Required Minimum Distribution Rules in 2026

In 2026, required minimum distributions (RMDs) start at age 73 if you were born between 1951 and 1959, and at age 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. Your 2026 RMD is your account balance on December 31, 2025, divided by the IRS life-expectancy factor for your age. At 73, that factor is 26.5, so a $500,000 IRA means a $18,868 withdrawal.

An RMD is the minimum amount the IRS requires you to withdraw each year from tax-deferred retirement accounts such as traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and SEP and SIMPLE IRAs. The money was never taxed when it went in, so the government eventually wants its tax revenue. Miss the deadline and the penalty is steep. This guide covers who must take RMDs in 2026, how to calculate yours, and the mistakes that cost retirees the most.

Who has to take an RMD in 2026?

The starting age has moved three times in recent years, which is why so many retirees are confused. The original SECURE Act of 2019 raised it from 70½ to 72. Then SECURE 2.0, passed in December 2022, raised it again: to 73 for anyone born between 1951 and 1959, and to 75 for anyone born in 1960 or later, starting in 2033. In 2026, that means people turning 73 this year, those born in 1953, take their first RMD. Anyone born in 1950 or earlier already reached their starting age under the old rules and simply keeps taking RMDs every year.

RMDs apply to traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and 457(b) plans. They do not apply to Roth IRAs during the original owner's lifetime, and since 2024, SECURE 2.0 also exempts designated Roth accounts inside employer plans, such as Roth 401(k)s, from lifetime RMDs. That change finally put Roth 401(k)s on the same footing as Roth IRAs. If all your retirement money is in Roth accounts, you may never face an RMD while you are alive, though your beneficiaries will face their own rules after inheriting.

There is one more exception worth knowing. If you are still working at 73 and you are not a 5% owner of the company, your current employer's 401(k) or 403(b) may let you delay RMDs from that plan until you retire. This still-working exception does not apply to IRAs, and it does not apply to old employer plans from jobs you already left. Those still need their RMDs on schedule.

How to calculate your 2026 RMD

The formula is simple, and the IRS publishes the only table you need. Take your account balance on December 31 of the prior year and divide it by the distribution period for your age in the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table, Table III in IRS Publication 590-B. You calculate each account separately, but for IRAs you can add the RMDs together and withdraw the total from one IRA if you prefer. For 401(k)s and other employer plans, each plan's RMD must come out of that plan.

Here is a worked example. Suppose your traditional IRA held $500,000 on December 31, 2025, and you turn 73 in 2026. Your factor is 26.5, so your RMD is $500,000 ÷ 26.5 = $18,868. On a $200,000 balance at the same age, the RMD is $7,547. On $1,000,000, it is $37,736. The percentage you must withdraw rises every year as the factor shrinks, so RMDs get bigger with age even if your balance stays flat.

Most account owners use this Uniform Lifetime Table. Two exceptions exist: if your sole beneficiary is your spouse who is more than 10 years younger than you, you use the Joint Life and Last Survivor Table, which gives smaller RMDs; and beneficiaries of inherited accounts use the Single Life Expectancy Table instead. If neither exception applies to you, the table above is the one. The factors in this table have been in effect since 2022 and are unchanged for 2026.

Deadlines: the one date you cannot miss

Every RMD after the first is due by December 31 of the distribution year. Your first RMD is the only one with a grace period: you may delay it until April 1 of the year after you reach RMD age. So if you turn 73 in 2026, you can take your first RMD any time in 2026, or wait until April 1, 2027. But waiting has a cost. Your second RMD, for 2027, is still due by December 31, 2027. Delay the first and you take two RMDs in one calendar year, which can push you into a higher tax bracket and raise the tax on your Social Security benefits. Most retirees are better off taking the first RMD in the year they turn 73.

Missing the deadline is expensive. SECURE 2.0 cut the penalty from 50% to 25% of the amount you should have withdrawn but did not, and the IRS can reduce it to 10% if you correct the error promptly and file the required form. Even at 10%, that is a painful tax on money you still have to withdraw and pay income tax on. The IRS has warned account holders approaching the December 31, 2026 deadline to complete their withdrawals in time, and custodians generally send reminders, but the legal responsibility is yours, not theirs.

How RMDs affect your taxes

Every dollar of an RMD from a traditional IRA or 401(k) counts as ordinary income in the year you take it. It can push you into a higher tax bracket, increase the share of your Social Security benefits that is taxed, and raise your Medicare Part B and Part D premiums two years later through the income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA). That is why the year you turn 73 deserves a tax plan, not just a withdrawal.

Three strategies soften the blow, and all of them work best if you start before RMD age. First, Roth conversions in your 60s and early 70s, in years when your income is low, move money out of the RMD system entirely, since Roth IRAs have no lifetime RMDs. You pay tax on the conversion now, so convert only up to the top of your current bracket. Second, qualified charitable distributions (QCDs): once you are 70½, you can send up to $108,000 a year directly from an IRA to a charity in 2026, and it counts toward your RMD without counting as taxable income. Third, simply spending from the IRA first in early retirement, before Social Security and RMDs stack up, shrinks the balance that later RMDs are calculated on.

None of these is a do-it-yourself tax decision for large balances. The conversion-versus-wait math depends on your brackets now and later, your state taxes, and your heirs' tax situation. But the worst outcome is doing nothing and discovering at 73 that a $1 million IRA forces out $37,736 a year, every year, growing, whether you need the money or not.

What happens when you inherit an account?

Inherited IRAs follow different rules, and they changed under the SECURE Act. Most non-spouse beneficiaries must now empty an inherited IRA within 10 years of the original owner's death, and if the original owner had already started RMDs, the beneficiary must also take annual RMDs during those 10 years. Spouses have more options: they can roll the account into their own IRA, treat it as their own, and delay RMDs until their own RMD age. Minor children, disabled or chronically ill beneficiaries, and beneficiaries less than 10 years younger than the deceased can still stretch distributions over their own life expectancy. If you inherit an account, do not move money before checking which category you fall into. A wrong rollover can turn a 10-year stretch into an immediate taxable distribution.

Mistakes worth avoiding

Bottom line

In 2026, RMDs begin at 73 for anyone born between 1951 and 1959 and at 75 for anyone born in 1960 or later. Your RMD is your prior December 31 balance divided by the IRS factor for your age, 26.5 at 73, which means about 3.77% of the balance in your first year. Take it by December 31, or by April 1 of the following year for your very first RMD only, and remember the penalty is 25% of anything you miss. The best time to plan for RMDs is years before they start, with Roth conversions and charitable distributions while your income is still low. This article is general information from IRS Publication 590-B and SECURE 2.0, not tax advice; check your situation with a tax professional before acting.