RMD calculator

How this calculator works

The IRS formula is short. Take the account balance on December 31 of last year and divide it by the factor for your age in the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. The result is the least you must withdraw this year.

Your age is the age you reach by December 31 of the year the RMD is for. The calculator uses the tables in the Treasury regulation itself (26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9), which have applied since 2022.

For the full rules, the whole Uniform Lifetime Table and the sources, see our guide to required minimum distributions.

A worked example

You were born in 1951, so you turn 75 in 2026. Your IRA held $500,000 on December 31, 2025.

• The Uniform Lifetime factor at 75 is 24.6.
• $500,000 divided by 24.6 is $20,325.20.
• That is your 2026 RMD, due by December 31, 2026.

Now add a $30,000 pension and $30,000 of Social Security, filing single, with the 2026 standard deduction including the extra amounts for people 65 and older. The RMD adds about $3,975 of federal income tax, and your top bracket with it is 22%. Part of the extra tax comes from Social Security: more income makes more of your benefit taxable.

When do RMDs start?

It depends on the year you were born:

• Born 1951 to 1958: the year you turn 73.
• Born 1959: 73 under proposed IRS regulations. The law can be read as 73 or 75, and the final rule for 1959 has not been issued yet.
• Born 1960 or later: the year you turn 75.

Your first RMD can wait until April 1 of the following year. Every RMD after that is due by December 31. If you use the April 1 extension, you take two RMDs in the same calendar year, and both count as income that year.

Which accounts have RMDs?

Traditional IRAs, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s and 457(b)s. Roth IRAs have none while the owner is alive, and since 2024 neither do Roth accounts inside a 401(k) or similar plan.

If you still work for the employer that sponsors your 401(k), and own 5% or less of the company, the plan can let you wait until April 1 after the year you retire. That exception never applies to IRAs.

For a gold or other self-directed IRA, the balance is the custodian's December 31 value of what the account holds.

What if I have several accounts?

Work out each account's RMD separately. For IRAs you can then take the total from any one or more of them. An inherited IRA counts only with other IRAs you inherited from the same person, never with your own. 403(b)s work the same way among themselves. Each 401(k) or 457(b) pays its own RMD from its own plan.

Taking more than the minimum this year does not reduce next year's RMD, and an RMD cannot be rolled over into another account.

When does the spouse rule apply?

If your spouse is the only beneficiary of the account and is more than 10 years younger than you, you use the IRS Joint and Last Survivor Table instead. The factor is larger, so the RMD is smaller. Exactly 10 years younger does not qualify.

What happens if I miss an RMD?

The IRS charges an excise tax of 25% of the shortfall, the part of the RMD you did not take. It drops to 10% if you take the missed amount and file a tax return reporting the tax before the correction window closes, which is no later than December 31 of the second year after the year you missed. You report it on Form 5329, and the IRS can waive the tax if the shortfall came from a reasonable error that you are fixing.

How does an RMD affect my taxes and Medicare?

An RMD from a traditional account is ordinary income. It can move you into a higher bracket and make more of your Social Security taxable.

Medicare looks back two years. Your 2026 income sets your 2028 Part B and Part D premiums. For 2026 premiums, which are based on 2024 income, the surcharge, called IRMAA, starts above $109,000 for single filers and $218,000 for joint filers. When a year's thresholds have not been published yet, the calculator uses the latest published ones and says so.

Can I give my RMD to charity?

Yes, from age 70 and a half. Your IRA custodian can send money straight to a qualified charity, up to $111,000 in 2026. This is called a qualified charitable distribution (QCD). It counts toward your RMD, and the amount given this way is not added to your taxable income. The money has to go directly from the IRA custodian to the charity. Donor-advised funds do not qualify, and a QCD cannot come from an ongoing SEP or SIMPLE IRA.

How do inherited IRAs work?

Most people who inherit an IRA from someone who died in 2020 or later must empty it by December 31 of the tenth year after the death. If the owner died on or after their required beginning date (April 1 of the year after they reached RMD age), you also take an RMD every year after the year of death until the account is empty. The IRS did not charge the penalty for missed yearly RMDs of this kind in 2021 to 2024. From 2025 they are required.

Spouses, minor children of the owner, people who are disabled or chronically ill, and people not more than 10 years younger than the owner can stretch withdrawals over their own life expectancy instead. Choose "I inherited it" above to see your numbers.

What this calculator leaves out

• State income tax, capital gains and itemized deductions.
• Accounts inherited from an estate, a charity or a trust.
• Annuity payouts from a plan, which follow their own rules.

The year-by-year table assumes the same growth every year and that you take only the RMD. Real returns will differ.