The 2026 RMD rules: what age, how much, and what a missed one costs

The 2026 required minimum distribution age is 73, not 75 — the higher age does not take effect until 2033. Anyone with a traditional IRA, SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA, or an employer retirement plan generally has to start withdrawing a set minimum each year once they reach that age, whether or not the money is needed. The amount is not a guess or a flat percentage; it is calculated from the account balance and an IRS table, and getting it wrong — or skipping it — carries one of the steeper penalties in the tax code.

The 2026 RMD age, and who the 75 threshold actually affects

The SECURE 2.0 Act raised the RMD age twice on a staggered schedule tied to birth year, and 2026 sits in the middle of that schedule rather than at either end:

Age 75 gets most of the attention because it is the bigger number, but nobody actually uses it in 2026 — the earliest anyone born in 1960 reaches 75 is 2035, and the rule only applies from 2033 onward. For every RMD due in 2026, the operative age is still 73, per the IRS's own retirement topics page on RMDs. Roth IRAs are the main exception — they have never carried a lifetime RMD for the original owner, a rule SECURE 2.0 left untouched.

How the withdrawal amount is calculated

An RMD is not a percentage decided in advance. It is the account's balance at the end of the immediately preceding calendar year, divided by a life expectancy factor the IRS publishes in what is commonly called the Uniform Lifetime Table (Table III of IRS Publication 590-B). The factor falls every year, which pushes the required percentage up gradually as an account owner ages, even if the balance itself does not grow:

A different, more favorable table applies only when a spouse is the sole beneficiary and is more than 10 years younger. For everyone else, this single table covers the calculation regardless of how many years of distributions have already been taken.

A worked example

Take someone who turns 75 at some point in 2026 and held $615,000 across their IRAs as of December 31, 2025:

That $25,000 is a floor, not a target — withdrawing more is always allowed and does not reduce next year's RMD, which is recalculated from scratch off the new year-end balance and a new factor. If the money sits across several IRAs, the balances can be combined and the total RMD taken from any one of them in any combination; that flexibility does not extend across employer plans like separate 401(k)s, each of which needs its own RMD taken from that specific account.

The one-time trap on the first RMD

Every RMD after the first is due by December 31 of that year. The very first one gets an exception: it can be delayed until April 1 of the year after reaching age 73. That sounds like a grace period, and it is one, but it comes with a catch — delaying the first RMD into the following spring means a second RMD, for that following year, is still due by that same December 31. Someone who turns 73 in 2026 and waits until April 1, 2027 to take their first RMD will need to take a second one by December 31, 2027, landing two taxable withdrawals in the same calendar year and potentially pushing them into a higher bracket. Taking the first RMD in the same year reached age 73, rather than delaying it, avoids that stacking entirely.

The exception for still being on the job

One situation delays an RMD past the usual age entirely. Someone still working past 73, who does not own more than 5% of the company sponsoring their current employer's plan, can generally put off RMDs from that specific 401(k) or similar plan until the year they actually retire — if the plan itself allows it, which most do. The exception is narrow in an important way: it only covers the plan at the employer someone is currently working for. Every IRA and every account from a previous employer still follows the ordinary schedule on the ordinary timeline, regardless of whether that person has a paycheck coming in elsewhere. A 74-year-old still working full time who also holds a rollover IRA from a job left a decade earlier owes an RMD on that IRA this year, even though the current employer's 401(k) can wait.

What happens if an RMD is missed

The penalty is an excise tax on the shortfall — the difference between what should have been withdrawn and what actually was — not on the full account balance. It is steep by design: 25% of the amount not distributed, cut to 10% if the shortfall is corrected within two years. On the $25,000 RMD above, taking only $10,000 leaves a $15,000 shortfall, which comes to a $3,750 excise tax at the full 25% rate, or $1,500 if fixed within the two-year window. The shortfall is reported, and the tax calculated, on IRS Form 5329, and the IRS states it can waive the penalty entirely where the shortfall was a reasonable error and corrective steps are being taken — a request made on that same form, not something automatic.

A way to reduce the tax hit: qualified charitable distributions

An RMD counts as ordinary taxable income the moment it lands in a bank account, with one significant exception. Anyone 70½ or older can direct up to $111,000 in 2026 straight from an IRA to a qualifying charity as a qualified charitable distribution. The money never touches the account owner's own income: it counts toward satisfying that year's RMD but is left out of adjusted gross income entirely, which can also help keep income below thresholds that affect Medicare premiums or the taxation of Social Security benefits. Directing the full $25,000 RMD in the earlier example straight to charity this way would satisfy the entire requirement while adding nothing to that year's taxable income.

Sources

• IRS: Retirement topics — Required minimum distributions (RMDs)
• IRS: Retirement plan and IRA required minimum distributions FAQs
• IRS Publication 590-B: Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
• IRS Notice 2025-67: 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs

This is general information, not tax or financial advice. RMD rules vary by account type and personal circumstances, including inherited accounts, which follow different rules not covered here. For a decision about your own accounts, speak with a tax professional or financial adviser.