The IRS Will Penalize You 25% If You Miss This Retirement Deadline. Here Are All the 2026 RMD Rules — and the Mistakes That Cost Retirees Thousands.

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2026 —

Most Americans spend decades building their 401(k) and IRA balances. Far fewer understand the rules that govern how the government forces those balances back out. Required Minimum Distributions — RMDs — are mandatory annual withdrawals that the IRS imposes on tax-deferred retirement accounts once you reach a certain age. The money has grown tax-free long enough. The IRS wants its share, and it sets a hard deadline to collect it.

In 2026, those rules carry several changes and traps that are tripping up retirees at the exact moment they can least afford a surprise tax bill. Here is every number and rule you need to know.

What Is an RMD and Who Has to Take One in 2026?

A Required Minimum Distribution is a mandatory annual withdrawal from tax-deferred retirement accounts — traditional IRAs, traditional 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, and most other employer-sponsored retirement accounts. The IRS mandates these withdrawals because contributions to these accounts were made pre-tax. The tax was deferred, not forgiven. RMDs are the mechanism by which the government collects.

The age at which RMDs begin depends on your birth year. For anyone born between 1951 and 1959, the RMD starting age is 73. For anyone born in 1960 or later, it rises to 75 under SECURE 2.0 — though that higher threshold does not affect most people currently in their 70s.

Source: IRS Publication 590-B; SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022.

If you turned 73 in 2026, your first RMD must be taken by April 1, 2027. Every RMD after the first must be completed by December 31 of that year.

How to Calculate Your 2026 RMD Amount

The IRS does not set a fixed dollar amount. Your RMD is calculated by dividing your account balance as of December 31 of the prior year by a life expectancy factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table.

Formula: Account Balance ÷ Life Expectancy Factor = Your RMD

The IRS updated its Uniform Lifetime Table in recent years to reflect longer life expectancies, which reduced annual RMD amounts slightly compared to older tables. The updated table remains in effect for 2026.

Source: IRS Uniform Lifetime Table (updated), IRS Publication 590-B, 2026. Calculations are illustrative; individual amounts vary by year-end account balance.

If you hold multiple traditional IRAs, you calculate RMDs separately for each account but may withdraw the total from any one or combination of them. For 401(k) plans, you must withdraw the RMD from each plan separately — you cannot aggregate across employer plans the way you can with IRAs.

The Penalty for Missing an RMD — and How to Fix It

Miss your RMD deadline and the IRS imposes an excise tax of 25% on the amount you failed to withdraw. That penalty was reduced from 50% under SECURE 2.0, but it remains severe.

The penalty can be reduced to 10% if you correct the mistake within two years and file IRS Form 5329 with your tax return. In some cases — where the shortfall resulted from a reasonable error and you fix it immediately — the IRS may waive the penalty entirely with a written letter of explanation attached to Form 5329.

The key point: the penalty does not disappear on its own. You must actively file Form 5329 to report and correct the missed RMD. Doing nothing means the IRS will eventually identify the discrepancy and assess the full 25%.

The First-RMD Timing Trap That Costs Retirees Thousands

Here is the trap that catches more retirees than almost any other RMD rule. You are allowed to delay your very first RMD until April 1 of the year after you turn 73. That sounds like a benefit — more time before you have to pull money out. But it comes with a hidden cost.

If you wait until April 1, 2027 to take your first RMD for the 2026 tax year, you must also take your second RMD by December 31, 2027. That means two full RMDs land in a single calendar year — both of which count as ordinary income.

Two RMDs in one year can:

• Push you into a higher federal income tax bracket
• Trigger IRMAA surcharges on your Medicare Part B and Part D premiums for 2029, based on your 2027 income
• Increase the taxable portion of your Social Security benefits
• Reduce your eligibility for certain deductions tied to adjusted gross income

For most retirees whose first RMD is modest, taking it in December of the year they turn 73 — rather than delaying to April — eliminates all of these compounding risks. The one-time delay is rarely worth it.

The Roth 401(k) Change Most Retirees Still Don’t Know About

Beginning in 2025 and continuing through 2026, Roth 401(k) plans are permanently exempt from RMDs for the original account holder. This aligns Roth 401(k) plans with Roth IRAs, which have never been subject to RMDs.

Before this change, a retiree holding a Roth 401(k) was forced to take distributions from it even though the money had already been taxed and could have continued growing tax-free. That forced withdrawal eliminated the compounding advantage of the Roth structure.

Now, a retiree with a Roth 401(k) can leave the balance untouched for their entire lifetime, letting it grow tax-free indefinitely. This makes the Roth 401(k) one of the most powerful tax-advantaged savings vehicles available — and makes converting traditional 401(k) balances to Roth before RMD age a strategy worth serious consideration.

The exemption does not apply to inherited Roth 401(k) accounts. Beneficiaries who inherit a Roth 401(k) after the original owner’s death are generally subject to the 10-year rule — the inherited account must be liquidated within 10 years.

Inherited IRAs and the 10-Year Rule: What Beneficiaries Must Do by December 31, 2026

If you inherited a traditional IRA or 401(k) from someone who was not your spouse, the 10-year rule most likely applies to you. Under this rule, the entire inherited account must be distributed within 10 years of the original account holder’s death — with no requirement for annual withdrawals, but a hard deadline at year 10.

If the original account holder died after their RMD start date, most non-spouse beneficiaries must also take annual RMDs during the 10-year window. The IRS issued guidance on this in 2024 and required beneficiaries to begin taking those annual distributions starting in 2025.

For inherited accounts from someone who died in 2015, for example, the 10-year clock runs out in 2025. For 2016 deaths, the deadline is December 31, 2026. If you are in this situation and have not yet cleared the balance, the clock is running.

Pro Tips a Generic Retirement Article Would Miss

1. Your 2026 RMD directly determines your 2028 Medicare premiums — and most retirees don’t make the connection. IRMAA, the income-based Medicare surcharge, is calculated using your Modified Adjusted Gross Income from two years prior. A larger-than-expected RMD in 2026 raises your 2026 MAGI, which feeds directly into your 2028 Medicare Part B and Part D premiums. If your 2026 RMD pushes you over the $109,000 single-filer threshold, you will pay $284.10 per month for Part B in 2028 instead of $202.90 — a $972 annual increase that compounds every year you remain above the bracket. Modeling your RMD amount against IRMAA thresholds before December 31 is one of the highest-leverage moves in retirement income planning.

2. A Qualified Charitable Distribution can eliminate the tax on your RMD entirely — and most retirees who donate to charity are leaving this on the table. If you are 70½ or older, you can direct up to $105,000 per year from your traditional IRA directly to a qualifying charity as a Qualified Charitable Distribution. That QCD satisfies your RMD for the year and is excluded entirely from your taxable income — unlike a regular RMD followed by a charitable deduction, which still counts as income before the deduction. For retirees who donate regularly and take the standard deduction, a QCD is one of the only ways to get a tax benefit from charitable giving above the standard deduction threshold. It also keeps the RMD amount off your MAGI, protecting your IRMAA bracket and the taxable portion of your Social Security.

3. Rolling a traditional 401(k) into a Roth before you hit RMD age is now a mathematically stronger strategy than it was three years ago. With the Roth 401(k) now permanently exempt from RMDs and the 401(k) diversification flexibility this creates, converting pre-tax balances during lower-income years before age 73 can permanently remove those assets from the RMD calculation. If you retired at 65 and are living primarily on Social Security and a small pension before RMDs begin at 73, those eight years represent your lowest-income window for Roth conversions. The tax paid on the conversion in a low bracket is typically far less than the tax that would accumulate through decades of forced RMDs from a growing traditional account.

FAQ

Q: What is the RMD age in 2026?
A: For anyone born between 1951 and 1959, the Required Minimum Distribution age is 73 in 2026. For anyone born in 1960 or later, the RMD age rises to 75 under the SECURE 2.0 Act.

Q: What happens if you miss an RMD deadline?
A: The IRS imposes an excise tax penalty of 25% on the amount you failed to withdraw. That penalty drops to 10% if you correct the shortfall within two years and file IRS Form 5329. In cases of reasonable error corrected immediately, the penalty may be waived entirely with a written explanation.

Q: Do Roth 401(k) plans have RMDs in 2026?
A: No. Starting in 2025 and continuing in 2026, Roth 401(k) plans are permanently exempt from Required Minimum Distributions for the original account holder, aligning them with Roth IRAs. Inherited Roth 401(k) accounts are still subject to the 10-year rule.

Q: Can I take my first RMD in April instead of December?
A: Yes — the IRS allows you to delay your first RMD until April 1 of the year after you turn 73. However, this forces two full RMDs into one calendar year, which can trigger higher tax brackets, IRMAA Medicare surcharges, and increased taxation of Social Security benefits. Most tax advisors recommend taking the first RMD in December of the year you turn 73 instead.

Q: What is a Qualified Charitable Distribution and how does it affect my RMD?
A: A Qualified Charitable Distribution allows IRA holders aged 70½ or older to transfer up to $105,000 directly from a traditional IRA to a qualifying charity. The amount counts toward your annual RMD but is excluded from your taxable income entirely — unlike a regular RMD that you then donate, which still raises your adjusted gross income.

If you turned 73 this year or are approaching that age, the most important action you can take before December 31 is to calculate your 2026 RMD using your December 31, 2025 account balance and the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. Your account custodian is required to calculate this figure for you and typically sends a notice in January — but confirming the number yourself and understanding the deadline is your responsibility, not theirs. If your RMD calculation puts your 2026 income within range of an IRMAA bracket or a higher tax bracket, talk to a retirement income planning specialist before year-end. That conversation, timed right, can be worth thousands of dollars.