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Required minimum distributions

RMD Calculator: Required Minimum Distribution

Calculate Required Minimum Distributions.

By Jeff Beem

Updated

01

Personal baseline

RMD age (SECURE Act)
$
02

Spousal beneficiary

03

Growth assumption

%
RMD snapshot

2026 estimate

Required distribution
$12,195

Distribution period 24.6 yr

Tax

This amount will be taxed as ordinary income unless it is from a Roth account.

Penalty

Missing RMDs can trigger a heavy IRS penalty on the shortfall; verify with your custodian and tax advisor.

Key figures

Current age75
Distribution period24.6

RMD curve

RMDs often peak in late life as the divisor shrinks; balance and return assumptions change the shape.

QCDs

Qualified charitable distributions can satisfy RMDs without increasing AGI, confirm eligibility with a tax professional.

Inherited IRAs

Non-spouse beneficiaries may face the 10-year rule; distributions can bunch into higher brackets.

The taxes an RMD triggers beyond the RMD itself

For a 75-year-old with a $300,000 traditional IRA, the 2026 RMD is $300,000 ÷ 24.6 = $12,195. That's the visible number. The hidden costs are what that $12,195 does to the rest of the tax return: it can flip Social Security benefits from untaxed to 85% taxable, push a Medicare beneficiary across an IRMAA threshold worth about $1,148 per person for the year, and stack on top of every other income source at ordinary rates. The four points below address those second-order effects.

Where RMD planning actually pays

Pre-RMD years are the cheapest time to move money out of tax-deferred accounts

Between retirement and the start of RMDs (typically ages 60 to 72–75 depending on birth year), taxable income often sits at its lowest point of someone's adult life. Voluntary IRA withdrawals or Roth conversions during that window fill the 12% and 22% brackets at low cost and shrink the balance that future RMDs apply to. For a married couple with $30,000 of Social Security and no wages, the top of the 12% federal bracket sits at $100,800 of taxable income for 2026 (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32); a Roth conversion that fills the rest of the bracket costs 12 cents on the dollar now versus 22 cents or 24 cents once the RMD stacks on top of Social Security and pension income later.

The real RMD cost is what it does to Social Security and Medicare

Each RMD dollar gets taxed twice in slow motion. Once Social Security combined income (AGI + 50% of benefits) crosses $34,000 (single) or $44,000 (MFJ), every new dollar of ordinary income makes 85 cents of Social Security newly taxable, multiplying the effective marginal rate by about 1.85: 12% federal turns into roughly 22% effective, and 22% turns into roughly 41%. For 2026 Medicare IRMAA, MAGI above $109,000 (single) or $218,000 (MFJ, based on 2024 income) triggers a Tier 1 surcharge of about $1,148 per person for the year on Part B and Part D combined, and IRMAA is a cliff: one dollar over the threshold triggers the full year of surcharges, not a gradual phase-in.

QCDs are the cleanest RMD tool once you're 70½

Qualified Charitable Distributions go directly from a traditional IRA to a 501(c)(3), count toward the RMD, and never enter taxable income. The 2026 limit is $111,000 per individual ($222,000 for a couple where both spouses have their own IRA and are 70½+). Because QCDs lower AGI instead of generating a deduction, they help even if you take the standard deduction, and they reduce the MAGI that drives Social Security taxability and IRMAA. Under the OBBBA charitable-deduction changes that take effect in 2026 (a 0.5%-of-AGI floor for itemizers), QCDs become structurally cleaner than itemized cash donations for most retirees who already give to charity.

RMD percentages roughly double between age 75 and age 90

The Uniform Lifetime Table divisor shrinks every year, so the required percentage of the prior-year balance climbs sharply: 4.07% at 75 (24.6 years), 4.95% at 80 (20.2), 6.25% at 85 (16.0), 8.20% at 90 (12.2). A 5%-return portfolio that's comfortably outpacing the RMD at 75 is usually losing ground to it by the mid-80s. Tax planning needs to model rising distributions, not flat ones, and that's a large part of why deferring all withdrawals to the last legal moment usually produces a worse lifetime tax outcome than starting voluntary distributions earlier and smoothing them across decades.

RMD Calculator (2026): Required Minimum Distributions

At age 75, an IRS divisor of 24.6 years means a $300,000 traditional IRA owes a $12,195 RMD this year. The calculator runs that math for any age between 72 and 100, switches to the Joint Life Table when a spouse is 10+ years younger, and projects the next decade of RMDs at your assumed return rate.

What this calculator does

Divides your prior-year-end account balance by the appropriate distribution period from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table (or the Joint Life Table when a spouse is 10+ years younger and is the sole primary beneficiary), then projects how the RMD and account balance evolve over the next decade or more at your assumed return rate.
  • Outputs:
    Current-year RMD amount, distribution period from the IRS table, year-by-year RMD projections, projected balance trajectory, and the percentage of the balance required each year.
  • Limits:
    Does not handle inherited-IRA 10-year-rule distributions, model Roth conversion strategies (use the RMD vs. Roth Conversion calculator for that), or compute the tax owed on RMD income. Applies to traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and similar tax-deferred accounts; Roth IRAs have no RMD during the original owner's lifetime.

The math

The IRS formula is a single division.
RMD=Account Balance (Dec 31 prior year)Distribution Period\text{RMD} = \frac{\text{Account Balance (Dec 31 prior year)}}{\text{Distribution Period}}
The distribution period comes from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table in Publication 590-B (post-2022 values): 27.4 years at age 72, 24.6 at 75, 20.2 at 80, 16.0 at 85, 12.2 at 90. As the divisor shrinks, the required percentage of the balance climbs from about 3.65% at 72 to 8.20% at 90. The 2026 table values are the same as 2025; the IRS hasn't reissued the table since the 2022 update.
  • Joint Life Table:
    When a spouse is 10+ years younger and is the sole primary beneficiary, the Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy Table replaces the Uniform table and extends the distribution period. At age 75 with a 60-year-old spouse, the period rises from 24.6 to about 29.6 years, cutting the RMD on a $300,000 balance from $12,195 to $10,135 (about 17% lower).
  • Worked example (Uniform, age 75):
    $300,000 ÷ 24.6 = $12,195.12. With a 5% return assumption: prior balance grows to $300,000 × 1.05 = $315,000, then the RMD is withdrawn, leaving $302,805 at year end. The age-76 divisor is 23.7, so next year's RMD is $302,805 ÷ 23.7 ≈ $12,776.
  • Projection method:
    Each projected year grows the prior balance at the assumed return, subtracts that year's RMD, and divides the result by the next year's divisor. Balances typically rise through the early 80s when 5% returns outpace divisors near 4-5%, then flatten and decline as the divisor drops below the return.
  • Edge cases:
    The Uniform table starts at age 72 and the calculator uses the divisor for the age you reach during the distribution year (not the age at year start). The 2026 table is also the basis for 2027+ projections in the calculator; if the IRS reissues the table, projections more than a year out are estimates.

Using the calculator

The two inputs that drive the answer are age and the December 31 prior-year balance; everything else affects the projection table, not this year's RMD.
  • Age:
    Enter the age you reach during the distribution year. The calculator uses the year-end age and selects the matching divisor automatically.
  • Account balance:
    Use the combined December 31 prior-year balance across all traditional IRAs and tax-deferred accounts you're aggregating. RMDs from multiple IRAs can be totaled and pulled from any combination of those IRAs (401(k)s have to be calculated and withdrawn per plan).
  • Life-expectancy table:
    Uniform Lifetime Table is the default. Switch to the Joint Life Table only when a spouse is 10+ years younger and is the sole primary beneficiary.
  • Growth rate:
    The expected return drives the projection columns. 4-5% is a common conservative planning assumption; the projection is most sensitive to this number in the early 80s, where small differences compound across many years.

RMD age and the SECURE Act

The starting age depends on birth year because SECURE 1.0 (2019) and SECURE 2.0 (2022) raised the trigger in two steps. Born July 1, 1949 or later, but before 1951: age 72 (the original SECURE 1.0 rule). Born 1951-1959: age 73 (SECURE 2.0). Born 1960 or later: age 75 (SECURE 2.0; first affected cohort hits the trigger in 2035). The calculator picks the correct starting age from birth year automatically.
  • First-year deferral:
    The first RMD can be deferred to April 1 of the year after you reach RMD age. Deferring stacks two RMDs (the previous year's and the current year's) into one tax year, which usually pushes more income into a higher bracket and is rarely worth doing.
  • Roth IRAs:
    No RMD during the original owner's lifetime. Roth 401(k)s also dropped their RMD requirement starting in 2024 under SECURE 2.0, matching Roth IRAs.

How RMDs and balances move over time

Two opposing forces drive the projection: a balance that grows at the assumed return rate and a divisor that shrinks every year. Until the divisor drops below the return, the balance keeps rising despite the RMD; after that crossover, the balance flattens and then declines.
  • Pure-divisor growth:
    Even with a flat $300,000 balance, the same dollar balance produces $12,195 at 75, $14,851 at 80 (a 22% jump in five years), $18,750 at 85, and $24,590 at 90. The divisor alone roughly doubles the required dollar amount across that 15-year span.
  • With 5% returns:
    On a $300,000 starting balance at age 75, balances commonly peak somewhere around age 82-86 before declining, depending on the actual return path. The peak isn't tied to a single age; it's wherever the divisor first dips below the return rate. With 4% returns the peak comes earlier; with 7% it comes later or not at all within a normal lifespan.
  • Tax-bracket implication:
    RMDs aren't a flat planning problem. Modeling them as a constant dollar amount understates the tax exposure of the late 80s and 90s, when both the percentage and (often) the dollar amount are higher than at the start.

Tax effects in one place

RMDs are taxed as ordinary income at the marginal federal rate, plus state income tax in most states. The bigger story is how that income interacts with everything else on the return.
  • Ordinary-income stacking:
    An RMD lands on top of Social Security, pension, and any other taxable income, so its real bracket is set by the total. A $12,000 RMD that crosses from the 12% to the 22% bracket effectively costs 22% on the dollars above the threshold, even if average rates are still low.
  • Social Security taxability:
    Combined income above $25,000 (single) or $32,000 (MFJ) makes 50% of Social Security newly taxable; above $34,000 (single) or $44,000 (MFJ), 85%. In the 85% zone, every additional dollar of RMD makes 85 cents of Social Security newly taxable, multiplying the effective marginal rate by about 1.85.
  • 2026 Medicare IRMAA:
    Surcharges on Part B and Part D kick in when 2024 MAGI exceeds $109,000 (single) or $218,000 (MFJ). Tier 1 adds about $81/month to Part B and $14.50/month to Part D per person, roughly $1,148/year. Each tier is a cliff, not a phase-in: a single dollar over the threshold triggers the full year of surcharges.
  • QCDs:
    For account owners 70½ or older, the 2026 limit is $111,000 per person. QCDs satisfy the RMD without entering AGI, which is why they're disproportionately valuable to retirees who already give to charity, take the standard deduction, or sit near a Social Security or IRMAA threshold.

Penalties and account aggregation

The penalty for missing an RMD was 50% pre-SECURE 2.0; it's now 25% of the shortfall, and 10% if corrected within a two-year window. The IRS can also waive the penalty entirely if you can show reasonable cause and have corrected the shortfall (Form 5329).
  • IRA aggregation:
    Calculate the RMD per IRA using each account's December 31 prior-year balance. The total can be withdrawn from any combination of IRAs: $10,000 owed from IRA #1 and $5,000 from IRA #2 can be satisfied by withdrawing $15,000 from IRA #1 if you prefer. 403(b) accounts have a similar aggregation rule among themselves.
  • 401(k) plans don't aggregate:
    Each 401(k), 457(b), or 403(a) plan must take its own RMD from its own balance. You can't satisfy a 401(k) RMD by withdrawing from an IRA, and you can't satisfy one 401(k)'s RMD from another 401(k).
  • Inherited IRAs are separate:
    An inherited IRA's RMD can't be satisfied from your own IRA or vice versa. The 10-year rule under SECURE 2.0 applies to most non-spouse beneficiaries; the IRS clarified in 2024 that annual RMDs are required during the 10 years when the original owner had already started RMDs, in addition to full distribution by year 10.

FAQ

I am 75 with $300,000 in my IRA; exactly how much does the IRS require me to withdraw this year to avoid penalties?

At age 75, the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table shows a distribution period of 24.6 years. Your 2026 RMD is $300,000 ÷ 24.6 = $12,195.12. You must withdraw at least this amount by December 31, 2026, to avoid the 25% penalty on the shortfall. The penalty is reduced to 10% if you correct the error timely.

How will my RMD amount change over the next 10 years as my distribution period shrinks?

RMDs typically increase each year as the distribution period decreases. For example, at age 75 (24.6 years), a $300,000 balance requires $12,195. At age 80 (20.2 years), the same balance would require $14,851; a 22% increase. However, if your account grows faster than withdrawals, the dollar amount may increase even more. Use the calculator's projections to see how your RMDs will change over time.

If my portfolio earns 5% annually, will my balance keep up with the increasing RMD requirements?

It depends on your age and account balance. In early RMD years (ages 72-80), 5% growth often exceeds RMD withdrawals, so balances may continue growing. In later years (ages 85+), RMDs become a larger percentage of the balance, and withdrawals may outpace growth, causing balances to decline. The calculator shows year-by-year projections so you can see when your balance peaks and begins declining.

What is the financial impact if my spouse is significantly younger than me?

If your spouse is 10+ years younger and is your sole primary beneficiary, you can use the Joint Life Table, which extends your distribution period. For example, at age 75 with a spouse age 60, your distribution period increases from 24.6 years to approximately 29.6 years, reducing your RMD from $12,195 to $10,135; saving $2,060 in taxable income. This extends tax-deferred growth and reduces annual tax liability.

What is the SECURE Act and how does it affect RMD age?

The SECURE Act (2019) and SECURE 2.0 (2022) raised the RMD starting age in two steps. Born July 1, 1949 or later, but before 1951: age 72 (the original SECURE 1.0 rule). Born 1951–1959: age 73. Born 1960 or later: age 75 (the first cohort affected hits the trigger in 2035). The calculator picks the correct starting age from birth year automatically.

What is the penalty for not taking an RMD?

Under SECURE 2.0, the penalty for missing an RMD is 25% of the shortfall (down from 50% pre-2023), reduced to 10% if you correct the error within a two-year window. Worked example: a $12,000 RMD with only $8,000 withdrawn leaves a $4,000 shortfall and a $1,000 penalty (25% of $4,000), or $400 if corrected timely. The IRS can also waive the penalty entirely on Form 5329 if you can show reasonable cause and have made up the shortfall.

Can I avoid taxes on my RMD by donating to charity?

Yes, through Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs). If you're 70½ or older, you can send up to $111,000 in 2026 (indexed for inflation; up from $108,000 in 2025) directly from your IRA to a qualified 501(c)(3) charity. The QCD counts toward the RMD but never enters taxable income. For a $12,000 RMD sent as a QCD, that means about $1,440 saved in the 12% bracket or $2,640 in the 22% bracket, with the additional benefit of lower MAGI for Social Security taxability and Medicare IRMAA.

What happens to RMDs for inherited IRAs?

Non-spouse beneficiaries are subject to the 10-year rule (SECURE Act 2.0), meaning inherited IRAs must be fully distributed within 10 years. Spouse beneficiaries can treat the IRA as their own and use their own RMD schedule. The calculator focuses on original account owners, inherited IRA rules are different and require separate calculations.

Do Roth IRAs have RMD requirements?

No, Roth IRAs do not have RMD requirements during the original owner's lifetime. However, inherited Roth IRAs are subject to the 10-year rule for non-spouse beneficiaries. This is one advantage of Roth accounts, you can leave funds to grow tax-free indefinitely without mandatory withdrawals.

How do I calculate my RMD if I have multiple IRAs?

Calculate the RMD separately for each IRA using each account's December 31 balance. However, you can withdraw the total RMD amount from any combination of IRAs, you don't need to withdraw from each account proportionally. For example, if IRA #1 requires $10,000 and IRA #2 requires $5,000, you can withdraw all $15,000 from IRA #1 if you prefer.

Sources & citations

References used for the calculation method and definitions. Links open in a new tab when available.

[1]
IRS Publication 590-B – Distributions from IRAs

Official IRS publication with Uniform Lifetime Table, Joint Life Table, and complete RMD calculation rules.

[2]
IRS – Retirement Topics: Required Minimum Distributions

IRS overview of RMD rules, SECURE Act age changes, penalty rates, and correction procedures.

Financial Estimation Note

General Projections: Results are mathematical estimates based on the rates and formulas currently loaded for this tool, including year-specific tax data where noted. They are intended for high-level planning only.

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Confirm Numbers: Financial laws change frequently. Please verify all results with a qualified professional (CPA, Financial Planner, or Lawyer) before making significant financial decisions.

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