IRA RMD Calculator
Estimate an original owner's current-calendar-year RMD from prior-year IRA balance and the applicable age cohort.
Retirement Planning · Last reviewed: August 10, 2026
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Overview
The IRA RMD Calculator estimates an owner's required minimum distribution for the current calendar year from the prior December 31 IRA balance and the applicable IRS life-expectancy period.
It applies birth-cohort starting ages and chooses between the Uniform Lifetime Table and the Joint and Last Survivor Life Expectancy Table based on the entered spouse-beneficiary facts.
Scope and Use
Use the result as a current-year planning estimate for an owner's traditional IRA, including SEP and SIMPLE IRA owner accounts when the same owner RMD rules apply. Confirm the account balance, account type, beneficiary designation, distribution year, and actual amount required with the custodian and appropriate tax professionals.
Outside this model
- Inherited or beneficiary IRAs, year-of-death distributions, beneficiary life-expectancy rules, and the 10-year rule.
- Roth IRA owner accounts, employer plans, defined-benefit plans, and plan-specific retirement or required-beginning-date rules.
- Multiple-account aggregation, amounts already distributed, excess distributions, rollovers, transfers, recharacterizations, and prior-year balance adjustments.
- Annuity contracts, QLACs, special valuation rules, qualified charitable distributions, disaster or statutory relief, and waiver requests.
- First-year April 1 timing, two-distribution-year tax effects, withholding, taxable income, excise taxes, filing, or corrective action.
- Tax, legal, investment, retirement-plan, or financial advice.
Inputs and Outputs
Labels and ordering follow the active IRA RMD configuration. The calculator has no user-overridable assumptions and uses the backend system year as the distribution year.
| Field | Format | Meaning | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner Birthdateinput | Date (MM/DD/YYYY) | Owner birthdate used to determine current-year age and the applicable RMD starting-age cohort. | The calculator rejects an owner who has not reached the applicable starting age in the backend's current calendar year. |
| Prior Year IRA Balanceinput | Currency | IRA account balance as of December 31 immediately before the current distribution year. | The model does not adjust this amount for transactions, special valuations, or annuity-related rules. |
| Is owner's spouse sole beneficiary?input | Selection | Whether the owner's spouse is the IRA's sole beneficiary for the table-selection test. | A Yes response exposes and requires the spouse birthdate; it does not validate the actual beneficiary designation. |
| Spouse Birthdateinput | Date (MM/DD/YYYY) | Spouse birthdate used to calculate current-year spouse age when the spouse is the sole beneficiary. | This field is hidden and does not block calculation when the sole-beneficiary response is No. |
| Required Minimum Distributionoutput | Currency | Prior December 31 balance divided by the selected IRS distribution period, rounded to the nearest whole dollar half-up. | This is the model's current-year amount before considering distributions already taken or excluded account-specific adjustments. |
| Distribution Periodoutput | Number | One-decimal life-expectancy denominator selected from the applicable governed IRS table. | This is a divisor, not a number of required payments or a withdrawal deadline. |
| IRS Table Usedoutput | Text | Name of the IRS life-expectancy table used for the current calculation. | The model returns either Uniform Lifetime Table or Joint and Last Survivor Life Expectancy. |
- Field
- Owner Birthdateinput
- Format
- Date (MM/DD/YYYY)
- Meaning
- Owner birthdate used to determine current-year age and the applicable RMD starting-age cohort.
- Interpretation
- The calculator rejects an owner who has not reached the applicable starting age in the backend's current calendar year.
- Field
- Prior Year IRA Balanceinput
- Format
- Currency
- Meaning
- IRA account balance as of December 31 immediately before the current distribution year.
- Interpretation
- The model does not adjust this amount for transactions, special valuations, or annuity-related rules.
- Field
- Is owner's spouse sole beneficiary?input
- Format
- Selection
- Meaning
- Whether the owner's spouse is the IRA's sole beneficiary for the table-selection test.
- Interpretation
- A Yes response exposes and requires the spouse birthdate; it does not validate the actual beneficiary designation.
- Field
- Spouse Birthdateinput
- Format
- Date (MM/DD/YYYY)
- Meaning
- Spouse birthdate used to calculate current-year spouse age when the spouse is the sole beneficiary.
- Interpretation
- This field is hidden and does not block calculation when the sole-beneficiary response is No.
- Field
- Required Minimum Distributionoutput
- Format
- Currency
- Meaning
- Prior December 31 balance divided by the selected IRS distribution period, rounded to the nearest whole dollar half-up.
- Interpretation
- This is the model's current-year amount before considering distributions already taken or excluded account-specific adjustments.
- Field
- Distribution Periodoutput
- Format
- Number
- Meaning
- One-decimal life-expectancy denominator selected from the applicable governed IRS table.
- Interpretation
- This is a divisor, not a number of required payments or a withdrawal deadline.
- Field
- IRS Table Usedoutput
- Format
- Text
- Meaning
- Name of the IRS life-expectancy table used for the current calculation.
- Interpretation
- The model returns either Uniform Lifetime Table or Joint and Last Survivor Life Expectancy.
Methodology
Y is the backend's current calendar year. The model uses age attained during that year, regardless of whether the birthday has occurred when the calculation is run.
Starting-age cohorts
- Born before July 1, 1949: age 70½.
- Born July 1, 1949 through December 31, 1950: age 72.
- Born January 1, 1951 through December 31, 1959: age 73.
- Born January 1, 1960 or later: age 75.
If the owner has not reached the applicable age during the current year, the calculator returns a validation error rather than an RMD.
Table II uses the intersection of owner and spouse ages. Table III uses the owner's age. The governed dataset preserves the IRS one-decimal periods.
B is the entered prior-year balance and D is the selected IRS distribution period. The final quotient is rounded to the nearest whole dollar using half-up rounding.
Assumptions and Limitations
Model assumptions
- The calculation concerns the living owner of an IRA subject to owner RMD rules.
- The entered balance is the applicable prior December 31 account balance.
- The beneficiary response and birthdates are accurate for the current distribution year.
- The governed IRS life-expectancy tables and cohort rules apply without an account-specific exception.
Limitations
- The distribution year cannot be selected; it advances with the backend calendar year.
- The result covers one entered account and does not calculate an aggregate withdrawal strategy.
- The calculator does not determine deadlines or whether an amount already withdrawn satisfies the requirement.
- Whole-dollar output can differ from custodian calculations that retain or report different precision.
Selected Sources
- Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
Internal Revenue Service · Retrieved August 10, 2026
The owner RMD balance-divided-by-period method and the Table II and Table III life-expectancy periods stored in governed data. It does not verify an entered balance, beneficiary designation, account type, or user-specific obligation.
2025 publication used for 2026 calculations; reviewed August 10, 2026
- Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs
Internal Revenue Service · Retrieved August 10, 2026
General owner RMD timing, prior-December-31 balance use, and the spouse-sole-beneficiary table-selection rule. It does not calculate or confirm a user-specific RMD.
Current IRS guidance; reviewed August 10, 2026
- Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-06
Internal Revenue Service · Retrieved August 10, 2026
The SECURE and SECURE 2.0 applicable-age transitions used by the calculator, including the future age-75 cohort. It does not support the life-expectancy table values or a user-specific starting date.
2026 IRS guidance; reviewed August 10, 2026