RMDs, explained: why age 73 or 75 changes your tax picture
A required minimum distribution, or RMD, is the smallest amount the IRS requires you to withdraw from tax-deferred retirement accounts each year, starting at age 73 or 75, depending on your birth year.
One qualifier before anything else: 73 is the age for people born between 1951 and 1958. If you were born in 1960 or later, your first required withdrawal starts at 75, so wherever this page says 73, read 75 for yourself. If you were born in 1959, the IRS's stated position is 73, but the rule is not final yet, so confirm it with your CPA. The rest of the picture is the same either way.
The withdrawal is taxed as ordinary income whether you need the money that year or not. That single word, required, is why 73 changes your tax picture: income you used to control becomes income the calendar controls.
Why RMDs exist
A traditional IRA or 401(k) runs on a deal: no tax on the way in, no tax while it grows, full ordinary-income tax on the way out. RMDs are the government's way of making sure "the way out" actually arrives. At 73, the deferral stops being open-ended and the tax bill starts coming due on a schedule.
How the amount is figured
Each year, the account balance at the previous year-end is divided by an IRS life-expectancy factor for your age. At 73 that factor is about 26.5, which works out to a withdrawal of roughly 3.8% of the balance (a different table applies if your spouse is your only beneficiary and more than ten years younger than you). If you were born in 1960 or later, your first factor is the one at 75: about 24.6, which works out to a withdrawal of roughly 4.1% of the balance. The factor shrinks as you age, so the required percentage rises each year. Larger balance, larger forced withdrawal. The arithmetic is that direct.
What stacks at 73
The RMD itself is taxable. The quieter effect is what that added income touches once it lands on top of Social Security, pensions, and everything else on the return:
| What it can touch | Where it starts (2026 figures) |
|---|---|
| Federal brackets | Each layer of added income is taxed at that layer's rate; for joint filers, the 22% bracket runs from $100,801 to $211,400 |
| Social Security taxation | Combined income over $32,000 (joint) can make up to 50% of benefits taxable; over $44,000, up to 85%. Single filers: $25,000 / $34,000. Not inflation-adjusted since 1984 |
| Medicare premiums (IRMAA) | Surcharges based on income from two years earlier, on a cliff: one dollar over a threshold triggers that tier's full surcharge, on top of the standard $202.90/month Part B premium |
| The 2025–2028 senior bonus deduction | $6,000 per person 65+ ($12,000 joint, both qualifying) phases out at 6 cents per dollar above $75,000 single / $150,000 joint |
One forced withdrawal can nudge several of these at once. That is the real story of age 73: not the bracket alone, but the stack.
Deadlines, and the cost of missing one
Your first RMD can be delayed until April 1 of the year after you reach your RMD age (73 if you were born 1951 through 1958, 75 if you were born in 1960 or later; for 1959, check with your CPA), but delaying means taking two RMDs in that second year, which doubles the income landing on one return. After the first year, the deadline is December 31, every year. Miss one and the IRS charges an excise tax on the amount not taken: currently 25%, reduced to 10% if you fix it and file within the IRS correction window, generally about two years. This is calendar work your CPA or custodian should have on rails.
What people do before 73
The years between retiring and 73 are the window where the picture is still yours to arrange. Some people draw spending money from tax-deferred accounts early, on purpose, to shrink future RMDs. Some give to charity straight from an IRA once eligible (a qualified charitable distribution, available starting at age 70½), which can count toward an RMD without landing on the return as income. And some convert part of a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA during those lower-income years, because Roth IRAs have no lifetime RMDs at all. That mechanism, plainly: Roth conversions in plain English.
None of these is the answer for everyone. All of them work better as decisions made at 66 than discoveries made at 74.
One more date: for younger readers, the RMD starting age is 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. The mechanics above stay the same; the calendar shifts.
Related reading
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