Retirement accounts such as traditional IRAs and 401(k)s can provide years of tax-deferred growth, but that tax deferral does not continue indefinitely. At a certain point, federal tax rules generally require you to begin withdrawing a minimum amount each year. These withdrawals are known as required minimum distributions, or RMDs.
RMD rules affect when money must leave certain retirement accounts, how much must be withdrawn, and when the distribution needs to be completed. The rules have changed several times in recent years, which can make it difficult to know whether your starting age is 72, 73, or eventually 75. Your account type, age, employment status, and whether the account was inherited can also affect what applies.
Understanding these rules before your first RMD year can help you avoid missed deadlines and make more thoughtful tax and income decisions. An RMD is not simply an IRS compliance issue because the additional taxable income may affect the rest of your retirement plan. Knowing what is coming gives you more time to coordinate withdrawals with other sources of retirement income.
What Are Required Minimum Distributions?
An RMD is the minimum amount the federal tax rules generally require you to withdraw each year from certain tax-deferred retirement accounts after reaching the applicable starting age. The requirement exists because contributions and investment earnings in many of these accounts may have received years of tax deferral. Once RMDs begin, taxable distributions are generally included in your federal taxable income except for amounts that were previously taxed or otherwise qualify for tax-free treatment.
You can always withdraw more than your required amount if the account and plan rules allow it, but taking extra money this year does not reduce a future year’s RMD. Each year’s requirement is calculated separately based primarily on the prior year-end account balance and an IRS life-expectancy factor. That means the amount can change from year to year as your balance and age change.
RMDs are best viewed as part of your retirement-income plan rather than as money that must automatically be spent. If you do not need the entire distribution for living expenses, you may have other options for the money after it is withdrawn, depending on your circumstances. The important point is that the required amount must leave the affected retirement account by the applicable deadline.
At What Age Do RMDs Start?
Under the rules currently affecting most people beginning RMDs in 2026, the starting age is generally 73. SECURE 2.0 also provides for the applicable age to rise to 75 for later cohorts as the law phases in. If you were already required to take RMDs under earlier age-70½ or age-72 rules, those obligations do not disappear because the starting age changed for younger retirees.
Your first RMD is technically associated with the year you reach your applicable RMD age, even though the IRS generally allows the first distribution to be delayed until April 1 of the following year. After that first year, RMDs are generally due by December 31 each year. This timing difference matters because delaying the first distribution may result in two taxable RMDs being received during the same calendar year.
A simplified view of the age rules is:
| Situation | General RMD Starting Rule |
| Already subject to RMDs under earlier rules | Continue taking annual RMDs |
| Current retirees reaching the applicable age before the later SECURE 2.0 phase-in | Generally age 73 |
| Later cohorts covered by the SECURE 2.0 increase | Applicable age increases to 75 |
| First RMD deadline | Generally April 1 of the following year |
| Later RMD deadlines | Generally December 31 each year |
Because the age rules have changed more than once, avoid relying on an old retirement article or a calculation you made several years ago. Your date of birth and the type of account you own determine the applicable starting rule. If your situation falls near one of the transition years, confirming the date with your plan administrator or tax professional can help prevent an avoidable mistake.
Which Retirement Accounts Require RMDs?
RMD rules generally apply to traditional IRAs and many tax-deferred workplace retirement plans. These include 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), SEP IRA, and SIMPLE IRA accounts, although some employer plans have additional timing rules. The tax treatment of the account is one of the main reasons these withdrawals eventually become mandatory.
Roth accounts now receive different treatment during the original owner’s lifetime. Roth IRAs do not require lifetime RMDs for the original owner, and designated Roth accounts in 401(k) and 403(b) plans are also no longer subject to lifetime RMD requirements for the original account owner. Beneficiaries can still be subject to separate distribution rules after the owner’s death.
Common account treatment includes:
- Traditional IRA: generally subject to RMDs.
- SEP and SIMPLE IRA: generally subject to RMDs.
- Traditional 401(k): generally subject to RMDs.
- 403(b) and 457(b): generally subject to RMD rules, with certain plan-specific provisions.
- Roth IRA: no lifetime RMD for the original owner.
- Designated Roth 401(k) or 403(b): no lifetime RMD for the original owner under current rules.
- Inherited accounts: separate beneficiary rules can apply.
Inherited retirement accounts deserve particular attention because the rules depend on the beneficiary’s relationship to the original owner, when the owner died, and whether the owner had already reached the required beginning date. Many non-spouse beneficiaries are subject to a 10-year distribution framework, but annual distributions may also apply in certain situations. Because those rules are more detailed, inherited accounts should be reviewed separately rather than treated like your own IRA.
How Do You Calculate an RMD?
For most original account owners, the basic calculation is straightforward: divide the retirement account’s December 31 balance from the previous year by the applicable IRS life-expectancy factor. Most account owners use the Uniform Lifetime Table, while a different table generally applies when the sole beneficiary is a spouse who is more than 10 years younger. Beneficiaries may also use different life-expectancy rules.
For example, assume you are age 73 in 2026 and your traditional IRA was worth $200,000 on December 31, 2025. The Uniform Lifetime Table factor for age 73 is 26.5, so dividing $200,000 by 26.5 produces an RMD of approximately $7,547. Your actual calculation can differ if special circumstances or account adjustments apply.
Here are several Uniform Lifetime Table factors for illustration:
| Age | IRS Life-Expectancy Factor | Approx. Percentage of Balance |
| 73 | 26.5 | 3.77% |
| 75 | 24.6 | 4.07% |
| 80 | 20.2 | 4.95% |
| 85 | 16.0 | 6.25% |
| 90 | 12.2 | 8.20% |
The percentage generally rises as the life-expectancy factor falls, which can cause RMDs to represent a larger share of the account over time. Your custodian or plan administrator may calculate the amount for you, but the account owner remains responsible for satisfying the requirement. It is worth reviewing the calculation rather than assuming every account has been handled automatically.
Should You Delay Your First RMD Until April 1?
The IRS generally lets you delay your first RMD until April 1 of the year following the year in which the requirement begins. That extra time can sound attractive, particularly if you do not need the money immediately. However, delaying the first distribution does not eliminate that year’s RMD and may cause two distributions to fall into the following calendar year.
Suppose your first RMD is for 2026 and you wait until March 2027 to take it. You would still generally need to take your 2027 RMD by December 31, 2027, potentially placing two taxable distributions into your 2027 income. Depending on your other income, that could affect your marginal tax rate and other income-based retirement costs.
For that reason, some retirees choose to take the first distribution during the initial RMD year rather than waiting until the following April. There is no single approach that is best for everyone because taxes, Social Security, Medicare-related income, and other withdrawals can all influence the decision. Reviewing your year-end tax planning before choosing the timing can help you see the wider effect.
Can You Delay RMDs If You Are Still Working?
Traditional IRA owners generally cannot postpone RMDs simply because they are still employed. Once the applicable RMD age is reached, traditional IRA, SEP IRA, and SIMPLE IRA distributions generally need to begin under the normal rules. Continuing to receive a paycheck does not create the same delay that may be available through some employer-sponsored retirement plans.
A current employer’s 401(k), 403(b), or other qualifying defined contribution plan may allow RMDs to be delayed until the year you retire. That exception generally does not apply if you are a 5% owner of the business sponsoring the plan, and an individual plan may require distributions earlier. Money left in a former employer’s plan also does not automatically receive the same still-working treatment.
The difference between IRA and workplace-plan rules makes account organization important near retirement. Rolling money from one plan to another can have consequences beyond investment convenience, so avoid making a rollover solely to simplify RMDs without reviewing the broader effects. How your accounts fit into your future withdrawal order may be just as important as where the assets are held.
How Do RMDs Work When You Have Multiple Accounts?
If you own several traditional IRAs, you generally calculate the RMD for each IRA separately. However, you can usually satisfy the combined IRA requirement by withdrawing the total amount from one IRA or spreading the withdrawals across several of them. This flexibility can be useful when different accounts hold different investments or serve different purposes.
Employer plans generally work differently because a 401(k) RMD normally must be satisfied from that particular plan rather than from an IRA or unrelated retirement plan. Similar aggregation rules can vary by plan type, so having several workplace accounts can make the process more complicated. A custodian may tell you the amount due from its account without knowing what you hold elsewhere.
When you have multiple accounts, a simple annual checklist can help:
- Calculate the required amount for each affected account.
- Confirm which accounts can legally be aggregated.
- Decide where the actual withdrawals will come from.
- Verify that each required plan distribution has been completed.
- Keep records showing the amounts and dates of each withdrawal.
This is one reason retirement withdrawals are often easier to manage when they are planned before December. Waiting until the final days of the year can leave little time to fix a transfer, calculation, or processing problem. A consistent process can reduce administrative stress while giving you more control over which investments are sold to create the distribution.
What Happens If You Miss an RMD?
Missing an RMD can result in a federal excise tax on the amount that should have been distributed but was not. Under current rules, the tax can generally be 25% of the shortfall, with a reduction to 10% when the missed amount is corrected within the applicable correction period. That is a significant improvement from the older 50% penalty, but it is still a costly mistake.
If you discover a missed or insufficient distribution, addressing it quickly is usually better than ignoring the problem. Take the corrective distribution when appropriate, document what happened, and determine whether Form 5329 or other tax reporting is required. In some circumstances, IRS relief may be available for reasonable error when appropriate corrective steps have been taken, but that should not be assumed automatically.
The most common RMD problems are preventable:
- using the wrong prior-year account balance
- applying the wrong IRS life-expectancy table
- forgetting one of several retirement plans
- misunderstanding the first-year April 1 deadline
- assuming a custodian will coordinate all of your accounts
- overlooking special inherited-account rules
Building the RMD calculation into your annual retirement review can make these errors less likely. The deadline may seem straightforward, but account transfers, rollovers, beneficiary changes, or multiple custodians can complicate an otherwise simple calculation. If you are uncertain, verify the requirement before the deadline rather than trying to correct it afterward.
How Should RMDs Fit Into Your Retirement Income Plan?
An RMD tells you the minimum amount federal rules require you to withdraw, but it does not tell you how much you should spend. Some retirees need more than the required amount for living expenses, while others would prefer to withdraw less if the law allowed it. Treating the RMD as one part of your cash-flow plan can help you decide what should happen after the money leaves the account.
Taxes are also part of the decision because distributions from traditional tax-deferred accounts are generally taxable as ordinary income, except to the extent they represent previously taxed basis. Larger withdrawals can interact with Social Security taxation, Medicare income-related surcharges, and other tax-planning decisions depending on your situation. That makes the timing of required minimum distributions relevant even when the calculation itself is straightforward.
RMD planning can also influence decisions you make years before the first mandatory withdrawal begins. Roth conversions, voluntary withdrawals, charitable giving, and the order in which retirement accounts are used can all affect future taxable balances, although each strategy has its own rules and tradeoffs. A coordinated retirement income plan can help you consider RMDs alongside taxes, spending, Social Security, and the rest of your portfolio.
Stay Ahead of Your RMD Deadlines
RMD rules are manageable once you know which accounts are affected, when your distributions begin, and how the annual amount is calculated. The most important habits are checking the prior year-end balance, using the correct IRS table, understanding which accounts can be combined, and completing each withdrawal before its deadline. Keeping good records also makes it easier to confirm that nothing has been overlooked.
The rules have changed enough in recent years that relying on old assumptions can cause problems. Roth workplace accounts now receive different lifetime treatment, the starting age has moved higher, and penalties for missed distributions have changed. Reviewing your plan each year helps ensure your retirement strategy is based on current rules rather than information that was accurate several years ago.
Ultimately, required minimum distributions should fit into the retirement plan you already have rather than dictate it. The IRS determines the minimum that must come out, but you still need to decide how those withdrawals interact with taxes, spending, investments, and other income. Planning ahead can make RMD season a routine part of retirement rather than a year-end surprise.
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