401(k) withdrawal calculator

How the calculator works

Enter the amount, the account and your age on December 31. We work out your 2026 federal income tax twice, with the withdrawal and without it, using the brackets, the standard deduction for your filing status and any other income you enter, including how much more of your Social Security becomes taxable. The difference is the tax the withdrawal adds. It stacks on top of your other income, so most of it is taxed at your top bracket, not your average rate.

Then comes the 10% additional tax, often called the early withdrawal penalty, on money taken out before 59 and a half, unless the rule of 55 or another IRS exception applies. In the first 2 years of a SIMPLE IRA it is 25%. A state rate, if you enter one, applies to the whole amount. What is left is what you keep.

At 59 or 60, your age on December 31 does not show whether you are past 59 and a half on the day of the withdrawal, so the calculator asks.

A worked example

A single 50-year-old earning $60,000 in wages takes $30,000 out of a 401(k) in 2026.

• Without the withdrawal, $60,000 minus the $16,100 standard deduction leaves $43,900 of taxable income and $5,020 of tax.
• With it, taxable income is $73,900. The first $12,400 is taxed at 10%, the next $38,000 at 12% and the last $23,500 at 22%: $10,970.
• Federal income tax added: $5,950. The 10% additional tax: $3,000.
• What they keep: $21,050 of the $30,000, or $19,550 after a 5% state income tax.

Take the same withdrawal at 56, from the plan of an employer left in or after the year they turned 55: the rule of 55 removes the $3,000 and they keep $24,050 before state tax.

Why does my 401(k) withhold 20%?

When a plan pays the money to you, it must hold back 20% for federal income tax, even if you mean to roll it over later. In the example, $6,000 goes to the IRS and $24,000 reaches the bank. The withholding is a down payment, not the bill: the withdrawal adds $8,950 of federal tax (income tax plus the 10%), so about $2,950 more is due at filing. With little other income, part of the 20% comes back as a refund instead. An IRA withholds 10% unless you choose another amount or none.

A direct rollover to an IRA or another plan avoids both the withholding and the tax. If the money is paid to you and you roll it over yourself, you have to make up the withheld 20% from other money, or that part is taxed as a withdrawal.

How much tax will I pay on a 401(k) withdrawal?

Ordinary income tax on all of it at your rates, plus 10% before 59 and a half unless an exception applies, plus any state income tax. A withdrawal that stays inside your current bracket costs that bracket's rate; a large one can spill into the next.

Can I withdraw from my 401(k) at 55 without a penalty?

Yes, from the plan of the employer you leave, if you leave in or after the calendar year you turn 55. You do not have to be 55 on the day you leave, only by the end of that year. For qualified public safety employees the age is 50. Your plan still decides how it pays the money out.

Does the rule of 55 work for an IRA?

No. The IRS exception for leaving your job covers employer plans only, and only the plan of the employer you left, not a 401(k) from an earlier job. Money moved from that plan into an IRA loses it and waits for 59 and a half or another exception. Some exceptions run the other way: higher education costs and a first home (up to $10,000) work only from an IRA.

What is a 72(t) withdrawal?

A series of substantially equal periodic payments, worked out from your life expectancy with an IRS method. It avoids the 10% at any age, from an IRA, or from a plan once you have left the employer. The interest rate behind the payments can be at most 5% or 120% of the federal mid-term rate, whichever is greater. The catch is commitment: change the payments before the required period ends and the 10% comes back on all of them, plus interest.

Which other exceptions remove the 10%?

Below the calculator we list the IRS exceptions for the account you pick, among them total and permanent disability, a qualified birth or adoption (up to $5,000 per child), unreimbursed medical costs above 7.5% of adjusted gross income and a qualified domestic relations order (plans only). Several have dollar limits, so they can cover part of a withdrawal. Terminal illness is on the IRS list for plans; for an IRA, check with the custodian.

What the calculator does not cover

• Roth money and after-tax contributions: it treats every dollar as pre-tax.
• State rules: it applies one flat rate to the whole withdrawal.
• Your spouse's age, capital gains, credits and itemized deductions.
• Governmental 457(b) plans: the IRS says their withdrawals generally do not owe the 10%, except money rolled in from another plan or IRA.
• Whether your plan allows the withdrawal at all, for example while you still work there.