Calculate required minimum distributions from retirement accounts based on account balance, age, and IRS life expectancy tables.
The IRS requires you to start pulling money out of tax-deferred accounts so it eventually gets taxed, and this tool computes the required minimum distribution (RMD) for a given year. It divides the account balance by the life-expectancy factor the IRS publishes for your age in the Uniform Lifetime Table. The result is a floor, not a target: you may always withdraw more. The input most people get wrong is the balance, which must be the value on December 31 of the previous year, not today's value. Also surprising: your first RMD can be delayed to April 1 of the following year, which stacks two RMDs into one tax year.
A concrete input and expected output from the current implementation.
Input
Account balance: $500,000 (December 31, 2025 statement value); age you turn in 2026: 73
Expected output
Required minimum distribution for 2026: $18,867.92
The Uniform Lifetime Table assigns a distribution period of 26.5 years at age 73. Dividing the prior-year balance by that factor gives $500,000 / 26.5 = $18,867.92. Because this is the first RMD, for the year you turn 73, it is due by April 1, 2027.
The RMD equals the prior December 31 account balance divided by a distribution-period factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table (Table III). The factor shrinks as you age, so the same balance produces a larger required withdrawal each year: 26.5 at 73, 24.6 at 75, 20.2 at 80. If your spouse is more than 10 years younger, the Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy table applies instead, giving a smaller RMD.
The trigger age is 73 for people born 1951 through 1959, and 75 for people born in 1960 or later. The factor is set by the age you attain during the distribution year, not your age on the distribution date. The first RMD, for the year you reach the trigger age, is due by April 1 of the next year; all later RMDs are due by December 31 of the distribution year.
The IRS charges an excise tax of 25% of the shortfall, reduced to 10% if you take the missed amount and correct the failure within the allowed window; the rate was 50% before the SECURE 2.0 Act. You report it on Form 5329, and the IRS may waive the tax entirely if the miss had reasonable cause.
Yes, for IRAs. A qualified charitable distribution (QCD) sends money directly from your IRA to an eligible charity, counts toward your RMD, and is excluded from taxable income, up to an annual limit indexed for inflation ($108,000 in 2025). It must go straight from the custodian to the charity, and QCDs do not work from employer plans.
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