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RMD age: when your required minimum distributions start

Your birth year sets the age your required minimum distributions start.

By Diversify Guy, editorial desk11 min read

This page carries no ads and no affiliate links. How we get paid

In this article 10 sections
  1. RMD age by birth year
  2. First RMD year and deadline, born 1951 to 1965
  3. What the law says: the RMD age rule word for word
  4. Why 1959 reads both ways
  5. Is the RMD age 75 starting in 2033?
  6. What “reach age 73” means for the calendar year
  7. Worked example: the first RMD at 73 and at 75
  8. When the RMD age does not start RMDs
  9. About this guide
  10. Sources and check dates

Key points

  • If you were born from 1951 to 1958, your RMD age is 73. If you were born in 1960 or later, it is 75.
  • If you were born in 1959, the statute reads both ways: 73 and 75. The final IRS regulations leave that paragraph “Reserved”. Proposed regulations from July 2024 would set it at 73. No final rule had been issued when we checked on October 27, 2026.
  • Your first RMD is for the calendar year you reach your RMD age, even if your birthday is December 31. You can take it as late as April 1 of the next year.
  • Roth IRAs and Roth accounts in workplace plans have no RMDs while you are alive. A 401(k) can let you wait until you retire if you still work for that employer and own 5% or less of it. An IRA cannot.

A required minimum distribution (RMD) is the least you must withdraw each year from a traditional IRA or a workplace plan such as a 401(k). The tax code calls the age these withdrawals start your “applicable age”. We call it your RMD age.

This guide answers one question: at what age do your RMDs start? For the rest of the rules, from the table to the penalty, see our guide to required minimum distributions. It covers federal rules, not state income tax.

We checked every rule and date below against the tax code, the Treasury regulations, the Federal Register and IRS publications on October 27, 2026. The sources are listed at the end.

RMD age by birth year

The regulations set the age by one fact: “The applicable age is determined using the employee’s date of birth”. For IRAs, the same rules apply with the IRA owner in place of the employee.

Year of birthRMD ageWhere the age comes from
Before July 1, 194970½Final regulations
July 1, 1949, to December 31, 195072Final regulations
1951 to 195873The statute and the final regulations
1959Unsettled: the statute says both 73 and 75Final regulations: “Reserved”. Proposed regulations (July 2024): 73
1960 or later75The statute and the final regulations

The age is personal. In a couple born in different years, each spouse’s own birth year sets the RMD age for their own accounts.

First RMD year and deadline, born 1951 to 1965

Your first RMD is for the year you reach your RMD age. The regulations put it this way: “the employee’s first distribution calendar year is the year the employee attains the applicable age”.

For an IRA, that first RMD can wait until April 1 of the following year. The IRS calls that date your required beginning date. Every RMD after the first is due by December 31 of its own year.

BornRMD ageFirst RMD yearFirst RMD due by
1951732024April 1, 2025
1952732025April 1, 2026
1953732026April 1, 2027
1954732027April 1, 2028
1955732028April 1, 2029
1956732029April 1, 2030
1957732030April 1, 2031
1958732031April 1, 2032
195973 or 75 (unsettled)2032 at 73, 2034 at 75April 1, 2033 at 73, April 1, 2035 at 75
1960752035April 1, 2036
1961752036April 1, 2037
1962752037April 1, 2038
1963752038April 1, 2039
1964752039April 1, 2040
1965752040April 1, 2041

These dates are for IRAs. A workplace plan can move them later if you are still working for the employer (see below).

If you were born in 1953, 2026 is your first RMD year. You can take that RMD by December 31, 2026, or as late as April 1, 2027. Waiting puts two RMDs in 2027. Our guide to RMD deadlines works through that choice with numbers.

If you were born in 1951, your first deadline was April 1, 2025. If you were born in 1952, it was April 1, 2026. From then on, each RMD is due by December 31. If one was missed, see what a missed RMD costs and how to fix it.

What the law says: the RMD age rule word for word

The rule is in section 401(a)(9)(C)(v) of the Internal Revenue Code. It came from section 107 of the SECURE 2.0 Act, enacted on December 29, 2022. The whole clause is two sentences:

> “(I) In the case of an individual who attains age 72 after December 31, 2022, and age 73 before January 1, 2033, the applicable age is 73.” > > “(II) In the case of an individual who attains age 74 after December 31, 2032, the applicable age is 75.”

The change covers people who reach 72 after 2022. The effective date note in the law says it applies “with respect to individuals who attain age 72 after such date”, meaning after December 31, 2022. Anyone born in 1950 or earlier had reached 72 by then and kept the older rule.

Notice that the two sentences test different ages. The first looks at the years you turn 72 and 73. The second looks at the year you turn 74. That is where 1959 comes in.

Why 1959 reads both ways

Run three birth years through both tests:

BornTurns 72 and 73 inTurns 74 inAge the statute gives
19582030 and 2031203273 (first sentence only)
19592031 and 2032203373 and 75 (both sentences)
19602032 and 2033203475 (second sentence only)

Someone born in 1958 turns 74 in 2032, which is not after 2032, so only the first sentence applies. Someone born in 1960 turns 73 in 2033, which is not before 2033, so only the second applies. Someone born in 1959 meets both.

Treasury and the IRS say the same in the preamble to the final regulations. Section 401(a)(9)(C)(v), they wrote, “provides that the applicable age for those employees is both 73 and 75”.

What the regulations say about 1959

The final RMD regulations (T.D. 10001, published July 19, 2024) set the age for every other birth year. For 1959 they leave the paragraph empty. In the eCFR, section 1.401(a)(9)-2(b)(2)(v) reads, in full: “(v) [Reserved]”.

Proposed regulations (REG-103529-23) were published the same day to fill that paragraph. In their words: “Under the proposed regulations, the applicable age for an employee who was born in 1959 would be age 73.”

A proposed regulation is not a final one. When we checked on October 27, 2026:

  • the eCFR, current to October 23, 2026, still showed the paragraph as reserved;
  • the eCFR’s history for the section listed no change after September 17, 2024;
  • a Federal Register search found no later document under the proposal’s docket number.

So for 1959: the statute says both 73 and 75, the final regulations reserve the answer, and the proposed regulations say 73.

What each reading means in years

  • At 73: first RMD year 2032, first RMD due by April 1, 2033.
  • At 75: first RMD year 2034, first RMD due by April 1, 2035.

Under either reading, no RMD is required before 2032. Withdrawals themselves are allowed at any time. As the IRS puts it, “You can withdraw or use your traditional IRA assets at any time.” Our RMD calculator uses 73 for people born in 1959 and shows a note that the rule is not final.

Is the RMD age 75 starting in 2033?

No. 2033 is a cutoff inside the law’s two tests, not the year RMDs at 75 begin. The first sentence covers people who reach 73 “before January 1, 2033”. The second covers people who “attain age 74 after December 31, 2032”.

The first people who get 75 without the 1959 overlap were born in 1960. They turn 74 in 2034 and 75 in 2035. So the first RMDs at 75 are for 2035, due by April 1, 2036. If the 1959 group ended up at 75, their first RMDs would be for 2034.

What “reach age 73” means for the calendar year

The IRS counts from your birthday: “You reach age 73 on your 73rd birthday.” The same reading applies to 75: you reach it on your 75th birthday.

What counts is the calendar year that birthday falls in. A December birthday still makes that whole year your first RMD year. The IRS example in Publication 590-B: “Justin became 73 on December 15, 2025.” His first RMD was for 2025, figured on his December 31, 2024 balance.

Two consequences follow:

  • Money taken before your first RMD year does not count toward any RMD. The IRS: “Even if you begin receiving distributions before you reach age 73, you must begin calculating and receiving RMDs by your required beginning date.”
  • Money taken during your first RMD year does count toward the first RMD, even though that RMD is not due until the next April 1. The IRS: “any amount distributed in the year you become age 73 will be credited toward the amount that must be distributed by April 1 of the following year.”

Worked example: the first RMD at 73 and at 75

Each RMD is the account balance on December 31 of the year before, divided by a factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. The factor is 26.5 at 73 and 24.6 at 75. A later RMD age means a smaller factor, so the first RMD takes a larger share of the account.

Two owners each have $500,000 in a traditional IRA on December 31 of the year before their first RMD year. One was born in 1953 and one in 1960.

Born 1953 (RMD age 73)Born 1960 (RMD age 75)
First RMD year20262035
Balance used$500,000 on December 31, 2025$500,000 on December 31, 2034
Factor26.524.6
First RMD$18,867.92$20,325.20
Share of the balanceabout 3.8%about 4.1%

The example holds both balances at $500,000 to isolate the factor. In practice an owner whose RMDs start at 75 has two more years without RMDs than one who starts at 73, and the account can grow or shrink over that time.

Run the 1953 numbers in our RMD calculator. With a 1960 birth year and growth set to 0%, it shows your first RMD year, 2035, and the same first RMD, about $20,325. The full factor table is in our guide to the RMD table, and the step-by-step math is in how to calculate your RMD.

A couple born in different years. One spouse was born in 1955 and the other in 1961. The first has an RMD age of 73, a first RMD year of 2028 and a first deadline of April 1, 2029. The second has an RMD age of 75, a first RMD year of 2036 and a first deadline of April 1, 2037.

When the RMD age does not start RMDs

Still working: workplace plans only

For a 401(k), 403(b) or other workplace plan, the statute sets the required beginning date at “April 1 of the calendar year following the later of” the year you reach your RMD age or “the calendar year in which the employee retires”. If you still work for the employer that sponsors the plan, the first RMD from that plan can wait until April 1 after the year you retire.

Four limits apply:

  • The plan must allow it. The IRS: “A retirement plan document may require you to begin receiving distributions after you reach age 73, even if you’re still employed.”
  • Only that employer’s plan. The regulations refer to “the calendar year in which the employee retires from employment with the employer maintaining the plan.”
  • Not for owners of more than 5% of the business. The law calls them 5-percent owners. Ownership is tested for the plan year ending in the year you reach your RMD age.
  • Never for IRAs, including SEP and SIMPLE IRAs. The IRS: “You must take your first RMD by April 1 of the year following the year in which you turn 73, even if you’re still employed.”

The details are in our guide to 401(k) RMDs and the still-working exception.

Roth accounts

  • Roth IRAs: “You aren’t required to take distributions from your Roth IRA at any age.”
  • Roth money inside a 401(k), 403(b) or governmental 457(b) plan: no RMDs while you are alive, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2023.
  • Beneficiaries are different. The IRS: “beneficiaries of Roth IRAs and Designated Roth accounts are subject to RMD rules.”

See Roth accounts and RMDs for how this works.

Ages that get mixed up with the RMD age

AgeWhat it meansSource
59½IRA withdrawals before this age generally carry a 10% additional taxIRS Publication 590-B
70½Qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) from an IRA become possibleIRC section 408(d)(8)
73 or 75RMDs startIRC section 401(a)(9)(C)(v)

A QCD made once your RMDs have started counts toward your RMD. See qualified charitable distributions.

Inherited accounts run on a separate schedule that starts after the original owner’s death. See inherited IRA RMDs.

About this guide

Written by the Diversify Guy editorial desk. Diversify Guy is a pen name. It is the byline of our editorial team, not a single individual. We do not publish personal trading records or claim to be your adviser. We tell you where every figure came from so you can check it yourself. How we work and how we get paid.

This guide explains federal rules. It is not personalized tax or investment advice. Diversify Guy earns affiliate commissions and advertising fees from companies featured elsewhere on the site. This page carries no ads and no affiliate links.

Sources and check dates

All sources were fetched and checked on October 27, 2026.

About this byline

Diversify Guy is the pen name of our editorial desk, not a person. We do not claim a personal investment track record, we are not advisers, and every claim about a company comes from a source you can check. Who writes this

Spotted an error? Tell us. We fix pages in place and say what changed.

First published Nov 8, 2026

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