Retirement income
Required minimum distribution
A required minimum distribution is the amount you must withdraw from a tax-deferred retirement account each year once you reach the age set by statute, whether or not you need the money.
Also called RMD · forced withdrawal · mandatory withdrawal
Tax deferral is a postponement, not a forgiveness, and required distributions are how the postponement ends. The amount is calculated from your account balance and a life-expectancy factor, so it rises as a proportion of the account over time.
The planning consequence is the part people miss. A required withdrawal is ordinary income, and it lands on top of everything else, which can push a household into a higher bracket, increase the taxable share of Social Security, and raise Medicare premiums, all in the same year. Most people discover this in the year it happens, when almost nothing can be done about it.
The starting age is set by statute and has moved more than once in recent years, which is itself a reason not to plan around it from memory. Under current law the first distribution is due for the year you turn 73.
What it does not do
Taking a required distribution does not satisfy anything except that year’s requirement. It repeats annually and grows. It also cannot be avoided by leaving the money invested, and the penalty for missing one is significant. What can change the picture is action taken in the years before the requirement begins, not after.
This entry is a general explanation, not advice for your situation, and it deliberately avoids thresholds and figures, because those are the part most likely to be out of date. Reviewed August 27, 2026. If a decision turns on any of it, ring the office rather than relying on a page.
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