RMD start ages and deadlines
The SECURE 2.0 Act changed when RMDs begin. The rules for retirement account owners are:
| Birth year | RMD start age | First RMD deadline |
|---|---|---|
| 1951 through 1959 | 73 | April 1 of the following year |
| 1960 or later | 75 | April 1 of the following year |
Source: Internal Revenue Service
After your first RMD, subsequent distributions are due by December 31 each year.
Delaying your first RMD
Waiting until April 1 doesn’t eliminate your first RMD. It moves the distribution into the following calendar year, when your second RMD is also due.
For example, if you turned 73 in 2025:
- Your first RMD was due by April 1, 2026.
- Your 2026 RMD is due by December 31, 2026.
- If you take both in 2026, both distributions are typically included in your 2026 taxable income.
- Taking your first RMD by December 31, 2025 instead may help spread the taxable income across two tax years, potentially avoiding a higher tax bracket in the year 2 of the RMD distribution.
If you’re still working when you reach your RMD age, your employer-sponsored retirement plan may allow you to delay RMDs until you retire. This can apply to plans such as a 401(k) or 403(b).
Generally, the exception:
- Applies only to the retirement plan sponsored by your current employer.
- Doesn’t apply to traditional, SEP, or SIMPLE IRAs.
- Doesn’t apply if you’re a 5% owner of the employer sponsoring the plan.
Your plan may also require distributions to begin earlier, so review the rules to be certain.
Accounts with different RMD rules
RMDs apply to:
- Traditional IRAs
- SEP IRAs
- SIMPLE IRAs
- Many employer-sponsored retirement accounts
Roth IRAs don’t require RMDs while the original owner is alive. Starting in 2024, designated Roth accounts in workplace plans, such as Roth 401(k)s and Roth 403(b)s, also aren’t subject to lifetime RMDs for the account owner.
Inherited retirement accounts follow separate RMD rules based on factors such as the beneficiary’s relationship to the original owner and when the owner died.
What happens if you miss the deadline
If you don’t take the distribution on time, the IRS adds a tax equal to 25% of whatever you didn’t withdraw. Fix it fast enough—within the window the IRS allows for corrections—and the penalty could be lowered to 10% instead.
A missed RMD is reported on Form 5329. If the missed RMD came down to an honest mistake rather than neglect, and you’re actively working to fix it, the IRS may waive part or all of the extra tax.
RMDs for a surviving spouse
If you inherit a retirement account from your spouse, you generally have three options for handling RMDs:
- Roll it into your own IRA: The account becomes yours, and your RMDs follow the standard rules based on your own birth year and RMD age.
- Keep it as an inherited IRA: You continue taking RMDs, generally calculated using your own life expectancy. If your spouse died before reaching their RMD age, you may be able to delay distributions until the year they would have turned that age.
- Elect to be treated as your deceased spouse (available since 2024): If you’re the sole beneficiary, you can choose to calculate RMDs as if you were your spouse, using their age. This can reduce your RMD if your spouse was younger than you, but the election is irrevocable—talk to a tax professional before making it.
If you’re under 59½, keeping the account as inherited (rather than rolling it over) lets you take distributions without the 10% early-withdrawal penalty.
