RMD calculator
Use the RMD calculator to estimate your 2026 required minimum distribution from a traditional IRA, 401(k), or 403(b), and to find the RMD age that applies to your birth year. Tweed's RMD calculator is different because it shows the IRS life expectancy factor it used and publishes the full Uniform Lifetime Table, so you can check the math yourself.
This determines whether Table II applies to you. Table II isn't built into the calculator yet, so answering yes shows the Table III ceiling instead of your exact number.
Clear the field to skip the multi-year projection
2026 required minimum distribution
$25,490.20
| The arithmetic | $650,000 ÷ 25.5 = $25,490.20 |
| Applicable table | Table III, Uniform Lifetime, age 74 |
| Share of balance withdrawn | 3.9% |
| Account group | Balance | RMD |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs (combined) | $650,000.00 | $25,490.20 |
- Year-start balance
- RMD amount
| Year | Age | Start balance | Factor | RMD | % of balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 74 | $650,000 | 25.5 | $25,490 | 3.9% |
| 2027 | 75 | $655,735 | 24.6 | $26,656 | 4.1% |
| 2028 | 76 | $660,533 | 23.7 | $27,871 | 4.2% |
| 2029 | 77 | $664,296 | 22.9 | $29,009 | 4.4% |
| 2030 | 78 | $667,052 | 22.0 | $30,321 | 4.5% |
| 2031 | 79 | $668,568 | 21.1 | $31,686 | 4.7% |
| 2032 | 80 | $668,726 | 20.2 | $33,105 | 5.0% |
| 2033 | 81 | $667,402 | 19.4 | $34,402 | 5.2% |
| 2034 | 82 | $664,650 | 18.5 | $35,927 | 5.4% |
| 2035 | 83 | $660,159 | 17.7 | $37,297 | 5.6% |
| 2036 | 84 | $654,005 | 16.8 | $38,929 | 6.0% |
| 2037 | 85 | $645,830 | 16.0 | $40,364 | 6.3% |
| 2038 | 86 | $635,739 | 15.2 | $41,825 | 6.6% |
| 2039 | 87 | $623,609 | 14.4 | $43,306 | 6.9% |
| 2040 | 88 | $609,318 | 13.7 | $44,476 | 7.3% |
| 2041 | 89 | $593,085 | 12.9 | $45,976 | 7.8% |
| 2042 | 90 | $574,465 | 12.2 | $47,087 | 8.2% |
| 2043 | 91 | $553,746 | 11.5 | $48,152 | 8.7% |
| 2044 | 92 | $530,874 | 10.8 | $49,155 | 9.3% |
| 2045 | 93 | $505,805 | 10.1 | $50,080 | 9.9% |
| 2046 | 94 | $478,512 | 9.5 | $50,370 | 10.5% |
| 2047 | 95 | $449,549 | 8.9 | $50,511 | 11.2% |
| 2048 | 96 | $418,990 | 8.4 | $49,880 | 11.9% |
| 2049 | 97 | $387,566 | 7.8 | $49,688 | 12.8% |
| 2050 | 98 | $354,772 | 7.3 | $48,599 | 13.7% |
| 2051 | 99 | $321,481 | 6.8 | $47,277 | 14.7% |
| 2052 | 100 | $287,915 | 6.4 | $44,987 | 15.6% |
Your numbers never leave your browser.
Verified July 24, 202626 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9 and IRS Notice 2025-67How this is calculated
Your RMD is the fair market value of the account on December 31 of last year divided by the applicable denominator for your age, taken from the IRS table at 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9.2 The calculator shows you which table it used and which row.
In this article
- How to use the RMD calculator
- Understanding RMDs
- What is the RMD age in 2026?
- IRS Uniform Lifetime Table for 2026
- Can you delay your first RMD to April 1?
- RMD calculation example: A 74-year-old with a $650,000 IRA
- Which retirement accounts require RMDs?
- What happens if you miss an RMD?
- Can you reduce the tax on your RMD?
- How your RMD is calculated
- Related calculators
- Frequently asked questions about RMDs
How to use the RMD calculator
Four things go in. One number comes out, and you can see the factor behind it.
Step 1: Enter your prior year-end account balance
Use the balance on December 31 of last year, not what the account is worth today. That date is fixed, which is why an RMD can be calculated in January before you have any idea what the market will do.
One adjustment catches people out. If you had a rollover or transfer in flight over year-end, money that had left one custodian but had not yet landed at the other, add it back in.1
Step 2: Enter your birth year and account type
Your birth year sets the age at which RMDs start for you. The age you actually reach by December 31 of the distribution year is what picks your factor off the table.
Account type matters for a different reason. IRAs, 403(b) contracts, and 401(k) plans all calculate the same way but follow different rules about which account the money can come out of.3
Step 3: Flag it if your spouse is your sole beneficiary and more than ten years younger
This is the toggle almost no other calculator includes. If your spouse is the sole beneficiary of the account for the whole year and is more than ten years younger than you, the rules send you to a different table with a larger divisor, which means a smaller required withdrawal.1
Both conditions have to hold. Sole beneficiary, and more than ten years younger.
Answering yes does not calculate that different table. Table II is not sourced in the calculator yet, so the result switches to a ceiling instead: the same Table III number, framed as the most you could owe rather than the exact figure.
Step 4: Read your RMD, the factor, and the multi-year projection
The result shows the dollar amount, the applicable denominator it divided by, and which IRS table that came from. Add an expected rate of return and it will project the requirement forward year by year, which is where the pattern gets interesting: the factor shrinks every year, so the percentage you have to take out keeps climbing.
Understanding RMDs
What is an RMD?
A required minimum distribution is the smallest amount the IRS makes you take out of a tax-deferred retirement account each year once you hit your starting age. The money went in untaxed and grew untaxed, and RMDs are the point where the government finally collects.1For the full rules, see the required minimum distribution guide.
How do RMDs work?
Each year you divide last December 31's balance by your factor, take at least that much out by December 31, and report it as ordinary income. You can always take more.
Taking more does not buy you credit against next year. The following year's requirement is calculated fresh from the new year-end balance.1The explainer on what an RMD is covers the basics in more depth.
How is a required minimum distribution calculated?
Your RMD is your prior year-end balance divided by the applicable denominator for your age. That is the whole formula.
The terminology shifted recently. Treasury regulations finalized in 2024 renamed what everyone called the "distribution period" to the "applicable denominator," so older articles and IRS worksheets use both terms for the same number.5
Three tables exist, and almost everyone uses the first one:
- Table III, Uniform Lifetime. The default for account owners.
- Table II, Joint Life and Last Survivor. Only when a sole-beneficiary spouse is more than ten years younger.
- Table I, Single Life. For beneficiaries of inherited accounts.
What is the RMD age in 2026?
The RMD age in 2026 is 73 if you were born between 1951 and 1958, and 75 if you were born in 1960 or later.3
RMD age by birth year
| Birth year | RMD age | First distribution year | Required beginning date |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 1, 1949 – December 31, 1950 | 72 | 2021 or 2022 | April 1 of the following year |
| 1951 – 1958 | 73 | 2024 – 2031 | April 1 of the following year |
| 1959 | 73, under a proposed regulation | 2032 | April 1, 2033 |
| 1960 or later | 75 | 2035 or later | April 1 of the following year |
Why the RMD age for people born in 1959 is still unsettled
Section 107 of the SECURE 2.0 Act contains a drafting error. Read literally, it says the applicable age for anyone born in 1959 is both 73 and 75.
Treasury did not fix it in the July 2024 final regulations. It reserved that paragraph instead, leaving the question formally open, and issued a companion proposed regulation that would set the age at 73.5 That proposal has not been finalized, and the IRS has said the remaining rules will not apply earlier than six months after they are published.
None of this requires anything from you right now. Somebody born in 1959 does not turn 73 until 2032, so there is no election to make and no deadline to miss in 2026. It is worth knowing mainly because most calculators do not mention it at all.
IRS Uniform Lifetime Table for 2026
Table III is what applies if you are single, married to someone less than ten years younger, or married to someone more than ten years younger who is not your sole beneficiary. The percentage column is simply 100 divided by the factor, and it shows how the required slice of your account grows as you age.2
| Age | Factor | % of balance | Age | Factor | % of balance | Age | Factor | % of balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72 | 27.4 | 3.6% | 89 | 12.9 | 7.8% | 106 | 4.3 | 23.3% |
| 73 | 26.5 | 3.8% | 90 | 12.2 | 8.2% | 107 | 4.1 | 24.4% |
| 74 | 25.5 | 3.9% | 91 | 11.5 | 8.7% | 108 | 3.9 | 25.6% |
| 75 | 24.6 | 4.1% | 92 | 10.8 | 9.3% | 109 | 3.7 | 27.0% |
| 76 | 23.7 | 4.2% | 93 | 10.1 | 9.9% | 110 | 3.5 | 28.6% |
| 77 | 22.9 | 4.4% | 94 | 9.5 | 10.5% | 111 | 3.4 | 29.4% |
| 78 | 22.0 | 4.5% | 95 | 8.9 | 11.2% | 112 | 3.3 | 30.3% |
| 79 | 21.1 | 4.7% | 96 | 8.4 | 11.9% | 113 | 3.1 | 32.3% |
| 80 | 20.2 | 5.0% | 97 | 7.8 | 12.8% | 114 | 3.0 | 33.3% |
| 81 | 19.4 | 5.2% | 98 | 7.3 | 13.7% | 115 | 2.9 | 34.5% |
| 82 | 18.5 | 5.4% | 99 | 6.8 | 14.7% | 116 | 2.8 | 35.7% |
| 83 | 17.7 | 5.6% | 100 | 6.4 | 15.6% | 117 | 2.7 | 37.0% |
| 84 | 16.8 | 6.0% | 101 | 6.0 | 16.7% | 118 | 2.5 | 40.0% |
| 85 | 16.0 | 6.3% | 102 | 5.6 | 17.9% | 119 | 2.3 | 43.5% |
| 86 | 15.2 | 6.6% | 103 | 5.2 | 19.2% | 120+ | 2.0 | 50.0% |
| 87 | 14.4 | 6.9% | 104 | 4.9 | 20.4% | |||
| 88 | 13.7 | 7.3% | 105 | 4.6 | 21.7% |
The table starts at 72. If you find a source giving a factor for age 70 or 71, it is quoting the pre-2022 version, which was replaced when the IRS updated its mortality assumptions.2
When your spouse is more than ten years younger
Table II uses both your life expectancies rather than a standard assumption, which produces a bigger divisor and a smaller withdrawal. It applies only while your spouse is the sole beneficiary of that account.
Most calculators either ignore this case or tell you to go read Publication 590-B and stop there. Ours asks the question directly, and since Table II is not sourced yet, it shows the Table III figure as a ceiling: always higher than your real RMD, so withdrawing it always satisfies the requirement.1
Can you delay your first RMD to April 1?
Yes, your first RMD can wait until April 1 of the following year. Doing it puts two taxable withdrawals into the same calendar year.3
What a two-distribution year does to your taxes
Say you turn 73 with $662,500 in an IRA. Your first RMD is $25,000. Defer it to April 1 and you still owe the second year's RMD by that December 31, which on a $663,000 balance at the age-74 factor comes to $26,000.
That is $51,000 of taxable income landing in one tax year instead of two. Three things follow from it:
- Your marginal bracket. Stacked distributions can push the top slice of your income into the next bracket up.
- Medicare premiums. IRMAA surcharges on Part B and Part D are set from your income two years earlier, so a spike in 2026 shows up in your 2028 premiums.
- Social Security. Higher provisional income pulls more of your benefit into taxable territory, up to the 85% ceiling.
Neither choice is automatically better. The delay is worth taking if your first RMD year is unusually high-income and the second is not, and worth skipping if it is the other way round. The years before RMDs begin are also when a partial Roth conversion has the most room to work, which you can model in the Tweed Roth conversion calculator.
RMD calculation example: A 74-year-old with a $650,000 IRA
Take an account owner who turns 74 during 2026. The IRA was worth $650,000 on December 31, 2025. Their spouse is 70, so not more than ten years younger, which means Table III applies.
The applicable denominator at age 74 is 25.5.2 Dividing gives the answer:
$650,000 ÷ 25.5 = $25,490.20
That number is a floor, not a target. Withdrawing $40,000 instead is perfectly legal, and it does not reduce what is required in 2027. Next year's figure gets calculated from scratch: the December 31, 2026 balance divided by 24.6, the age-75 factor.
Run your own balance and age through the calculator above to see your factor and your number.
Which retirement accounts require RMDs?
RMDs apply to traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs, and to pre-tax balances in 401(k), 403(b), and governmental 457(b) plans.3
| Account type | Calculate | Withdraw |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs | Separately for each | Total from any one or more of them |
| 403(b) contracts | Separately for each | Total from any one or more of your 403(b)s |
| 401(k) and governmental 457(b) plans | Separately for each | Separately from each plan |
The pools do not mix. You cannot satisfy a 403(b) requirement by taking extra out of an IRA, and each 401(k) has to pay its own way.3 This is the rule people get wrong most often, usually by assuming the IRA aggregation rule applies everywhere.
Money inside a qualifying longevity annuity contract sits outside the calculation entirely. A QLAC lets you move up to $210,000 of premium in 2026 out of the balance that drives your RMD, deferring income on that slice until age 85.4
RMD rules for inherited IRAs
Inherited accounts use Table I, not the Uniform Lifetime Table. Most non-spouse beneficiaries who inherited after 2019 are on the 10-year rule, which requires the account to be emptied by the end of the tenth year after death.
Final regulations also require annual withdrawals during years one through nine if the original owner had already reached their required beginning date.5 Those annual distributions became enforceable in 2025, after several years of penalty relief, which is a change most calculator pages have not caught up with.
What happens if you miss an RMD?
Missing an RMD triggers an excise tax of 25% on whatever you failed to take, under section 4974 of the Internal Revenue Code.
The rate drops to 10% if you fix it inside the correction window. That window is more specific than the "within two years" shorthand you will see almost everywhere, including on the IRS's own consumer pages. It closes on the earliest of three things: the day the IRS mails a notice of deficiency, the day the tax is assessed, or the last day of the second tax year beginning after the year the tax was imposed.3
For a 2026 shortfall, that third condition runs to December 31, 2028. The first two can shut the window a lot sooner. You report the shortfall and ask for the reduced rate on Form 5329.
Can you reduce the tax on your RMD?
You cannot skip an RMD or convert it. Two mechanics change what it costs you.
Qualified charitable distributions
A qualified charitable distribution moves money straight from your IRA to an eligible charity. It counts toward your RMD and never enters your gross income, which is better than taking the distribution and claiming a deduction.
For 2026 the limit is $111,000 per person, including a one-time $55,000 election for a split-interest entity.4 The detail worth knowing: QCD eligibility starts at 70½, not at your RMD age. That leaves a window of two or more years where you can move money out tax-free before distributions are even required.
Converting in the years before RMDs start
Once you are in RMD territory, the required amount has to come out first, and it can never be converted to a Roth.
That makes the stretch between retiring and your first RMD the only window where conversions have real room. Income is usually at its lowest, and every dollar converted is a dollar that will not be forced out later. Whether it works for you depends on your bracket now versus your bracket then, which the Tweed Roth conversion calculator will model.
How your RMD is calculated
Everything runs in your browser. No inputs are sent anywhere.
The divisors come straight from the IRS mortality tables at 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9,2 with the operational rules from Publication 590-B1 and the year's indexed figures from Notice 2025-67.4
What the tool does not do: it does not model state income tax, it does not handle inherited accounts, and it does not know about restrictions your specific employer plan might impose. For a sole-beneficiary spouse more than ten years younger, it does not compute the exact Table II figure either, and shows the Table III ceiling instead. The tables and limits are re-checked against current IRS guidance each year rather than carrying last year's numbers forward.
Frequently asked questions about RMDs
Do Roth IRAs have required minimum distributions?
Roth IRAs have no required minimum distributions while the original owner is alive, and since 2024 the same is true of designated Roth accounts inside a 401(k) or 403(b). Beneficiaries who inherit a Roth account are a different story and do face distribution deadlines.
Can I take my whole IRA RMD from just one account?
Taking your whole IRA RMD from a single account is allowed. Calculate the requirement separately for each traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRA, add them up, then withdraw the total from whichever one you like. Workplace 401(k) plans do not work this way, and each has to be distributed on its own.
What is the still-working exception for 401(k) RMDs?
The still-working exception lets you delay RMDs from your current employer's plan until April 1 after the year you actually retire. It only applies if the plan's own documents allow it and you own less than 5% of the business. It never covers IRAs or plans left behind at previous employers.
How are RMDs taxed?
RMDs from a traditional IRA or pre-tax workplace plan are taxed as ordinary income in the year you take them, at whatever your marginal rate is. There is no special RMD rate and no capital gains treatment. If you made nondeductible contributions, the slice representing that basis comes out tax-free.
Can I convert my RMD to a Roth IRA?
Converting an RMD is not allowed. In any year you owe one, the RMD has to come out first as taxable income, and those dollars cannot be rolled over or converted. Anything above the required amount is fair game, which is why the years before RMDs start get used for conversions.
What is the deadline for taking my RMD?
December 31 of each distribution year, with one exception: your very first RMD can wait until April 1 of the following year. Miss it and the 25% excise tax applies to whatever you left behind. Check your number in the calculator above well before year end, because custodians get busy in late December.
Nicolas Straut
Personal finance writer, former Forbes contributor and This Week in Fintech writer
Sources
- https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590b
- https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-9
- https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/retirement-plan-and-ira-required-minimum-distributions-faqs
- https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-25-67.pdf
- https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/07/19/2024-14542/required-minimum-distributions