RMD Calculator

The one input that decides everything

Required minimum distributions are a schedule the tax code imposes on money that was never taxed on the way in. From a set age you must withdraw a rising percentage of a pre-tax account every year, whether you need the money or not, and it is ordinary income. The phase-out of most other retirement rules is gradual; this one is not. Miss it and the shortfall is taxed at 25% on top of the income tax, dropping to 10% only if you correct it inside the correction window.

The age at which that starts is the only genuinely complicated part, and it is complicated entirely because of how the law is written. It does not say "age 73". It says people who attain a particular age by a particular date, which translates into a rule about birth dates: 70½ if you were born before 1 July 1949, 72 if you were born between that date and the end of 1950, 73 if you were born from 1951 through 1959, and 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. Two colleagues who are both 73 this year can have different required beginning dates because of the year they were born in.

That is why this calculator asks for a birth year. Asking for an age and adding years to it is the most common way for a retirement tool to be quietly wrong: it works for most visitors, and fails for exactly the people standing either side of a boundary — including everyone born in the late 1950s, and anyone whose birthday falls early in a year while the tool assumes the end of it.

1959, and the year the statute is ambiguous

Anyone born in 1959 deserves their own paragraph, because the statute as drafted arguably applies both the age-73 and the age-75 rules to them. The IRS final regulations reserved a paragraph for a proposed regulation clarifying that a person born in 1959 begins at 73. This tool follows that reading, uses 73, and flags the birth year on screen so nobody treats it as settled law. If you were born in 1959, the useful action is a phone call to the custodian rather than a second opinion from a website: they will have the operational answer for their own accounts.

The other ambiguous case is the year 1949 itself, where the boundary falls in the middle of the year. A birth year cannot tell you which side of 1 July you were born on, so the page says so instead of choosing. If you were born in 1949, the applicable age is 70½ if you arrived before that date and 72 if you arrived after it.

The first year is a trap with a one-time escape hatch

Every distribution is due by 31 December of its own year — except the first, which gets until 1 April of the following year. That deadline is the required beginning date, and it looks like a gift, because it lets you skip a distribution in the year you turn the applicable age. It is not a gift for most people. If you use the extension, the second distribution is still due by 31 December of that same year, so the first extension pushes two distributions into one tax year. Both are income in the same 12 months, which can push you into a higher bracket, increase the taxable share of your Social Security, and raise your Medicare premium two years later through the income-related surcharge.

Use the extension deliberately — if you are in a high-income year, or you want the income to land in a year when you expect to be in a lower bracket — and not by accident. For anyone whose income is stable, taking the first distribution in its own year spreads the tax more evenly and is usually the cheaper road.

Charity, before anything else

The most efficient way to satisfy an RMD is a qualified charitable distribution: money sent directly from the IRA to a charity by the custodian. It counts towards the year's distribution and is excluded from income altogether, rather than deducted after the fact — so it reduces income rather than merely offsetting it, which matters for everything calculated from your adjusted gross income. For 2026 the limit is $111,000 a year, with a separate one-time election for a split-interest entity.

The mechanics matter: the transfer has to go from the custodian to the charity, not through you, or it becomes an ordinary withdrawal and a deduction. QCDs are available from age 70½, which is earlier than the RMD age for everyone alive today, so an owner planning charitable giving can start years before the first required distribution and reduce the balance that future distributions are calculated on.

Where the distribution has to come from, and where it does not

IRAs are aggregated: you work out the required amount for each traditional IRA, add them up, and may take the total from any one or several of them. Employer plans are not aggregated with IRAs or with each other — each 401(k) has to distribute its own amount. A Roth IRA has no lifetime required distribution at all, which is the structural advantage discussed on the IRA comparison page: the same contribution, no forced income. It does not survive inheritance for most heirs, though, since a Roth inherited by a non-spouse beneficiary is generally subject to the ten-year rule — the difference is that there is no income tax to pay when the money comes out.

One exception is worth knowing because it is often misapplied: a workplace plan can delay distributions until you actually retire, but only if you are still working for the employer sponsoring the plan, you are not a 5% owner, and the plan allows it. It never applies to an IRA. Anyone still working past the applicable age should check the plan document before assuming a distribution is not due.

Frequently asked questions

Why does this calculator ask for my birth year instead of my age?

Because that is what the law actually depends on. The applicable age is defined by date of birth: 70 and a half for those born before 1 July 1949, 72 for anyone born from July 1949 through 1950, 73 for those born from 1951 through 1959, and 75 for anyone born in 1960 or later. Two people who are both 73 in the same year can therefore have different required beginning dates. A calculator that takes your age has to guess which cohort you are in, and for the people born either side of a boundary that guess is wrong.

At what age does an RMD start?

It depends on your birth year: 73 if you were born from 1951 through 1959, and 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. For the small number of people born before 1951 the old rules apply — 72 for those born between July 1949 and the end of 1950, and 70 and a half for anyone born before July 1949, who are already well past their required beginning date. Those born in 1959 are a special case: the statute as drafted arguably applies both the age-73 and age-75 rules to them, and the IRS regulations reserve a paragraph to clarify it. This tool follows 73 and flags the year.

What is the deadline for the first RMD?

For the first year only, the deadline is 1 April of the following year — the required beginning date — instead of 31 December. Every distribution after that is due by 31 December of its own year. Taking that extension is not free: if you defer the first distribution to April, you must still take the second one by that December, so two distributions land in one tax year and are taxed together. For most people, taking the first one in its own year is the cheaper choice.

How is an RMD calculated?

The prior year end balance divided by a divisor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table, which rises from 27.4 at age 72 to 2.0 at age 120 and above. Because the divisor falls every year, the required percentage rises every year — from about 3.7% at 72 to 5.1% at 80, 8.2% at 90 and over 16% by 100. The balance used is the previous 31 December value, so a market fall this year does not reduce this year's distribution.

Can a charitable distribution count towards my RMD?

Yes. A qualified charitable distribution sent directly from the IRA to a charity counts towards the year's required minimum distribution and is excluded from your income, up to the annual limit — $111,000 for 2026, with a separate one-time election for a split-interest entity. That makes it the most efficient way for a charitably minded owner to satisfy an RMD, because it removes the distribution from income entirely rather than deducting it after the fact. The transfer must go directly to the charity from the custodian, and it can begin at age 70 and a half — earlier than the RMD age for everyone alive today.

What happens if I miss an RMD?

The shortfall is taxed at 25%, and that is on top of the ordinary income tax you owe on the distribution itself. The rate drops to 10% if you correct the shortfall during the correction window — by taking the missed amount and reporting it — which is why the first step on discovering a missed distribution is to take it immediately. The tax is reported on Form 5329. Custodians often calculate the figure for you, but the obligation is the account owner's, not theirs.

Do I have to take an RMD if I am still working?

Possibly, and it depends on which account. A workplace plan such as a 401(k) can defer distributions until you actually retire, but only if you are still working for the employer that sponsors the plan, you are not a 5% owner of the business, and the plan itself allows the delay. That exception never applies to an IRA: if a traditional IRA is subject to the rules, the distribution is required whether you are working or not. A Roth IRA has no lifetime RMD at all.

Reading the charts

The left chart shows both halves of the mechanism at once: the bars are the amount that must come out each year, and the line is that amount as a share of the balance. The bars can fall in a flat market while the percentage keeps climbing, which is the point — the requirement is a percentage, not a number. The right chart shows what the account does under that regime, with the cumulative tax drawn on the same axes. Over a long retirement the distributions can outrun the growth, and the balance turns down; where that happens is the answer to "will this account still be large when I am ninety", and it depends far more on the growth assumption you enter than on anything else.