Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) Calculator

Sample Uniform Lifetime Factors

For most retirement account owners, Required Minimum Distributions are calculated using the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table (Table III) found in Treasury Regulation § 1.401(a)(9)-9 and IRS Publication 590-B. Each age corresponds to a distribution period (divisor) representing joint life expectancy with a hypothetical beneficiary 10 years younger:

As you age, the distribution period decreases, which increases the required percentage of your portfolio that must be distributed each year.

What Age Do RMDs Start?

Under the SECURE Act of 2019 and the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, statutory RMD beginning ages are determined strictly by your birth year:

• Born 1950 or earlier: Applicable statutory RMD age is 72 (or 70½ if born before July 1, 1949).
• Born 1951 through 1959: Applicable statutory RMD age is 73.
• Born 1960 or later: Applicable statutory RMD age is 75.

Current law can change. This calculator applies the statutory rules enacted under SECURE 2.0 § 107 verified for the selected calculation year.

Who Turns RMD Age in 2026?

Individuals born in 1953 reach age 73 during the 2026 calendar year. Because the statutory starting age for the 1951–1959 cohort is 73, 2026 represents their first statutory RMD year.

In contrast, individuals born in 1960 will reach age 66 in 2026. Under SECURE 2.0, their applicable RMD starting age is 75, which means their first RMD year will not arrive until 2035.

Do I Have to Take a 401(k) RMD If I Am Still Working?

For a qualified employer workplace plan such as a 401(k), the IRS allows an employee to delay RMDs past their statutory starting age until April 1 of the year following the year they retire, provided four essential conditions are satisfied:

1. Active employment: You are still actively employed by the employer sponsoring the plan throughout the calculation year.
2. Current plan: The account is with your current employer (an old 401(k) with a previous company cannot be delayed).
3. Ownership limit: You do not own more than 5% of the company sponsoring the plan at any time during the plan year ending in the calendar year.
4. Plan document: The employer's plan document expressly includes the still-working delayed RMD provision.

Can My 401(k) Plan Require RMDs Even If I Am Still Working?

Yes. While federal tax law permits employer plans to offer the still-working delay, it does not mandate it. An employer plan is legally permitted to adopt plan rules requiring all participants to begin distributions at age 73 regardless of continued employment.

Always check your plan's Summary Plan Description (SPD) or consult your human resources or plan administrator to verify whether your specific workplace plan includes the still-working exception.

Does the Still-Working Rule Apply to a Business Owner?

No. Under Internal Revenue Code § 401(a)(9)(C)(ii)(I), any participant who is a more-than-5% owner of the sponsoring employer cannot utilize the still-working exception.

If you own more than 5% of the business (taking into account attribution rules under IRC § 318), you must begin taking RMDs once you attain your statutory RMD age, even if you remain a 100% active, full-time employee of the company.

What If My Spouse Is More Than 10 Years Younger?

If your spouse is the sole primary beneficiary of your account for the entire distribution year and is more than 10 years younger than you, you are permitted to use the Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy Table (Table II) instead of the Uniform Lifetime Table.

Because Table II calculates combined joint life expectancies rather than assuming a hypothetical 10-year age gap, it yields a larger divisor. A larger divisor results in a lower required annual distribution, allowing more pre-tax capital to remain invested.

Does a Roth 401(k) Have RMDs?

No lifetime RMD is currently required from a designated Roth 401(k).

Prior to 2024, designated Roth 401(k) accounts were subject to pre-death RMD rules unless rolled over into a Roth IRA. Enacted under the SECURE 2.0 Act § 325, this disparity was eliminated effective taxable years beginning after December 31, 2023. Original account owners no longer face lifetime RMDs from designated Roth workplace accounts.

If you have a mixed 401(k) with both pre-tax and designated Roth dollars, your RMD is calculated solely against the pre-tax balance.

Can I Use This Calculator for an Inherited 401(k) or IRA?

No. This calculator is designed exclusively for original account owners.

Inherited retirement accounts follow complex post-death distribution rules enacted under the SECURE Act and finalized IRS regulations, including:

• The mandatory 10-year distribution rule for non-eligible designated beneficiaries.
• Annual beneficiary RMD requirements during years 1 through 9 when the original owner died on or after their required beginning date.
• Single Life Expectancy Table (Table I) calculations for Eligible Designated Beneficiaries (EDBs).
• Surviving-spouse spousal rollover and delayed distribution elections.
• Year-of-death distribution satisfaction rules.

Do not estimate inherited account distributions using an original-owner RMD calculator.

What Happens If I Miss an RMD?

If you fail to withdraw the full statutory required minimum distribution by the applicable deadline, the undistributed amount is subject to a federal excise tax under Internal Revenue Code § 4974.

Historically, the penalty was a severe 50% of the shortfall. Under SECURE 2.0 Act § 302, the excise tax was lowered significantly:

• General statutory excise tax: 25% of the RMD shortfall.
• Timely correction window rate: 10% if the shortfall is corrected during the statutory correction window (generally by the end of the second taxable year following the taxable year in which the shortfall occurred) and Form 5329 is submitted.

In addition, the IRS retains authority to waive the excise tax entirely if the shortfall was due to reasonable error and reasonable steps are taken to remedy the shortfall (requested via Form 5329 with an attached explanation).

RMD Shortfall Calculator

When distributions taken in the current year fall below the annual requirement, a shortfall exists:

Our calculator dynamically evaluates your current distributions, displays any remaining shortfall, and models both the statutory 25% penalty and the 10% reduced-rate scenario as educational benchmarks.

How Is a Missed RMD Reported?

A missed or deficient RMD is reported on IRS Form 5329 (Additional Taxes on Qualified Plans (Including IRAs) and Other Tax-Favored Accounts), filed with your Form 1040 federal income tax return.

If requesting a waiver of the excise tax due to reasonable cause, taxpayers complete Part IX of Form 5329, enter "RC" (reasonable cause) and the amount requested for waiver next to the additional tax line, and attach a formal statement detailing the error and proof that the shortfall has been distributed.

Are 401(k) RMDs Taxable?

Distributions from a Traditional, pre-tax 401(k) are included in your ordinary taxable income in the year distributed. They do not qualify for preferential long-term capital gains tax rates.

If your account contains after-tax basis (non-Roth after-tax voluntary contributions), only the pro-rata earnings portion of each distribution is taxable. Pre-tax distributions are also subject to mandatory 20% federal tax withholding unless eligible for direct rollover, though RMDs themselves cannot be rolled over and are generally subject to 10% default withholding unless you elect otherwise.

Can I Withdraw More Than My Required Minimum?

Yes. The statutory RMD is strictly a minimum. You are completely free to distribute any greater amount from your account, subject to plan withdrawal rules.

Can I Still Contribute to a 401(k) While Taking RMDs?

Yes. Reaching RMD age does not prevent you from making salary deferrals or receiving employer contributions if you remain actively employed.

IRS contribution rules and distribution rules operate independently. If you are subject to RMDs (for instance, as a more-than-5% owner or taking RMDs from a former employer's plan), you may still defer up to the annual elective deferral limit ($24,500 in 2026, plus age 50+ catch-up of $8,000 or the enhanced age 60–63 catch-up of $11,500) into an active 401(k).

How This RMD Calculator Works

Our calculation engine executes five rigorous steps adhering directly to Treasury Regulation § 1.401(a)(9):

1. Eligibility Evaluation: Evaluates birth year, statutory starting age (73 or 75), current employment status, current vs. past plan, ownership percentage, and designated Roth exemption to determine if an RMD is required.
2. Balance Verification: Takes the account balance as of December 31 of the preceding calendar year (excluding any designated Roth dollars).
3. Table & Divisor Selection: Identifies the correct IRS table—Uniform Lifetime Table by default, or Joint Life Table II if spouse is sole beneficiary and more than 10 years younger—and retrieves the exact divisor.
4. RMD Computation: Divides prior December 31 balance by the divisor:
   Annual RMD = Prior Dec 31 Balance ÷ IRS Divisor
5. Progress & Shortfall Tracking: Compares distributions taken against the required amount, determines remaining distribution obligations, and calculates planning equivalents.

Limitations of This Calculator

This calculator provides educational estimates based on user inputs. It does not calculate:

• Inherited or beneficiary retirement account RMDs.
• Complex trust beneficiary look-through provisions.
• Pre-1987 403(b) balance exclusions.
• Defined benefit pension plan minimum distributions.
• Individualized income tax liability, bracket phase-outs, or Medicare IRMAA surcharges.

When Is Your 2026 RMD Due?

For normal ongoing distribution years, your RMD must be distributed by December 31 of that calendar year.

For your very first statutory RMD year, you are granted an extended required beginning date: you have until April 1 of the following calendar year to take that first distribution.

Delaying the First RMD Can Put Two RMDs in One Calendar Year

While the IRS permits you to postpone your first year's RMD until April 1 of year two, doing so carries a significant tax trap:

Your second year's RMD is still legally due by December 31 of year two. Postponing your first RMD means you will receive two full taxable RMD distributions in a single calendar tax year. This income stacking can push you into a higher federal tax bracket, increase state taxes, trigger higher taxation of Social Security benefits, and cause Medicare Part B/D IRMAA premium surcharges.

Can an RMD Be Rolled Over?

No. Under Internal Revenue Code § 402(c)(4)(B), required minimum distributions are expressly excluded from the definition of an "eligible rollover distribution."

You cannot roll an RMD into an IRA, another 401(k), or convert it to a Roth IRA. If you attempt to roll an RMD into an IRA, it is considered an ineligible rollover and treated as an excess IRA contribution subject to a 6% annual excise tax until corrected.

Can I Take the RMD for Two 401(k)s From Only One Plan?

No. Unlike IRAs, 401(k) plans cannot be aggregated. Under Treasury Regulation § 1.401(a)(9)-8, A-1, an RMD from a qualified retirement plan must be satisfied separately from that specific plan.

For example, if you hold 401(k) Plan A with an RMD of $12,000 and 401(k) Plan B with an RMD of $8,000, you cannot withdraw $20,000 from Plan A. Doing so leaves Plan B with an unfulfilled RMD subject to the § 4974 excise tax.

Are IRA RMD Aggregation Rules Different?

Yes. Under Treasury Regulation § 1.408-8, A-9, an individual holding multiple Traditional IRAs must calculate the RMD separately for each IRA, but may aggregate the total required amounts and withdraw the total sum from any one or combination of their Traditional IRAs.

However, 401(k)s and IRAs can never be aggregated together. An IRA distribution cannot satisfy a 401(k) RMD, and a 401(k) distribution cannot satisfy an IRA RMD.

Project Future RMDs Under Current Law

Understanding how your RMD will change over the next 10 to 20 years is critical for retirement tax planning. As you age, your divisor steadily declines—from 26.5 at age 73 down to 12.2 at age 90.

This causes your mandatory distribution percentage to rise from 3.77% of portfolio assets to over 8.19%. Use our optional projection feature above to test hypothetical portfolio growth rates and see how mandatory withdrawals impact portfolio longevity and future tax exposure.

Official IRS & Government Sources

This calculator and guide are strictly aligned with primary federal statutes and official Treasury regulations: