Estimate your required minimum distribution from a traditional IRA or 401(k) — the amount the IRS requires you to withdraw this year.
Uses the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table (for most account owners whose spouse isn't more than 10 years younger). RMDs generally begin at age 73 (SECURE 2.0). Roth IRAs have no RMD during the owner's lifetime. Balance is the prior Dec 31 value. Not tax advice — confirm with the IRS or an advisor.
Once you reach 73, the IRS requires you to withdraw a minimum amount each year from traditional IRAs and 401(k)s — so the tax-deferred money is eventually taxed. The amount is your prior year-end balance divided by a life-expectancy factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table; the factor shrinks with age, so the required percentage rises.
RMD = Dec 31 balance ÷ life-expectancy factor for your age
A traditional IRA or 401(k) is a deferral, not an exemption. The tax was postponed on the way in, and the required minimum distribution is the mechanism that eventually collects it: from age 73 the IRS requires a minimum withdrawal each year, computed from your balance and a published life-expectancy factor. The arithmetic is simple. What surprises people is the shape of it — the required share rises every year, automatically, whatever the market did.
A $500,000 balance at age 75. The IRS Uniform Lifetime Table factor for 75 is 24.6, so the RMD is 500,000 ÷ 24.6 = $20,325 — $1,693.77 a month if you spread it, and 4.1% of the balance. Note what the balance is: the value on 31 December of the previous year, not today's. A market fall in the spring does not reduce this year's requirement.
Now hold the balance still and move the age, which is the part the single-year figure hides. At 80 the factor is 20.2, so the same $500,000 requires $24,752 — 5.0%. At 90 the factor is 12.2 and the requirement is $40,984, 8.2% of the balance. The dollar amount doubles across fifteen years on an unchanged balance, because the factor is a divisor that keeps shrinking. Anyone planning on "about 4% a year" from a traditional account should know the floor rises underneath them.
Take it, and take it on time — the penalty is a percentage of the shortfall, so on a fully missed RMD of $20,325 that is $5,081 at the 25% rate, or $2,033 if corrected promptly at the reduced 10%. That is the single most avoidable cost in retirement. Beyond that the rules of thumb are soft and situation-dependent: the RMD is a minimum, not a cap, and in a low-income year it can be worth taking more deliberately rather than letting a larger balance force a bigger taxable distribution later. The withdrawal is ordinary income, so at a 22% marginal rate this $20,325 carries roughly $4,472 of federal tax before any state tax — which is why many people have some withheld at source rather than finding it in April.
It uses the Uniform Lifetime Table, which is the right table for most owners — but not if your sole beneficiary is a spouse more than ten years younger, where a different table gives a smaller required amount. Inherited accounts follow their own rules entirely and are not modelled here. Multiple accounts have a wrinkle worth knowing: IRAs can be aggregated, so you may compute each and take the total from one, while 401(k)s generally must each pay their own. Roth IRAs have no RMD during the owner's lifetime. Rules in this area change — SECURE 2.0 moved the starting age and the penalty within the last few years — so treat this as an estimate and confirm the current table and age with the IRS or your advisor before acting. This is general information, not tax advice.
The RMD is an annual, recurring, deadline-bound event across possibly several accounts, and the thing that goes wrong is not the arithmetic — it is forgetting one account, or losing the record of what was withdrawn and what was withheld. That is a register, not a formula: account, prior-year balance, factor, required amount, date taken, tax withheld. Our investment portfolio tracker keeps balances and withdrawals in one place. For the wider question of what a portfolio can sustainably pay out, the retirement withdrawal calculator is the better tool.
The penalty is steep — 25% of the shortfall under SECURE 2.0 (reducible to 10% if corrected promptly). Take at least the RMD each year, on time.
Roth IRAs have no RMD during the owner's lifetime, and as of 2024 neither do Roth 401(k)s. RMDs apply to traditional, pre-tax accounts.
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Last reviewed: September 2026. Free to use, no signup — RMD Calculator by ToolWise Digital.
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