About RMDs
Tax-deferred accounts carry a bill that eventually comes due: from age 73, the IRS requires annual withdrawals — taxed as ordinary income — sized by its life-expectancy tables. The design intent is simple: deferral was a postponement, not an exemption, and RMDs are the collection schedule.
Enter your age and the account's prior year-end balance for the required amount, the factor behind it, and the percentage it represents. Multiple IRAs can satisfy their combined RMD from any one of them; multiple 401(k)s generally each require their own — a distinction that trips retirees with scattered accounts.
Projecting the balance that will drive future RMDs? Start with the Retirement Calculator.
The One-Division Formula
Simplest formula in retirement finance, strictest deadline:
RMD = account balance (Dec 31 last year) ÷ IRS factor (your age this year) Uniform Lifetime Table — the default for owners
Worked example: $500,000 balance at age 75 → $500,000 ÷ 24.6 = $20,325.20 for the year. The same balance at 90 requires $40,984 — the factor's fall from 24.6 to 12.2 is longevity math turning into tax schedule.
Uniform Lifetime Factors
The 2022+ IRS Uniform Lifetime Table (owners; spouse-10-years-younger cases use the Joint table):
| Age | Factor | Withdrawal % | Age | Factor | Withdrawal % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 73 | 26.5 | 3.77% | 85 | 16.0 | 6.25% |
| 75 | 24.6 | 4.07% | 88 | 13.7 | 7.30% |
| 78 | 22.0 | 4.55% | 90 | 12.2 | 8.20% |
| 80 | 20.2 | 4.95% | 95 | 8.9 | 11.24% |
| 82 | 18.5 | 5.41% | 100 | 6.4 | 15.63% |
The percentage column shows the design: withdrawals accelerate with age, ensuring deferred accounts actually distribute during a lifetime rather than after one.
Rules, Deadlines & Strategies
The calendar: each year's RMD is due December 31, except your very first, which may defer to April 1 of the following year — a one-time option that stacks two taxable RMDs into one year, often a mistake. Missing an RMD triggers a 25% excise tax on the shortfall (reducible to 10% if corrected promptly under current rules); custodians calculate and remind, but the legal responsibility is the owner's.
Planning levers: qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) send up to an annually-adjusted limit directly from an IRA to charity, counting toward the RMD while skipping taxable income — the standard play for charitable retirees. Roth conversions BEFORE RMD age shrink future required amounts (conversions can't satisfy an RMD in the year one is due). And since the distribution is ordinary income, RMD size interacts with Medicare premiums and Social Security taxation — the reasons large-balance retirees plan withdrawals years ahead of 73.