RMD Calculator

How this result is built

Divide a retirement balance by the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table factor for your age.

A required minimum distribution is last year’s ending balance divided by a life-expectancy factor. This page uses the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table, which is the table most account owners use. At 75 the factor is 24.6, so the distribution is the balance divided by 24.6.

What the opening example is for

The table in this calculator starts at 72. Under current rules many people begin at 73, and the age moves to 75 in 2033. A spouse more than 10 years younger uses a different joint table, which is not applied here.

The walkthrough below uses the numbers already sitting in RMD Calculator. Press Calculate and the headline should match this page. Then put your own figures in. The math does not run until you press the button, and Clear hides the result.

What each field is doing

The “Age at year-end” line on RMD Calculator starts at 75. The other fields stay put while you change this one. That is the clean way to see what this line is doing inside the result.

RMD Calculator treats “Balance on December 31 of last year” as its own entry, and the form opens with $450,000.00. If the label is a rate, type the annual figure the contract uses. If it is money, type the amount that will actually move, not a rounded hope.

The opening result, line by line

Press Calculate on the opening form and Required distribution is $18,292.68. That is the number the rest of this section is talking about.

Life-expectancy factor is 24.6 when you run the opening figures on RMD Calculator. That line is part of the same calculation as the headline. It is not a second balance you can spend on top of the result. Change one input and press Calculate if you want to see whether this line moves.

On this opening pass, balance is $450,000.00. That line is part of the same calculation as the headline. It is not a second balance you can spend on top of the result. Change one input and press Calculate if you want to see whether this line moves.

How those lines were produced

RMD Calculator reports that share of the balance is 4.07%. That line is part of the same calculation as the headline. It is not a second balance you can spend on top of the result. Change one input and press Calculate if you want to see whether this line moves.

Most owners use the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. A spouse more than 10 years younger is a different table, which this estimate does not apply.

A second pass changes only “Age at year-end”, from 75 to 82.50. Required distribution moves from $18,292.68 to $25,423.73. Nothing else on the form was edited, so the gap between those two results is the effect of that one field on RMD Calculator. If the gap is tiny, this page is not very sensitive to that entry. If the gap is large, get that entry from a document before you plan around the result.

What this page will not claim

RMD Calculator follows the contribution, the return, and the years you enter. It does not look up your income, a workplace-plan phase-out, or a custodian balance. The 2026 limits named on this desk are ceilings, not instructions to contribute the maximum.

RMD Calculator stops at its own formula. When the next question is different, open Traditional IRA Calculator (A deduction now, tax later, growth in between.); 401(k) Calculator (Your deferral, the match, and the 2026 cap.); Retirement Calculator (Savings at retirement, next to the nest egg spending implies.). Do not add those results to this one as if they were the same kind of dollar.

Check the result before you use it

Start on RMD Calculator by reading the labels, not the headline. The opening labels are Age at year-end (75), Balance on December 31 of last year ($450,000.00). If a label is not the fact you have, the result cannot turn into that fact later. The illustration on the form lands on $18,292.68. When you press Calculate and see that same figure, the button and this explanation are using one formula.

Change one field at a time. Write down the headline, edit a single line, and press Calculate again. A large jump means that line carries the result. A line that does not move is a line the formula ignores, which is a reason to confirm you opened the right page. RMD Calculator is built for one job: Balance divided by the life-expectancy factor. The description on the page says the same thing in a sentence: Divide a retirement balance by the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table factor for your age.

When the paperwork disagrees

Then hold the headline next to a source outside the site. That source might be a loan estimate, an account statement, a pay stub, or the public limit named in the methodology. A few cents of difference on a long schedule is ordinary rounding. A different rate, a fee you never typed, or a tax the form does not ask for is not rounding. Correct the input. Do not average the page with the paperwork.

When the outside source still disagrees, RMD Calculator has reached the edge of what it will claim. It will not phone a lender, pull a county record, or apply a credit you left blank. Send the calculator name, every input, and the result you expected through the contact page if you think the formula itself is wrong. Until that is settled, read $18,292.68 as the output of the fields above and nothing else.

FAQs