RMD Calculator

How to use this calculator

Enter your account balance (December 31 of the prior year), your age this year, expected annual return on the remaining balance, and your tax rate on withdrawals.

The calculator shows your current year RMD, after-tax income, the IRS life expectancy factor used, and a 20-year schedule of withdrawals and projected balances.

Account Balance must be the December 31 balance of the prior year, not your current balance. Use last year’s year-end statement.

Age is your age in the current calendar year (not your birthday date within the year — the IRS uses the age you reach during the calendar year).

What RMDs are and why they exist

The federal government lets you defer taxes on Traditional IRA, 401k, and similar pre-tax retirement account contributions. You put money in before paying taxes, it grows tax-deferred, and you pay taxes when you withdraw.

Required Minimum Distributions are the IRS mechanism for eventually collecting those deferred taxes. Starting at age 73, you must withdraw a minimum amount from your pre-tax accounts each year, whether you need the money or not.

IRS Uniform Lifetime Table

The IRS publishes life expectancy factors based on actuarial tables. These factors decrease as you age, requiring larger percentage withdrawals each year.

At 73, the effective withdrawal rate is 3.77% — slightly below the 4% rule. At 85, it’s 6.25%. At 90, it’s above 8%. This means RMDs accelerate as you age, forcing larger taxable withdrawals from a potentially growing portfolio.

The factor uses the “Uniform Lifetime Table,” which applies to most IRA owners. A different table (the Joint Life Expectancy Table) applies if your sole beneficiary is a spouse more than 10 years younger than you — that table produces larger factors and thus smaller RMDs.

Which accounts require RMDs

Traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, 401k plans, 403b plans, 457b governmental plans, and profit-sharing plans all require RMDs.

Roth IRA: No RMDs during the owner’s lifetime. This is one of the main advantages of Roth IRAs for people who don’t need the money in their 70s and 80s.

Roth 401k: Required RMDs until SECURE 2.0, effective for 2024. Roth 401k accounts no longer require RMDs. To avoid future RMDs permanently, roll a Roth 401k into a Roth IRA when you separate from your employer.

Inherited accounts: Beneficiaries who inherit IRAs have different rules. Non-spouse beneficiaries who inherited after 2020 must withdraw the full account within 10 years.

If you’re still working at 73 and participating in your current employer’s 401k, you can delay RMDs on that specific 401k until you retire. This exception doesn’t apply to any other 401k or IRA accounts you have.

How RMDs affect your tax bracket

RMDs are ordinary income. They stack on top of Social Security, pension income, capital gains, and any other retirement income — potentially pushing you into higher brackets.

Someone with $40,000 in Social Security, $25,000 in pension income, and a $30,189 RMD at age 73 has $95,189 in gross income. In 2025, the single filer 22% bracket tops at $103,350, so they’re close to the 24% bracket without a large buffer.

Each year, the RMD amount grows in two ways: the factor shrinks (forcing a higher percentage withdrawal) and the account balance may grow from investment returns. A $1M portfolio at 5% return with an 3.77% first RMD generates more new growth than it pays out initially, so the balance can actually increase in the early RMD years.

This is the “RMD problem” for people who don’t need the money: withdrawals are forced, taxable, and potentially push other income sources into higher brackets. Roth conversions before age 73 address this by reducing the pre-tax balance subject to RMDs.

Qualified Charitable Distributions

A QCD is one of the most tax-efficient strategies available to IRA owners over 70½. You can transfer up to $105,000 (2025, indexed annually) directly from an IRA to a qualified charitable organization.

The QCD:

• Counts toward your annual RMD
• Is excluded from your taxable income (unlike a regular charitable deduction, which requires itemizing)
• Can’t go to donor-advised funds or private foundations

At the 22% bracket, a $20,000 QCD saves $4,400 in taxes compared to taking the RMD and then donating. The money still goes to charity either way — but the QCD route means the IRS doesn’t take its cut first.

If you give to charity regularly and are 70½ or older, the QCD is usually the best way to do it.

Strategies to reduce future RMDs

The best time to plan around RMDs is in your 60s, before they start.

Roth conversions between 60 and 72. Converting $50,000/year from a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA for 10 years reduces the Traditional IRA balance by $500,000. That’s $500,000 that will never be subject to RMDs. At a 3.77% withdrawal rate, you’ve eliminated roughly $18,850/year in future forced taxable income.

Delay Social Security. Taking Social Security early reduces the income that’s already taxable in your 60s. Delaying to 70 (maximum benefit) pushes your Social Security income into years when you have other income anyway. If you delay Social Security and fund your 60s with Roth conversions, you control your taxable income precisely.

Donate appreciated stock. For large charitable gifts, donating appreciated stock from a taxable account (rather than cash or IRA withdrawals) avoids capital gains tax on the appreciation and still gets you the charitable deduction.

Work longer. The current employer 401k RMD exemption only applies while you’re still working at that employer and over 73. It buys time but doesn’t eliminate the eventual RMD.

Taking your first RMD: the timing decision

Your first RMD doesn’t have to be taken by December 31 of the year you turn 73. You can delay it until April 1 of the following year. But delay has a cost.

If you delay your 2025 RMD (first year at 73) to April 2026, you must take two distributions in 2026: the delayed 2025 RMD by April 1 and the 2026 RMD by December 31. Both are ordinary income. Two RMDs in one year can push you into a higher bracket.

In most cases, take the first RMD in the year you turn 73 rather than delaying. The only scenario where delay makes sense: you retire mid-year and your income will be significantly lower in the second year.

For all subsequent years, the December 31 deadline is fixed. Miss it and the 25% excise tax applies to the shortfall.

What to do with your RMD if you don’t need it

Not everyone needs their RMD for living expenses. For those with pensions, Social Security, and other income sources covering their costs, the RMD can feel like forced income.

Options:

1. Reinvest in a taxable account. Buy the same investments you held in the IRA. You pay taxes this year but regain control over timing future withdrawals and pay capital gains rates (not ordinary income) on future growth.
2. Fund a Roth IRA. If you have earned income and meet the income limits, you can contribute up to $8,000/year (age 50+) to a Roth IRA — including from RMD proceeds.
3. Give to family. Annual gift exclusion is $18,000 per recipient in 2025. You can give to children, grandchildren, or anyone else without gift tax implications.
4. 529 plan contributions. Fund education for grandchildren with after-tax RMD proceeds. 529 earnings grow tax-free for qualified education expenses.
5. QCD. If you’re charitable, the QCD (above) is the most tax-efficient use of an unwanted RMD.

The worst option: letting RMDs pile up in a low-interest savings account while the pre-tax IRA continues to grow, increasing next year’s RMD problem.