🧮 RMD Calculator 2026: Find Your Required Withdrawal

By Muhammad Imran · Reviewed for accuracy against Internal Revenue Service guidance · Last updated November 3, 2026.

This free RMD calculator finds your required minimum distribution for 2026 in under a minute. Enter your birth year and your account balance on December 31 of last year, and it shows the amount the IRS requires you to withdraw, the factor it used, and the date it is due. A required minimum distribution, or RMD, is the smallest amount the IRS makes you take out of a traditional IRA or 401(k) each year once you reach a set age. The money sat untaxed while it grew, and the RMD is how the IRS starts collecting the tax. You can take out more than the minimum, but never less, and you cannot skip a year without paying for it.

What an RMD Is, in Plain English

For most of your working life, a traditional IRA or 401(k) was a deal: money went in before tax, it grew without tax, and you paid nothing until you took it out. The IRS never meant that deal to last forever. Once you reach a set age, the IRS requires you to start taking money out every year and paying income tax on it. That required amount is the RMD.

Three facts shape everything else on this page. First, the RMD is a minimum, not a target: you can take out more any year you like. Second, the amount is set by a formula, not by your plan or your bank. The IRS publishes one table, and the same division applies to everyone in the same situation. Third, the RMD is yours to spend, save, or give away once it leaves the account and the tax is paid.

The accounts that owe RMDs are the tax-deferred ones: traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs, 401(k), 403(b), and 457(b) plans, and profit-sharing plans. Roth IRAs never owe RMDs while the owner is alive, and Roth 401(k) and Roth 403(b) accounts have been free of lifetime RMDs since 2024. That is why the calculator asks for your account type first: pick a Roth account and there is nothing to calculate.

One point that surprises people: the RMD is worked out from a balance that is already a year old. Your 2026 RMD uses your balance on December 31, 2025, whatever the market has done since. That balance is printed on the year-end statement your plan sends you.

How the Math Works: One Division

The IRS formula has two parts and no hidden steps. Start with your account balance on December 31 of last year, then divide it by the factor for your age in the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. The answer is your RMD for this year.

Here is the example most people meet first. You turn 73 in 2026 and your traditional IRA held $500,000 on December 31, 2025. The factor for age 73 is 26.5. Divide $500,000 by 26.5 and you get $18,867.92. That is your 2026 RMD: about 3.8% of the balance. Take out at least that much before the deadline and you are done for the year.

Each year the factor gets smaller, so the required slice of the balance gets bigger. At 75 the factor is 24.6, so the same $500,000 balance means a $20,325.20 withdrawal, about 4.1%. At 80 the factor is 20.2, so it means $24,752.48, about 5.0%. The pattern is steady: the older you get, the larger the slice the IRS requires each year. The calculator above shows the next five years so you can see that climb before it arrives.

The age you use is the age you reach by December 31 of the distribution year, not your age on the day you take the money out. If your birthday is in November and you withdraw in March, you still use the factor for the age you turn that year.

One detail matters for married couples. The table below is the one most owners use, and it assumes a beneficiary ten years younger, which is why it works whether or not you have a beneficiary at all. If your spouse is your only beneficiary and is more than ten years younger, the Joint Life table applies instead and gives a smaller RMD. The calculator uses the Uniform Lifetime Table. If the spouse rule fits you, ask your plan for the Joint Life figure.

The Full IRS Uniform Lifetime Table

This is Table III from IRS Publication 590-B, Appendix B, the table the IRS publishes for most account owners. Find your age, divide your December 31 balance by the number next to it, and that is your RMD. The percentage column shows the share of the balance that number represents.

Age	Factor	Share of balance	Age	Factor	Share of balance
72	27.4	3.6%	96	8.4	11.9%
73	26.5	3.8%	97	7.8	12.8%
74	25.5	3.9%	98	7.3	13.7%
75	24.6	4.1%	99	6.8	14.7%
76	23.7	4.2%	100	6.4	15.6%
77	22.9	4.4%	101	6.0	16.7%
78	22.0	4.5%	102	5.6	17.9%
79	21.1	4.7%	103	5.2	19.2%
80	20.2	5.0%	104	4.9	20.4%
81	19.4	5.2%	105	4.6	21.7%
82	18.5	5.4%	106	4.3	23.3%
83	17.7	5.6%	107	4.1	24.4%
84	16.8	6.0%	108	3.9	25.6%
85	16.0	6.2%	109	3.7	27.0%
86	15.2	6.6%	110	3.5	28.6%
87	14.4	6.9%	111	3.4	29.4%
88	13.7	7.3%	112	3.3	30.3%
89	12.9	7.8%	113	3.1	32.3%
90	12.2	8.2%	114	3.0	33.3%
91	11.5	8.7%	115	2.9	34.5%
92	10.8	9.3%	116	2.8	35.7%
93	10.1	9.9%	117	2.7	37.0%
94	9.5	10.5%	118	2.5	40.0%
95	8.9	11.2%	119	2.3	43.5%
120 and over	2.0	50.0%

The table took effect for distribution years starting January 1, 2022, and it is unchanged for 2026. At 120 and over the factor stays at 2.0, which means half the balance each year.

What Age Do RMDs Start?

Your birth year sets the age, not the year the law was passed. Congress has shifted that age three times since 2019, which is why a friend's number may not match yours. The IRS final regulations give the schedule in the table below:

Born	RMDs start at age	First RMD year
Before July 1, 1949	70.5	Already started
July 1, 1949 through 1950	72	Already started
1951 through 1959	73	The year you turn 73
1960 or later	75	2035 at the earliest

The number that applies to most people using this tool is 73. If you were born in 1955, you reach 73 in 2028, so 2028 is the first year an RMD is required. If you were born in 1951, you reached 73 in 2024, and that was your first RMD year. If you were born in 1962, you reach 75 in 2037, and 2037 is the first year.

The 1959 birth year carries a footnote. SECURE 2.0 is written in a way that points to two different ages for that year, and the IRS final regulations did not settle it. The IRS proposed regulations point to 73, and that is the age this calculator uses. Anyone born in 1959 should treat 73 as the working number and confirm it with their plan or a tax professional.

For context, the starting age sat at 70.5 for decades. The SECURE Act of 2019 moved it to 72, and SECURE 2.0 moved it to 73 in 2022 and added the step to 75 for people born in 1960 or later. Anyone quoting 70.5 or 72 is quoting a rule that no longer applies.

The Two Deadlines, and the Trap Between Them

Only the first RMD gets the April 1 deadline. Every RMD after that first one is due by December 31 of its own year. The first year gives you extra time, and that extra time is what creates the trap.

Say you were born in 1954. You reach 73 in 2027, so 2027 is your first RMD year, and you can put it off until April 1, 2028. Your second RMD, for 2028, is still due by December 31, 2028. Wait until April 2028 for the first one and you take two RMDs in 2028, with both counted as income in that year. Two withdrawals in one year can lift you into a higher bracket, tax more of your Social Security, and raise Medicare premiums two years later through IRMAA. Taking the first RMD before December 31 of the first year spreads the two withdrawals across two tax years, which suits many people. That is a planning observation, not tax advice, because the better choice turns on your income in each year.

For the two groups using this page right now, the dates are these. Reached 73 in 2025: the first RMD deadline was April 1, 2026, and the 2026 RMD is due by December 31, 2026. Reaching 73 in 2026: the first RMD deadline is April 1, 2027, and the 2027 RMD is due by December 31, 2027. Once the first year is behind you, the deadline is always December 31.

People still working get one exception. If you belong to a 401(k), 403(b), or other employer plan, still work for that employer, and own 5% or less of the business, RMDs from that plan can wait until the year you retire. A traditional IRA gets no such delay, even for someone still working, and neither do plans from jobs already left behind. Some plan documents also insist on starting at 73 while still working, so read the plan rules as well as the IRS rules.

What Happens If You Miss an RMD

A missed RMD costs money, but it can be fixed. The IRS charges an excise tax of 25% on whatever you failed to withdraw by the due date. Skip a $10,000 RMD entirely and the tax is $2,500. Take $8,000 of that $10,000 and the tax is 25% of the $2,000 shortfall, or $500. Report the tax on Form 5329 with the return for the year the RMD belonged to.

Fixing it fast cuts the rate. Correct the shortfall within two years and the tax drops to 10%: $1,000 instead of $2,500 on a $10,000 miss, or $200 instead of $500 on a $2,000 shortfall. Withdraw the missed amount as soon as you can, file Form 5329, and pay the 10%.

A waiver is also possible. When the shortfall came from an honest mistake and you are taking reasonable steps to correct it, the IRS may drop the tax to zero. Request it by filing Form 5329 with a letter that explains what went wrong and what you did to fix it. A birth year recorded wrong, a plan that sent the wrong figure, or a death in the family that year are the sort of honest mistakes that qualify. The waiver is never automatic, and it is never given for skipping the withdrawal on purpose.

Two figures still floating around are out of date. The penalty was 50% before SECURE 2.0, not 25%, so any page quoting 50% as the current rate is using old law. The IRS also waived penalties for certain missed distributions in 2021 through 2024 while the inherited-account rules were being finalized, and that relief has now ended. From 2025 onward, the 25% rate applies, with the 10% correction and the waiver as the ways out.

Which Accounts Owe RMDs, and How to Take Them

Every tax-deferred account owes an RMD: traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs, 401(k), 403(b), and 457(b) plans, and profit-sharing plans. The amount is worked out account by account, but the money does not always have to come out account by account.

IRAs are the flexible case. Figure the RMD for each IRA on its own, add the figures together, then take the combined total from one IRA or split it across them as you like. Employer plans are the strict case: each 401(k), 403(b), and 457(b) plan stands alone, and its RMD must leave that plan. An IRA withdrawal cannot cover a 401(k) RMD, and a 401(k) withdrawal cannot cover an IRA RMD.

Roth accounts sit outside the rule. A Roth IRA owes no RMDs during the owner's lifetime, at any age, and Roth 401(k) and Roth 403(b) accounts have been free of them since 2024. Savings held entirely in Roth accounts mean no RMD to plan around while you are alive. The picture changes for heirs: beneficiaries still owe RMDs on inherited Roth accounts, and inherited traditional IRAs follow the 10-year rule, which our RMD rules guide explains in brief.

A few practical points. Your plan or IRA custodian must either give you the RMD amount or offer to work it out, and that notice arrives by January 31. Most custodians will also pay the money out on a schedule you choose, monthly or once a year, which is the easiest way to never miss a deadline. Tax can be withheld from the withdrawal, and you can receive it as cash or, in some plans, as shares moved into a taxable account. What the IRS counts is the value that left the account, not the form it took.

How an RMD Affects Your Taxes and Medicare

An RMD counts as ordinary income in the year you take it, except for any part already taxed, such as nondeductible contributions. That extra income can ripple further than the tax on the withdrawal itself. For many retirees, the RMD is the piece that pushes Social Security into tax: up to 85% of your benefit can become taxable depending on your total income. The same extra income can raise your Medicare premiums two years later, because IRMAA is set from your tax return from two years ago.

That chain is why the first years of RMDs deserve a plan, not just a withdrawal. A $20,000 RMD does not only cost the tax on $20,000: it can also make more of your Social Security taxable and add a monthly IRMAA surcharge to your Part B and Part D premiums. Use our free IRMAA Estimator to see whether your income puts you over a threshold, and read our RMD rules guide for the full picture, including qualified charitable distributions.

One more planning note, not tax advice: the year you turn 72 is the last year you can move money out of a traditional IRA without first taking an RMD. Once you reach RMD age, the RMD must come out first and cannot itself be converted, though you can still convert extra money on top of it. Roth conversions done before RMDs start shrink the balance the RMD is figured from, and so shrink future RMDs, but the conversion itself is taxable income that year. Make conversion and charitable-distribution decisions with a tax professional who sees your whole return, not from a calculator alone.

RMD Questions, Answered

Sources

Figures and rules on this page come from the IRS: Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), including Appendix B, Table III, the Uniform Lifetime Table; Retirement plan and IRA required minimum distributions FAQs; and Retirement topics, Required minimum distributions (RMDs). The starting ages come from the IRS final regulations, T.D. 10001, published at 89 FR 58886 on July 19, 2024, and the 1959 reading from the IRS proposed regulations REG-103529-23.

For the rules behind the number, read our RMD rules guide for 2026, and to check whether your income adds a Medicare surcharge, use our IRMAA Estimator. If a letter about your retirement account looks wrong, check it with our Letter Explainer first.