If you have a traditional IRA or a 401(k), the IRS does not let you leave that money growing tax-deferred forever. At some point you must start taking required minimum distributions, better known as RMDs, whether you need the cash or not. The age at which those distributions must begin has changed twice in recent years thanks to two pieces of legislation, the SECURE Act of 2019 and the SECURE Act 2.0 of 2022. Your personal RMD start age now depends entirely on the year you were born, which is why a simple birth-year lookup is the fastest way to know where you stand.
Getting this date wrong can be expensive: miss an RMD and the IRS assesses an excise tax on the shortfall, plus interest. But knowing your RMD age years in advance gives you a planning window, through Roth conversions and charitable strategies, that can genuinely lower your lifetime tax bill. This guide covers the current rules, the birth-year table, how your first RMD is calculated, the deadlines, the penalties, and the planning moves that matter most.
Use the RMD age calculator above to get your personalized starting age, first RMD calendar year, and an estimate of your first required withdrawal based on your current balance. Then read on for the full story behind those numbers.
What Are Required Minimum Distributions?
Required minimum distributions are the minimum amounts the federal tax code forces you to withdraw each year from most tax-deferred retirement accounts once you reach a certain age. Traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, and employer plans such as 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and most 457(b) plans are all subject to the rule. The IRS created RMDs to ensure that tax-deferred savings are eventually taxed rather than sheltered indefinitely and passed to heirs untouched.
Each year, your RMD is your account balance at the previous December 31 divided by a life-expectancy factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table, and it is taxed as ordinary income. You may always withdraw more than the minimum, but never less. There is no maximum; if you need the money, you can empty the account.
Roth IRAs are the big exception while the original owner is alive. Because Roth contributions were made with after-tax dollars, the IRS does not require distributions from your own Roth IRA at any age. Roth 401(k) accounts were also freed from pre-death RMDs starting in 2024, which removed a longstanding reason to roll Roth 401(k) money into a Roth IRA.
How the SECURE Acts Changed the RMD Age
For decades, the RMD starting age was 70 and one-half, a half-birthday rule that almost everyone found confusing. Two laws in three years swept it away and replaced it with a clean, birth-year-based system. Understanding both laws helps you see why the current rules look the way they do.
SECURE Act 1.0: From 70.5 to 72
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, signed in December 2019, moved the RMD starting age from 70.5 to 72 for anyone who had not yet reached 70.5 by the end of 2019, in practice helping people born on or after July 1, 1949. It also replaced the inherited IRA stretch with a 10-year rule for most non-spouse beneficiaries. The law was widely seen as a modest acknowledgment that Americans are living and working longer.
SECURE Act 2.0: From 72 to 73, Then 75
The SECURE 2.0 Act, signed in December 2022, raised the RMD age again in two steps. People born between 1951 and 1959 now start RMDs at age 73, and people born in 1960 or later start at age 75, although that second step does not take effect until 2033. Congress also cut the penalty for missing an RMD and added higher catch-up contributions for workers aged 60 to 63. The clear direction of travel is later RMDs and more years of tax-deferred growth.
RMD Start Age by Birth Year
Under current law, your RMD age is determined by a simple three-bracket rule. Find your birth year below to see when your distributions must begin:
- Born in 1950 or earlier: your RMD age is 72. You should already be taking RMDs if you have reached that age.
- Born from 1951 through 1959: your RMD age is 73. If you were born in 1951, you turned 73 in 2024.
- Born in 1960 or later: your RMD age is 75. This bracket takes effect in 2033.
Your first RMD year is the calendar year in which you reach your RMD age. For example, someone born in 1955 reaches age 73 in 2028, so 2028 is their first RMD year, with the withdrawal calculated from the account balance on December 31, 2027. The calculator above performs this arithmetic for you and adds an estimated first-year withdrawal amount.
How Your First RMD Amount Is Calculated
The formula for any RMD is straightforward: take your total balance in the account on December 31 of the prior year and divide it by the distribution period, also called the divisor, from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table that corresponds to your age. For a 73-year-old, the divisor is 26.5; for a 75-year-old, it is 24.6. So a $500,000 IRA balance at the end of the year before you turn 73 produces a first RMD of roughly $18,868.
If your spouse is your sole beneficiary and is more than ten years younger, you use the Joint and Last Survivor Table, which gives a smaller RMD. If you hold multiple traditional IRAs, calculate each RMD separately but withdraw the combined total from any of them. Employer plans are stricter: a 401(k) RMD generally must come out of that specific plan. The IRS updated its life-expectancy tables effective 2022, slightly reducing RMDs, so use only the current table.
Deadlines: The April 1 Rule and After
Your very first RMD can be delayed until April 1 of the year after you reach your RMD age. Using the earlier example, the person born in 1955 could take the 2028 RMD any time up to April 1, 2029. Every RMD after the first must be taken by December 31 of its calendar year, with no extensions.
The April 1 delay is a trap for the unwary. Postponing your first RMD means two taxable RMDs land in the same calendar year, which can push you into a higher tax bracket, increase Social Security taxation, and raise Medicare premiums through IRMAA surcharges. Most retirees are better off taking the first RMD in its actual calendar year unless they have a specific low-income year to exploit.
Penalties for Missing an RMD
Missing an RMD used to trigger a 50 percent excise tax on the shortfall. SECURE 2.0 cut that to 25 percent, dropping to 10 percent if you correct the mistake promptly by taking the missed distribution and filing the required forms. That is still a painful surcharge on top of the income tax on the distribution itself.
The IRS can waive the penalty entirely for reasonable error if you take reasonable steps to fix it. Custodians report distributions to the IRS, which matches those reports against what the tables say you owed, so missed RMDs are frequently caught. If you discover one, take it immediately, file Form 5329, and request a waiver. Interest accrues on unpaid excise tax, so speed matters.
Planning Strategies to Manage Your RMDs
Knowing your RMD age years in advance is only useful if you act on it. The years between retirement and your first RMD are often your lowest-income years, which makes them the ideal window for moves that shrink future RMDs and the taxes attached to them.
Roth Conversions in the Gap Years
Converting part of a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA before RMDs begin permanently removes that money from the RMD calculation. You pay income tax on the conversion now, ideally at a lower rate than you would face once RMDs, Social Security, and pensions stack up later. Roth IRAs have no lifetime RMDs for the original owner, so each converted dollar never inflates a future distribution. Convert in measured annual slices that fill your current bracket without spilling into the next.
Qualified Charitable Distributions
Once you reach age 70.5, you can send up to $108,000 per year (indexed for inflation) directly from your IRA to a qualified charity as a qualified charitable distribution, or QCD. A QCD counts toward your RMD but is excluded from taxable income, which beats a deduction for most retirees who take the standard deduction. It becomes available before your RMD age even when that age is 73 or 75, and for charitably inclined retirees it is usually the most tax-efficient way to satisfy an RMD.
The Still-Working Exception
If you are still employed at your RMD age, you may delay RMDs from your current employer’s 401(k) until April 1 of the year after you retire. This exception does not apply to IRAs, to 401(k)s from former employers, or if you own more than 5 percent of the company. It is a narrow carve-out that lets your workplace balance compound untouched a few years longer while IRA RMDs continue on schedule.
Which Accounts Must Take RMDs?
The RMD rules cover nearly every tax-deferred retirement account, but the details vary by account type. Keep this list in mind when totaling what you owe each year:
- Traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs: RMDs required; you may aggregate across your own IRAs and withdraw the total from any of them.
- 401(k), 403(b), and governmental 457(b) plans: RMDs required; each employer’s plan is calculated and satisfied separately.
- Roth IRAs (original owner): no RMDs during your lifetime.
- Roth 401(k)s: no pre-death RMDs starting in 2024; earlier law required them.
- Inherited IRAs: separate beneficiary rules apply, usually the 10-year rule for most non-spouse heirs under the SECURE Acts.
Designated Roth accounts inside employer plans follow the Roth 401(k) treatment, while HSAs, 529 plans, and taxable brokerage accounts never have RMDs. When in doubt, confirm with your plan administrator, because an error across multiple accounts can still trigger the excise tax on the total shortfall.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the RMD age if I was born in 1955?
Your RMD age is 73. Anyone born from 1951 through 1959 falls in the middle bracket created by SECURE Act 2.0, so your first RMD year is the calendar year you turn 73. For a 1955 birth year, that is 2028, and the amount is based on your December 31, 2027 balance divided by the age-73 divisor of 26.5.
What is the RMD age if I was born in 1965?
Your RMD age is 75. Everyone born in 1960 or later is in the newest bracket, which takes effect in 2033. If you were born in 1965, you turn 75 in 2040, so 2040 is your first RMD year, calculated from your balance at the end of 2039 using the age-75 divisor of 24.6.
Do I still have RMDs if I was born before 1950?
Yes. If you were born in 1950 or earlier, your RMD age was 72 under SECURE Act 1.0, and you should already be taking annual distributions. The newer 73 and 75 brackets do not apply retroactively, so SECURE 2.0 neither changes nor pauses RMDs that have already begun.
Can I delay my first RMD until April 1?
You can delay only your very first RMD until April 1 of the year after you reach your RMD age. All later RMDs are due by December 31 each year. Be careful: using the delay means two taxable RMDs land in the same calendar year, which can raise your tax bracket, increase Social Security taxation, and trigger higher Medicare IRMAA premiums.
What happens if I miss an RMD?
You owe an excise tax of 25 percent of the amount you failed to withdraw, on top of the ordinary income tax on the distribution itself. If you correct the error promptly by taking the missed RMD, the penalty drops to 10 percent. The IRS may waive it entirely for reasonable error if you file Form 5329, take the distribution, and request relief.
How is my RMD amount calculated each year?
Divide your account balance on December 31 of the prior year by the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table divisor for your age that year. For example, a $600,000 balance at age 73 uses a divisor of 26.5, giving an RMD of about $22,642. The divisor shrinks as you age, so the percentage you must withdraw rises every year.
Do Roth IRAs have required minimum distributions?
Not while the original owner is alive. Roth IRAs are funded with after-tax dollars, so the IRS imposes no lifetime RMDs on them. This is one reason Roth conversions before your RMD age are popular: converted dollars permanently leave the RMD calculation. Inherited Roth IRAs, however, do have beneficiary distribution rules.
Can I take my RMD from just one of my IRAs?
Yes. If you own multiple traditional, SEP, or SIMPLE IRAs, calculate the RMD for each account separately, add them together, and withdraw the total from any one account or split it as you like. Employer plans differ: a 401(k) RMD must generally come from that specific plan and cannot be aggregated across employers.
What is a qualified charitable distribution?
A qualified charitable distribution, or QCD, is a direct transfer of up to $108,000 per year from your IRA to an eligible charity, available once you reach age 70.5. It counts toward your RMD but is excluded from your taxable income, making it more valuable than a charitable deduction for retirees who claim the standard deduction. The check must go directly to the charity, not through your hands first.
Do I pay tax on my RMD?
Yes, RMDs from traditional IRAs and pre-tax 401(k) money are taxed as ordinary income in the year you receive them. They can also increase the taxable portion of your Social Security benefits and trigger Medicare IRMAA surcharges. After-tax basis, such as nondeductible contributions, comes out tax-free on a pro-rata basis.
Can I still work and delay my 401(k) RMD?
Possibly. If you are still working for the employer that sponsors your 401(k) when you reach RMD age, you can generally delay RMDs from that plan until April 1 of the year after you retire. This still-working exception does not cover IRAs, old 401(k)s from prior employers, or anyone who owns more than 5 percent of the business.
What divisor does the IRS use at age 73?
The current IRS Uniform Lifetime Table gives a 73-year-old a distribution period of 26.5. That means your age-73 RMD is your prior year-end balance divided by 26.5, or about 3.77 percent of the account. The tables were updated effective 2022 to reflect longer life expectancies, so older tables showing larger RMDs should not be used.
Are RMDs required from an inherited IRA?
Usually yes, but under different rules. Most non-spouse beneficiaries who inherited after 2019 must empty the account within 10 years of the original owner’s death, and the IRS now requires annual RMDs during that 10-year window if the deceased had already started their own RMDs. Surviving spouses have more options, including rolling the account into their own IRA.
Can Roth conversions reduce my future RMDs?
Yes, that is their main appeal for pre-RMD planning. Every converted dollar permanently leaves the pool future RMDs are calculated from, and Roth IRAs have no lifetime RMDs. The trade-off is paying income tax on the conversion now, so most planners convert gradually during the low-income years between retirement and RMD age.
Where can I find the official IRS RMD tables?
The official tables are in IRS Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements, which is updated annually and available free on irs.gov. Your IRA custodian or 401(k) administrator will also calculate your RMD each year, but the legal responsibility to take the correct total across all accounts remains yours, not theirs.