RMD Calculator - Required Minimum Distributions Calculator

How to use the RMD calculator

What this calculator does

This calculator estimates the required minimum distribution for an owner's traditional IRA or another tax-deferred account by dividing the prior December 31 balance by an IRS life-expectancy factor. It is useful for cash-flow planning, comparing the required withdrawal with planned spending, reserving money for withholding, and checking a custodian's estimate. It does not decide whether a particular account is subject to an RMD, calculate an inherited-account distribution, estimate income tax, or replace plan-specific instructions.

When to use it

Use it before year-end to confirm that enough has been withdrawn, while preparing a retirement-income budget, when reviewing multiple IRA statements, or when testing how a different year-end balance would change next year's minimum. The IRS explains the governing calculation and table choice in its required minimum distribution FAQs.

How to calculate

1. The calculator opens with a ready-to-use example: age 75 and a $250,000 prior-year balance. The example results and a validated Excel workbook are available immediately.
2. Choose Your age this year, meaning the age reached by December 31 of the distribution year.
3. Replace Account balance as of prior December 31 with the applicable account's closing balance.
4. Check the spouse box only when the spouse is both the sole beneficiary and more than 10 years younger. Then enter the official IRS joint life factor from Table II.
5. Read the annual RMD, monthly planning equivalent, implied rate, and remaining balance. Download Excel to retain the current typed inputs and results. Reset clears the demonstration data and disables export until a complete valid state is entered again.

Input guide

Your age this year is required and accepts ages 73 through 115+. A higher age generally produces a smaller Uniform Lifetime factor and therefore a larger RMD for the same balance. Do not use last year's age. Account balance as of prior December 31 is required, must be greater than zero, and accepts U.S.-style values such as 250,000.00; decimal-comma and scientific notation are rejected. A higher balance increases the RMD dollar-for-dollar. The spouse checkbox is optional and changes the table method. When selected, IRS joint life factor becomes required; enter a positive decimal such as 25.3 from Table II rather than guessing or entering an age.

Output guide

Required minimum distribution is the estimated annual minimum in dollars. Life expectancy factor is the denominator selected from the Uniform Lifetime table or supplied from the Joint table. Implied withdrawal rate is the exact identity 1 ÷ factor, shown as a percentage. Monthly planning amount divides the annual RMD by 12; it is a budgeting equivalent, not a requirement to withdraw monthly. Balance remaining after RMD subtracts the estimate from the entered balance and ignores investment returns, fees, taxes, and other withdrawals. The reference schedule shows the current balance divided by each listed Uniform Lifetime factor; it is a sensitivity table, not a forecast.

Worked example

At age 75, the current Uniform Lifetime factor is 24.6. With a prior December 31 balance of $250,000, the calculation is $250,000 ÷ 24.6 = $10,162.60. The implied rate is 4.07%, the monthly planning amount is $846.88, and the balance after that withdrawal is $239,837.40.