax on taking it. The excise tax under the SECURE 2.0 Act is 25% of the amount that should have been distributed but was not, or 10% if the shortfall is corrected within the correction window the statute allows. An owner who takes nothing against a $19,512.20 requirement owes $4,878.05 at the 25% rate, or $1,951.22 at the corrected 10% rate, on top of the income tax still due when the money is eventually withdrawn.

The balance after a correct distribution is $460,487.80 on this example. That is the base the next year's calculation starts from, if the market has not moved it first.

Which starting age applies to which birth year

The page above says RMDs begin at 73 for those who turn 72 after 31 December 2022 and rise to 75 for those born after 1960. The first part matches the statute. The second part is off by a year, and the difference matters to anyone born in 1960.

The line for 1959 is not a simplification on my part. The Congressional Research Service has noted that the drafting of SECURE 2.0 leaves people born in that single year apparently subject to both ages, because the two effective-date tests overlap. Anyone born in 1959 should work from their plan's own determination rather than from a summary table, including this one.

For someone born in 1960 or later the applicable age is 75, so the first required distribution is for the year they turn 75, and it can be deferred to 1 April of the following year. Deferring the first one means taking two distributions in that following calendar year, which can push the owner into a higher bracket in a single year. That is the reason most advisers take the first distribution in the year it is required rather than in the year it is allowed.

Which accounts aggregate and which do not

The calculation is per account in the arithmetic and per person in the withdrawal, and the two rules are not the same.

Traditional IRAs aggregate. An owner with three traditional IRAs works out the required distribution on each one, adds the three figures together, and may then take the whole total from any one of the three or from any combination. The IRS asks only that the total be right for the year.

Workplace plans do not aggregate with each other. Each 401(k) plan's required distribution has to be satisfied from within that plan, so an owner with two former employers' plans cannot take both amounts out of one of them. A plan that permits transfers may allow a rollover into an IRA, after which the aggregation rule applies to the combined balance, but the rollover has to happen before the distribution year and the plan has to allow it.

Roth IRAs sit outside all of this. An original owner of a Roth IRA has no required distribution during their lifetime, which is the feature that makes the account useful for an owner who does not need the income and wants to leave the balance to heirs.

One valuation date fixes the whole calculation

Every figure on this page comes from one valuation date: the balance in the account on 31 December of the year before the distribution year.

That single date is the assumption to check first, because nothing else in the formula absorbs a mistake in it. A market fall in February does not reduce the year's required distribution. A market rise in November does not increase it. The distribution is fixed by a balance that no longer exists by the time the money moves, and an owner who revalues the account in the spring and recalculates will get two numbers for one year.

The other assumption is the rounding. Divide by the period and the result usually carries cents. Any amount taken at or above the calculated figure satisfies the requirement, and the tax return reports the actual distribution, so rounding up to the nearest dollar is safe and rounding down is not. Where a plan administrator computes the figure independently, use the administrator's number: it is the one the plan will report.

Also try these free tools:

• Retirement Income
• Safe Withdrawal Rate
• Retirement Age