RMD deadline: when each required minimum distribution is due

Key points

• Each year’s RMD is due by December 31 of that year. The only exception is your first RMD.
• Your first RMD can wait until April 1 of the year after you reach your RMD age. If it waits, your second RMD is still due by December 31 of that same year, so two land in one tax year.
• A 401(k) or other workplace plan can move the first deadline to April 1 after the year you retire, if the plan allows it and you own 5% or less of the employer. IRAs never get this.
• Heirs have their own dates: the owner’s unpaid RMD for the year of death, yearly RMDs that start the year after the death, and under the 10-year rule an empty account by December 31 of the year that holds the 10th anniversary of the death.

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) once you reach your RMD age. This guide is about when each one is due. For when they start, see RMD age by birth year. For the rest of the rules, see our guide to required minimum distributions. It covers federal rules, not state income tax.

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

When is the RMD deadline? Every date in one table

Which RMD	Deadline	Note
Your first RMD from an IRA	April 1 of the year after the year you reach your RMD age	The IRS calls this your required beginning date
Your first RMD from a workplace plan, if still working there	April 1 of the year after the year you retire, if that is later	Only if the plan allows it, and not for owners of more than 5%
Every later RMD	December 31 of the year it is for	This includes the second RMD in the year of a delayed first one
The owner’s unpaid RMD for the year they died	December 31 of the year of death	The penalty is waived automatically if the beneficiary catches up in time (see below)
A beneficiary’s yearly RMDs	December 31 each year, starting the year after the death	Who has them depends on the beneficiary and on when the owner died
The 10-year rule	December 31 of the year that holds the 10th anniversary of the death	For heirs who are not eligible designated beneficiaries (see below)

The everyday rule, in the IRS’s words: “After the first RMD, you must take subsequent RMDs by December 31 of each year beginning with the calendar year containing your required beginning date.”

Only the first RMD gets the April 1 date. The regulations say every other year’s RMD must be made “on or before the end of that distribution calendar year”.

The April 1 deadline for your first RMD

Your first RMD is for the year you reach your RMD age. That is 73 if you were born from 1951 to 1958 and 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. For 1959, the statute reads both ways (73 and 75), the final regulations leave that paragraph “Reserved”, and proposed regulations from July 2024 say 73. Our guide to RMD age sets out the text.

The first RMD can wait until April 1 of the following year. Waiting moves the deadline, not the year the RMD is for. The IRS example: “You turn 73 on July 15, 2024. You must take your first RMD, for 2024, by April 1, 2025, (your required beginning date). You must take your second RMD, for 2025, by December 31, 2025”.

Born	First RMD is for	First RMD due by	Second RMD due by
1953	2026	April 1, 2027	December 31, 2027
1954	2027	April 1, 2028	December 31, 2028
1955	2028	April 1, 2029	December 31, 2029
1960	2035	April 1, 2036	December 31, 2036

The full table by birth year is in our guide to RMD age.

When April 1 fell on a Saturday in 2023, the IRS still named that day as the deadline, not the Monday after: in most cases, “Saturday, April 1, 2023, is the last day to begin receiving payments”. April 1, 2028, the deadline for people born in 1954, is also a Saturday. April 1, 2029, for people born in 1955, is a Sunday.

Money you take out during the first RMD year counts toward the first RMD. 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.” Money taken in earlier years does not count.

Two RMDs in one year: the April 1 trap, worked through

If your first RMD waits until April 1, your second RMD is still due by December 31 of that same year. Both count as income in one tax year. The IRS points out the other route: “You can make your first withdrawal by December 31 of the year you turn 73 instead of waiting until April 1 of the following year. This would allow the distributions to be included in your income in separate tax years.”

Waiting has a second, smaller effect on an IRA. Each RMD uses the balance on December 31 of the year before, and for an IRA “no adjustments are made for contributions or distributions after that date”. A first RMD taken in January to March is still inside the December 31 balance used for the second RMD.

Example. An IRA owner born in 1953 turns 73 in 2026. The IRA was worth $500,000 on December 31, 2025. The 2026 RMD is $500,000 ÷ 26.5 = $18,867.92. Assume the account would be worth $510,000 on December 31, 2026 with nothing taken out in 2026. The factor for the 2027 RMD, at 74, is 25.5.

	Take the 2026 RMD in December 2026	Wait until early 2027
Balance on December 31, 2026	$491,132.08	$510,000
2027 RMD	$491,132.08 ÷ 25.5 = $19,260.08	$510,000 ÷ 25.5 = $20,000.00
RMD income in 2026	$18,867.92	None
RMD income in 2027	$19,260.08	$38,867.92
Total RMDs for 2026 and 2027	$38,128.00	$38,867.92

Waiting puts all $38,867.92 into 2027. It also adds $739.92 to the two-year total, because the 2026 RMD was still in the balance used for 2027. The example holds the investments’ value fixed so that only the timing differs.

Whether one year of double income costs more tax depends on your brackets in each year. Our guide to the RMD tax bomb covers brackets and Medicare premiums. To see your own first RMD and its deadline, run these numbers in our RMD calculator.

Can you take your RMD in installments?

Yes. The IRS: “You may withdraw your annual RMD in any number of distributions throughout the year, as long as you withdraw the total annual minimum amount by December 31 (or April 1 if it is for your first RMD).”

In the example above, the $20,000.00 RMD for 2027 could come out as four quarterly withdrawals of $5,000.00, as twelve monthly ones, or all at once in December. What counts is the total by the deadline.

Three timing rules sit alongside this:

• Extra does not carry forward. “You cannot apply withdrawals in excess of your RMD to future years’ RMDs.”
• Several accounts. IRA RMDs can be totaled and taken from any one or more of your IRAs. Each 401(k) pays its own. See RMDs from several IRAs and 401(k)s.
• Estimated tax. For the estimated tax penalty, tax withheld from an RMD is treated as paid in four equal parts across the year, even if all of it comes out in December. IRS Publication 505 also lets you “choose to include your withholding according to the actual dates”. More in how RMDs are taxed and withheld.

Still working? The deadline for a 401(k) or other workplace plan

For a workplace plan, the law sets the required beginning date at April 1 after the later of two years: the year you reach your RMD age, or the year you retire. 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. A 401(k) from a former job follows the normal schedule.
• 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. An IRA’s first RMD keeps its normal deadline, in the IRS’s words “even if you’re still employed.”

After you retire, the same pattern repeats. The first plan RMD is for the year you retire, due by April 1 of the next year, and the second is due by December 31 of that next year. The IRS example: “Jodie has decided to retire from their employer on their 73rd birthday, December 31, 2024.” Jodie’s first plan RMD, for 2024, was due by April 1, 2025, and the second by December 31, 2025.

Example. Someone born in 1958 reaches 73 in 2031 and retires in 2033 from the employer whose plan they are in. Their IRA’s first RMD is for 2031, due by April 1, 2032. Their plan’s first RMD is for 2033, due by April 1, 2034. The two accounts run on separate clocks.

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

RMD deadlines after the account owner dies

The owner’s RMD for the year of death

If the owner died on or after their required beginning date and had not taken all of that year’s RMD, the beneficiary takes the rest. Publication 590-B: “the IRA beneficiaries are responsible for figuring and distributing the owner’s required minimum distribution in the year of death.”

That amount is due by December 31 of the year of death. The 25% penalty is waived automatically if the beneficiary takes it by their tax filing deadline for that year, including extensions, or by the last day of the following year if that is later. For a death in 2026, that means the later of the beneficiary’s 2026 filing deadline with extensions and December 31, 2027.

If the owner died before their required beginning date, “there is no required minimum distribution in the year of the owner’s death.”

The beneficiary’s own RMDs

• Owner died on or after the required beginning date: yearly RMDs start the year after the death and are due each December 31. Heirs who are not eligible designated beneficiaries must also empty the account by the 10-year deadline. The eligible group: the surviving spouse, the owner’s child under 21, someone disabled or chronically ill, and anyone not more than 10 years younger than the owner.
• Yearly amounts under the 10-year rule, 2021 to 2024: the IRS did not charge the penalty when these heirs missed them. Under the final regulations, the yearly RMDs are required from 2025. The relief did not move the 10-year deadline.
• Owner died before the required beginning date, 10-year rule: “no distribution is required for any year before the 10th year.”
• Life expectancy payments for an eligible designated beneficiary must start by December 31 of the year after the death.
• A spouse who is the sole beneficiary of an owner who died before the required beginning date can wait until December 31 of the year the owner would have reached RMD age. The IRS example: a spouse died in 2022 at 65, and the survivor needs no RMD until “December 31 of 2030, the year your spouse would have reached age 73.” See a spouse inheriting an IRA.

The 10-year deadline for heirs: the exact date

The account must be empty “by the end of the calendar year that includes the tenth anniversary of the date of the employee’s death.” The IRS says this applies when the owner died after December 31, 2019. The date is always a December 31, whatever day the owner died.

Owner died in	Account must be empty by
2020	December 31, 2030
2021	December 31, 2031
2022	December 31, 2032
2023	December 31, 2033
2024	December 31, 2034
2025	December 31, 2035
2026	December 31, 2036

Three other clocks use the same end-of-year rule:

• The owner’s minor child: yearly RMDs over the child’s life expectancy, which carry on after 21. The account must be empty by December 31 of the year that holds the 10th anniversary of the 21st birthday. A child who turns 21 in 2028 has until December 31, 2038.
• After an eligible designated beneficiary who was taking yearly life expectancy payments dies: the account must be empty by December 31 of the year that holds the 10th anniversary of that death, unless an earlier deadline already applied, such as a minor child’s 21-plus-10 date.
• No designated beneficiary, owner died before the required beginning date: the 5-year rule. Publication 590-B: “if the owner died in 2025, the beneficiary would have to fully distribute the IRA by December 31, 2030.”

More in our guide to the 10-year rule for inherited IRAs.

What happens if you miss an RMD deadline

The shortfall carries a 25% excise tax. It drops to 10% if you take the missed amount and file a return reporting the tax within the correction window. The window ends at the earliest of three dates:

• the date the IRS mails a notice of deficiency for the tax;
• the date the IRS assesses the tax;
• the last day of the second tax year that begins after the year the tax applies to.

For a calendar-year taxpayer who misses an RMD due by December 31, 2026, that last date is December 31, 2028.

A missed April 1 deadline is taxed in the later year. The RMD is still the one for 2026, but the regulations calculate the tax “with respect to the calendar year that includes the last day by which the amount is required to be distributed”. So the tax on a 2026 RMD missed on April 1, 2027 belongs to 2027 and goes on your 2027 Form 5329, and the window for it runs to December 31, 2029. Your 2027 RMD is still due by December 31, 2027.

The IRS can also waive the tax for a reasonable error. You ask on Form 5329 by writing “RC” next to the shortfall line (lines 54a and 54b on the 2025 form; check the line numbers for your tax year). The steps and examples are in what a missed RMD costs and how to fix it.

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.

• Internal Revenue Code section 401(a)(9)(C) (required beginning date, still-working exception, applicable age), U.S. Code 2024 edition: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title26/html/USCODE-2024-title26-subtitleA-chap1-subchapD-partI-subpartA-sec401.htm
• Internal Revenue Code section 416(i)(1)(B) (5-percent owner), U.S. Code 2024 edition: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title26/html/USCODE-2024-title26-subtitleA-chap1-subchapD-partI-subpartB-sec416.htm
• Internal Revenue Code section 4974 (excise tax and correction window), U.S. Code 2024 edition: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title26/html/USCODE-2024-title26-subtitleD-chap43-sec4974.htm
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-2 (required beginning date and applicable age), eCFR, title 26 up to date as of October 23, 2026: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-2
• Final RMD regulations, T.D. 10001, Federal Register, July 19, 2024: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/07/19/2024-14542/required-minimum-distributions
• Proposed RMD regulations, REG-103529-23, Federal Register, July 19, 2024: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/07/19/2024-14543/required-minimum-distributions
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-3 (death before the required beginning date: 5-year rule, 10-year rule, spouse delay): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-3
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-4 (age of majority): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-4
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-5 (timing of distributions, 10-year limits, death on or after the required beginning date): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-5
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9 (Uniform Lifetime Table): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-9
• 26 CFR 1.408-8 (RMD rules for IRAs): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.408-8
• 26 CFR 54.4974-1 (excise tax, first-year rule, waivers): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-54.4974-1
• IRS Notice 2024-35 (relief for 2024 and applicability of the final regulations): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-24-35.pdf
• IRS Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), for use in preparing 2025 returns: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590b
• IRS Publication 505 (2026), Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p505.pdf
• Internal Revenue Code section 6654(g) (withholding treated as estimated tax), Cornell LII copy of the U.S. Code: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/6654
• IRS, 2025 Instructions for Form 5329: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i5329.pdf
• IRS, Retirement topics: Required minimum distributions (RMDs), page last updated April 8, 2026: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-required-minimum-distributions-rmds
• IRS, RMD comparison chart (IRAs vs. defined contribution plans), page last updated December 10, 2025: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/rmd-comparison-chart-iras-vs-defined-contribution-plans
• IRS, Retirement plan and IRA required minimum distributions FAQs, page last updated January 29, 2026: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/retirement-plan-and-ira-required-minimum-distributions-faqs
• IRS, Retirement topics: Beneficiary, page last updated August 1, 2026: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-beneficiary
• IRS news release IR-2023-43, March 9, 2023, “IRS reminder to many retirees: Last day to start taking money out of IRAs and 401(k)s is April 1”, page last updated January 15, 2026: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-reminder-to-many-retirees-last-day-to-start-taking-money-out-of-iras-and-401ks-is-april-1