In this guide
The rule in one paragraph
Required minimum distributions apply to traditional IRAs, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs, and employer plans such as 401(k), 403(b) and governmental 457(b) plans. Under IRC §401(a)(9)(C), as amended by section 107 of the SECURE 2.0 Act, you must start taking them for the year you reach your applicable age. The age has moved from 70½ to 72 (SECURE Act, 2019), then to 73 (SECURE 2.0, from 2023), and is scheduled to reach 75 for younger savers. The IRS RMD FAQs state the current general rule plainly: you must take your first RMD for the year you reach age 73, and you can delay that first one until April 1 of the following year.
RMD age by birth year
The table below applies the age rules as the IRS describes them in the July 2024 final and proposed regulations (Internal Revenue Bulletin 2024-33). "First RMD year" is the tax year your first distribution is for; the required beginning date is the latest you can take it.
| Born in | RMD age | First RMD year | Required beginning date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before July 1, 1949 | 70½ | Already started | Passed |
| July 1, 1949 – 1950 | 72 | Already started | Passed |
| 1951 | 73 | 2024 | April 1, 2025 |
| 1952 | 73 | 2025 | April 1, 2026 |
| 1953 | 73 | 2026 | April 1, 2027 |
| 1954 | 73 | 2027 | April 1, 2028 |
| 1955 | 73 | 2028 | April 1, 2029 |
| 1956 | 73 | 2029 | April 1, 2030 |
| 1957 | 73 | 2030 | April 1, 2031 |
| 1958 | 73 | 2031 | April 1, 2032 |
| 1959 | 73 (proposed regs)* | 2032 | April 1, 2033 |
| 1960 | 75 | 2035 | April 1, 2036 |
| 1961 | 75 | 2036 | April 1, 2037 |
| 1962 or later | 75 | Year you turn 75 | April 1 of the next year |
* See the next section. The required beginning date column assumes no still-working exception; if that exception applies to an employer plan, the date for that plan moves later.
Notice the gap. Because the 1959 cohort starts at 73 in 2032 and the 1960 cohort starts at 75 in 2035, no one will have a first RMD for 2033 or 2034 under the current rules. You will sometimes read that the age "rises to 75 in 2033" — that is the statute's effective-date language (people who reach 74 after 2032), not the year anyone actually takes an age-75 RMD.
The 1959 problem
SECURE 2.0 wrote the new ages into §401(a)(9)(C)(v) in two clauses. The first sets the applicable age at 73 for anyone who reaches age 72 after December 31, 2022 and age 73 before January 1, 2033. The second sets it at 75 for anyone who reaches age 74 after December 31, 2032. Someone born in 1959 turns 73 in 2032 and 74 in 2033 — so they satisfy both clauses, and the statute literally gives them two ages.
The IRS acknowledged the conflict. The final regulations issued in July 2024 (T.D. 10001) list ages for 1951–1958 births and for 1960 and later, and leave the 1959 rule reserved. The proposed regulations released the same day (REG-103529-23) would resolve it by treating 1959 births as age 73. As of this update, we have not found a final regulation or a statutory technical correction that settles the point, so the age-73 treatment for 1959 births should be read as the IRS's proposed position rather than finished law.
Practical reading for 1959 births: plan on age 73, with a first RMD for 2032 due by April 1, 2033. That is the conservative choice — if the rule ever moves to 75, taking distributions earlier than required costs you nothing in penalties, while assuming 75 and being wrong would leave a missed RMD. Recheck before 2032.
Your required beginning date
The required beginning date is the formal name for the deadline on your first RMD: April 1 of the calendar year after the year you reach your applicable age. IRS Publication 590-B states it the same way for IRA owners. Every RMD after the first is due by December 31 of the year it is for — there is no April grace period after year one.
Two details are worth knowing. First, each year's RMD is computed from the account balance on December 31 of the previous year, divided by a life-expectancy factor from the IRS tables, so your first RMD for the year you turn 73 uses the balance at the end of the year you turned 72. The calculator projects those balances and factors forward if you want to see the numbers.
The April 1 option and the two-RMD trap
The April 1 deadline is a one-time extension for your first RMD only, and it comes with a cost that is easy to miss. If you defer, the delayed first RMD and your regular second RMD both land in the same tax year.
Take someone born in 1953. They turn 73 in 2026, so their first RMD is for 2026. If they take it by December 31, 2026, the 2026 and 2027 RMDs fall in separate tax years. If they wait until March 2027, they must still take the 2027 RMD by December 31, 2027 — two years of required income on one return. Because RMDs are ordinary income, that doubling can push part of the income into a higher bracket, increase the taxable share of Social Security, and raise Medicare premiums two years later through IRMAA. We cover those mechanics in RMD taxes.
Deferring can still be the right call if the year you turn 73 is unusually high-income — a final bonus, a large capital gain, a business sale — and the following year will be much quieter. Run both versions before choosing. One more caution if you plan a Roth conversion in your first RMD year: the April 1 extension does not let you convert first. The first-dollars-out rule treats the year's RMD as coming out before anything else, so a conversion done before the RMD can create an excess contribution.
The still-working exception
For employer plans, §401(a)(9)(C)(i) sets the required beginning date at April 1 after the later of the year you reach your applicable age or the year you retire. In practice that lets you postpone RMDs from a plan while you are still employed by the company that sponsors it. The IRS FAQs describe it in one line: plan participants can delay RMDs until the year they retire, unless they are a 5% owner. The limits are strict:
- Current employer only. It applies to the plan of the employer you are still working for. A 401(k) left at a former employer is on the normal schedule.
- Never IRAs. Traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs and SIMPLE IRAs must start at your applicable age even if you are working full time — including a SEP or SIMPLE sponsored by your current employer.
- Not 5% owners. If you own more than 5% of the business sponsoring the plan, counting shares attributed from family members, the exception does not apply and you start at your applicable age.
- The plan must allow it. The exception is permitted, not mandatory. Some plans require distributions at the applicable age regardless of employment; check the summary plan description.
A common planning move follows from the first point: if your current plan accepts roll-ins, moving old 401(k) or IRA money into it can bring those dollars under the exception too. Whether it is worth doing depends on the plan's investments and costs.
Roth accounts: no lifetime RMDs
Roth IRAs have never required distributions while the original owner is alive. Designated Roth accounts inside 401(k) and 403(b) plans used to: before 2024, a Roth 401(k) followed the same RMD schedule as a pre-tax 401(k), which is why many savers rolled Roth 401(k) money to a Roth IRA before their RMD age.
Section 325 of SECURE 2.0 removed that requirement for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2023. The only carry-over was a 2023 RMD that could still be paid by April 1, 2024. From 2024 onward, Roth money in an employer plan is exempt from lifetime RMDs, which makes Roth contributions and in-plan Roth conversions more attractive for anyone who wants to keep savings growing into their 80s. Beneficiaries are a different matter: inherited Roth IRAs and inherited Roth 401(k)s remain subject to the beneficiary distribution rules.
If you miss an RMD
The penalty is an excise tax under IRC §4974: 25% of the amount you should have taken but did not (down from 50% before SECURE 2.0). It drops to 10% if you take the missed amount and file a return reflecting the tax within the correction window, which generally ends on the last day of the second tax year after the year the tax was imposed, or earlier if the IRS mails a deficiency notice or assesses the tax first.
You report the shortfall on Form 5329. The IRS can also waive the tax entirely if the shortfall was due to reasonable error and you are taking reasonable steps to fix it — in practice, take the distribution first, then request the waiver with a short explanation. The full procedure is in the missed-RMD section of our RMD tax guide.
What applies in 2026
Nothing about the starting age changes in 2026. Anyone who turns 73 this year — born in 1953 — owes a first RMD for 2026, due by April 1, 2027, with the 2027 RMD due by December 31, 2027. Those born in 1952 who deferred their 2025 RMD to April 1, 2026 still owe their 2026 RMD by December 31. The age-75 group does not reach its first RMD year until 2035.
Timing questions for heirs follow a separate schedule — most non-spouse beneficiaries face a ten-year rule, with annual distributions required in some cases — and are covered in the RMD section of our withdrawals and taxes guide.
Planning the years before your RMD age
Knowing your RMD age matters most for what it tells you about the years in between. The stretch between retirement and your first RMD is often the lowest-income period of your life, and the gap is now longer than it used to be: up to a decade or more for someone retiring at 62 with an RMD age of 75. Those are the years when partial Roth conversions, deliberate IRA withdrawals to fill a low bracket, or charitable planning can reduce the size of the RMDs that eventually arrive. Our guide on how to avoid taxes on RMDs walks through the legal options, and the calculator shows how different conversion amounts change your projected RMDs and lifetime tax.