How Are RMDs Calculated? The IRS Formula With Examples

What is the RMD formula?

The IRS formula for a required minimum distribution is RMD = account balance on December 31 of the prior year ÷ distribution period. A required minimum distribution (RMD) is the smallest amount you must withdraw from a tax-deferred retirement account each year once you reach the starting age. The distribution period, which the IRS also calls the applicable denominator, is a life-expectancy factor from an IRS table; for most people, that is the Uniform Lifetime Table.

You look up the divisor using the age you will reach by the end of the RMD year, not your age on the day you withdraw. RMDs are a floor, not a ceiling, so you can always take more. You owe ordinary income tax on the withdrawal, except for any part that represents after-tax contributions. Our RMD calculator does the lookup and division for you and projects future years.

How do you calculate a required minimum distribution step by step?

Find the balance, find the divisor, and divide. Here is the calculation for someone born in 1953 who has one traditional IRA holding $500,000 on December 31, 2025. Their spouse isn't more than 10 years younger, so the Uniform Lifetime Table applies.

A second example shows the same math at a different age. Someone born in 1951 turns 75 in 2026 and the divisor is 24.6, so a $300,000 balance requires $300,000 ÷ 24.6 = $12,195.12. If you own more than one account, calculate each account's RMD separately using its own year-end balance.

• Step 1, find the balance: $500,000 on December 31, 2025. Your custodian reports it on Form 5498 or your year-end statement.
• Step 2, find your age for the year: 2026 − 1953 = 73.
• Step 3, find the divisor: the Uniform Lifetime Table lists 26.5 for age 73.
• Step 4, divide: $500,000 ÷ 26.5 = $18,867.92. This is the 2026 RMD.

What does the Uniform Lifetime Table say for each age?

The Uniform Lifetime Table assigns a divisor to each age, starting at 27.4 for age 72 and shrinking each year. As the divisor falls, the share of your balance you must withdraw rises, from about 3.8% at 73 to about 8.2% at 90 and about 15.6% at 100. The table below shows the divisors our calculator uses, which follow the IRS table in effect since 2022, and the resulting RMD on a $500,000 balance for 2026.

When do RMDs start?

RMDs start in the year you turn 73 if you were born from 1951 through 1959, and the year you turn 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. These ages come from the SECURE 2.0 Act. Older rules applied to earlier birth years, and anyone born in 1950 or before has already started.

Your first RMD is due by April 1 of the year after you reach the starting age, a date called the required beginning date. Every RMD after that is due by December 31. For example, someone born in 1953 turns 73 in 2026: the first RMD can wait until April 1, 2027, and the second is due by December 31, 2027. Someone born in 1962 has no RMD until 2037, with the first deadline of April 1, 2038.

Should I delay my first RMD until April 1?

Usually not, because delaying means two taxable distributions land in the same year. Take the person above with $500,000 on December 31, 2025, and assume a 5% return. If they take the $18,867.92 in 2026, they take $19,848.32 for 2027, spreading income across two tax years.

If they wait until early 2027, the balance on December 31, 2026 is still $525,000, so the 2027 RMD is $525,000 ÷ 25.5 = $20,588.24. Added to the delayed $18,867.92, that puts $39,456.16 of ordinary income in 2027, which could push them into a higher bracket or raise Medicare premiums. Delaying can make sense if your income in the first year is unusually high, such as your last year of work, and will fall in the next.

How does an RMD change over time?

RMDs generally rise for many years, because the falling divisor outpaces withdrawals. Our calculator's projection below starts with $500,000 on December 31, 2025, for someone born in 1953, and assumes a steady 5% return with only the minimum withdrawn. A 5% return is an assumption, not a forecast.

In this scenario the balance keeps growing until about age 80, peaks near $527,700, and then falls slowly, while the yearly RMD more than doubles by the early 90s. People who won't need all that income sometimes reduce their tax-deferred balance earlier, for example with Roth conversions before RMDs begin. See Roth IRA vs traditional IRA for the trade-offs, and use the IRA calculator to compare account types.

Which accounts have RMDs, and can I combine them?

RMDs apply to traditional, SEP, SIMPLE and rollover IRAs and to workplace plans such as 401(k), 403(b) and 457(b) plans. Roth IRAs have no RMDs while the original owner is alive, and since 2024 Roth balances in employer plans are exempt as well. Each account's RMD is figured separately, but how you withdraw depends on the type.

Other rules can change your calculation. If your spouse is your sole beneficiary and more than 10 years younger, you use the IRS Joint and Last Survivor Table instead, which gives a longer period and a smaller RMD; our calculator shows the Uniform Lifetime figure in that case as an upper bound. If you still work past the starting age and own 5% or less of the company, your current employer's plan may let you wait until you retire, though IRAs get no such exception. Inherited accounts follow separate rules, generally a 10-year payout for most non-spouse heirs.

• IRAs (traditional, SEP, SIMPLE): add up each IRA's RMD and take the total from any one or a combination.
• 403(b) accounts: the RMDs can likewise be combined and taken from any of your 403(b) accounts.
• 401(k) and 457(b) plans: each plan's RMD must come out of that plan.
• Across types: an IRA withdrawal never satisfies a 401(k) RMD, and a 401(k) withdrawal never satisfies an IRA RMD.

What happens if I miss an RMD?

You owe a 25% excise tax on the amount you failed to withdraw, reduced to 10% if you take the shortfall and file a corrected return within the correction window, which generally runs through the end of the second year after the missed year. You report it on IRS Form 5329, and the IRS can waive the tax for a reasonable error that you correct.

Example: your 2026 RMD is $18,867.92 and you withdraw only $10,000, leaving a shortfall of $8,867.92. The excise tax is $2,216.98 at 25%, or $886.79 at 10% if corrected in time. Set a reminder well before the December 31 deadline, since custodians need time to process withdrawals and many offer automatic RMD payments.

How can I lower the tax on my RMD?

You can't skip an RMD, but you can reduce its tax cost. Qualified charitable distributions let IRA owners aged 70½ or older send money directly to charity, up to an annual limit set by the IRS. The amount counts toward your RMD but isn't included in taxable income. Roth conversions in the years before RMDs begin can also shrink the balance that future RMDs are based on, though the converted amount is taxed in the conversion year.

An RMD taken from your account can't be rolled over into another retirement account, but you can reinvest the after-tax money in a regular brokerage account. RMD income can also make more of your Social Security benefit taxable, so plan them together; see how Social Security is calculated.