IRS Uniform Lifetime Table

RMD Calculator

The required minimum distribution from an IRA using IRS Publication 590-B Table III (Uniform Lifetime) and SECURE 2.0 starting ages.

Your numbers

Required minimum distribution for 2026

Last year’s ending balance divided by the Uniform Lifetime factor for your age this year. The starting age is 73 or 75, from SECURE 2.0, not from the table.
2026 DISTRIBUTIONS

IRS Publication 590-B, Table III (Uniform Lifetime)irs-rmd-uniform-lifetime-2026-v1

$Traditional IRA, or the inherited account if you marked that below
Used only to pick 73 or 75 as the starting age
Table II, not Table III, if a spouse more than 10 years younger is the sole beneficiary

2026 required minimum

$20,325Table III factor 24.6 for age 75.
Starting age73
Table III factor24.6
2025 balance$500,000
How we got this
  1. Required beginning ageBorn 1951 through 1959: SECURE 2.0 starts RMDs at 73.73
  2. Age as of birthday in 2026Age as of birthday in 2026 from birth year 1951.75
  3. Table III denominatorIRS Publication 590-B, Appendix B, Uniform Lifetime, age 7524.6
  4. 2026 required minimum distribution$500,000 ÷ 24.6$20,325
What we assumed
  • The balance is the account value on 31 December 2025, including outstanding rollovers and recharacterizations the instructions tell you to add back.
  • Each IRA is computed separately; 401(k) plans use the same table but the plan administrator usually pays them.
  • The first RMD can be delayed until 1 April of the following year. Doing that means two distributions in that following year.
  • A spouse more than 10 years younger who is the sole beneficiary uses Table II, which this page does not ship.
  • The 10-year rule for most inherited IRAs after the SECURE Act is not modeled.
Technical details

Method irs-rmd-v1.0.0Data irs-rmd-uniform-lifetime-2026-v1

Guide

How a lifetime RMD is read from Table III

The required minimum distribution for an IRA you own is last year’s ending balance divided by the Uniform Lifetime factor for your age this year. The table starts at 72. Whether you must take an RMD yet is a different rule: 73 or 75, from SECURE 2.0.

The arithmetic IRS prints

Publication 590-B tells you to take the 31 December balance and divide by the Table III denominator next to your age as of your birthday in the distribution year. At age 75 the factor is 24.6, so $100,000 becomes $4,065. Each IRA is computed on its own; a 401(k) uses the same table but the plan usually pays it.

What is deliberately missing

If the sole beneficiary is a spouse more than 10 years younger, Table II applies and this page stops. Inherited IRAs after the SECURE Act often follow a 10-year emptying rule that is not a Table III problem. A Roth IRA the original owner still holds has no lifetime RMD.

Questions about this calculator

At what age do RMDs start now?

73 if you were born from 1951 through 1959, and 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. People born in 1950 or earlier already started at 72. The first RMD can be delayed until 1 April of the next year, which then puts two RMDs in that next year.

How is my RMD calculated for 2026?

Take the IRA balance on 31 December 2025 and divide by the Table III factor for the age you turn in 2026. The page rounds that quotient to the nearest dollar, matching the IRS worked example.

Do Roth IRAs have RMDs?

Not during the original owner’s lifetime. An inherited Roth IRA can. Mark the Roth box and the page will refuse Table III rather than print a number that does not apply.

Terms used here

RMD
Required minimum distribution. The smallest amount the tax rules say must come out of a tax-deferred account for the year.
Uniform Lifetime Table
IRS Publication 590-B Appendix B Table III. Used by unmarried owners and by married owners whose spouse is not more than 10 years younger or is not the sole beneficiary.
SECURE 2.0
The 2022 law that moved the required beginning age to 73, then to 75 for people born in 1960 or later.

Practical tips

  • If you have more than one IRA, compute each separately, then add the RMDs. You may take the total from one IRA.
  • Taking more than the minimum does not credit next year. Next year’s factor and next year’s balance start over.

Limits and caveats

  • Not tax, estate, or investment advice. Missing an RMD can trigger an excise tax this page does not compute.
  • Table II and inherited-IRA 10-year rules are out of scope on purpose.

Results are for information. They are not legal, tax, medical, or financial advice. How the math is maintained · Report a wrong figure.

Engine notes

Rounding, versioning, and omissions that sit beside the guide rather than repeating it.

  • Balance divided by a published factor. The 2026 RMD is the 31 December 2025 balance divided by the Uniform Lifetime factor for your age as of your birthday in 2026. IRS’s own example of $100,000 at age 75 is $100,000 ÷ 24.6 = $4,065.
  • When RMDs start is not in the table. SECURE 2.0 starts lifetime RMDs at 73 if you were born from 1951 through 1959, and at 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. People born in 1950 or earlier already started at 72. The first RMD can wait until 1 April of the following year; that means two distributions in that following year.
  • What this page will not compute. A spouse more than 10 years younger who is the sole beneficiary uses Table II, a large joint-life matrix this snapshot does not carry. Most inherited IRAs after the SECURE Act use a 10-year emptying rule, sometimes with annual RMDs, sometimes without. A Roth IRA the original owner still holds has no lifetime RMD.

Calculation receipt

What each number here is

This answer is built from published figures. Each one is named below, with the release it came from.

VERIFIEDIRS Uniform Lifetime Table · Distribution year 2026
Sets the figures this answer is made of. Without it the page says so rather than estimating.

If a source above is unavailable or out of date: The denominator is a published life-expectancy factor. A remembered 27.4, or last year’s table, is not this year’s RMD.

Sources

Where this data comes from