RMD table: the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table

The divisor that turns a retirement account balance into a required minimum distribution, for every age from 72 to 120 and over. Each row also gives the percentage of the balance that divisor works out to, and the distribution on three balances, so the table answers the question without arithmetic. These numbers come from the regulation itself rather than from a reprint, and the page shows the four cells where the IRS's own publication differs from it.

the 2022 distribution-period tables and the §401(a)(9) rules checked against the official publications, last on 2026-09-10 Every figure computed from the verified data file, not transcribed No sign-up Methodology and data status

Uniform Lifetime Table

Use this table if you are the account owner, unless a spouse more than ten years younger is the sole beneficiary. Divide the balance on December 31 of the previous year by the divisor for the age you reach during the distribution year. Want it worked out for your own balance and birth year, including the deadline? Use the RMD calculator.

The regulation's table still opens at 72, the applicable age for people born between July 1949 and the end of 1950. Nobody reaches a first distribution year at 72 under the rules in force now, which set the applicable age at 73 for births from 1951 through 1959 and 75 from 1960. The 72 row does not mean someone turning 72 this year owes a distribution.

Treas. Reg. §1.401(a)(9)-9(c). The percentages and amounts are computed from the divisors on this page, not transcribed, so they cannot disagree with them. A required distribution is a floor, so those amounts are rounded up to the next dollar: each one is at or above the exact minimum, never below it.

Download the table

The same 49 divisors as a file, generated from the data this page and the calculator both read, so the three cannot disagree. CSV carries the two sourced columns and nothing else. JSON adds the provenance: the regulation the figures come from, the date they were last checked, and which field is sourced and which is computed here.

Treas. Reg. §1.401(a)(9)-9(c), applicable to distribution calendar years beginning on or after 1 January 2022. Last independently verified 2026-09-10. Reuse them freely.

If your spouse is much younger

When the sole beneficiary of the account for the whole year is a spouse more than ten years younger, the Joint and Last Survivor Table replaces the one above and the divisor is larger, so the required distribution is smaller. Marital status is judged on January 1: a spouse who dies or is divorced later in the year still counts for that year. A spouse exactly ten years younger does not qualify, and it would make no difference, because the Uniform Lifetime Table is built from the joint table for a spouse ten years younger.

Treas. Reg. §1.401(a)(9)-9(d), a selection from the full table, which runs over every pair of ages from 0 to 120. The calculator reads the whole table for the exact two ages.

Where Publication 590-B and the regulation disagree

Publication 590-B is the document most tables on the web are copied from. Its 2025 edition prints four cells of the Joint and Last Survivor table differently from Treas. Reg. §1.401(a)(9)-9(d), the regulation that actually sets the figures. The regulation, the Federal Register text it was published in and the eCFR all agree with each other against the publication, and the regulation is what governs.

Found on 2026-09-11 by a second, independent read of the sources, and confirmed by parsing the publication's own PDF. Only the first row matters in practice. The joint table is reached only when a spouse is more than ten years younger, and against an owner of 112 the spouses listed are ten, nine and five years younger, so those three cells are unreachable except where a ten-year gap in ages is more than ten years by date. At 90 with a spouse of 76 the publication's divisor is 0.7% larger, so a table copied from it understates the required amount. This site's figures follow the regulation.

What changed in 2022, and what has not

These divisors took effect for distribution calendar years beginning on or after January 1, 2022, when Treasury replaced the tables in use since 2002 with tables built on longer life expectancies. Longer life expectancies mean larger divisors, and larger divisors mean smaller required distributions. Nothing about them has changed since, so a table labelled for 2026 and a table labelled 2022 carry the same numbers. What moves each year is your age.

When the distribution is due

Distributions must begin at the applicable age: 73 for people born in 1951 through 1959, and 75 for people born in 1960 or later. The first year's amount may be taken as late as April 1 of the following year, which is the required beginning date. Every later year's is due by December 31 of that year. Waiting until April 1 puts two distributions into one year's taxable income, and the second is computed on a balance that still held the first on December 31.

A qualified charitable distribution paid directly from an IRA to a charity, up to $111,000 in 2026, counts toward the minimum and stays out of taxable income. No lifetime distribution is required from a Roth IRA, or from a designated Roth account in a workplace plan. The tax on a distribution is ordinary income tax; the withdrawal calculator estimates it alongside Social Security and a pension, and the taxable Social Security calculator shows how a distribution pulls benefits into income.

Sources

Distribution-period tables: verified · last verified 2026-09-10. Required-minimum-distribution rules: verified · last verified 2026-09-11. See the methodology page.

Questions this page answers

What is the RMD divisor at 73 in 2026?

26.5. A required minimum distribution is the balance on the previous December 31 divided by that number, so at 73 it is 3.77% of the balance: $18,868 on $500,000. At 75 the divisor is 24.6, which is 4.07%.

Has the RMD table changed for 2026?

No. The divisors below have applied to every distribution calendar year since 2022, when Treasury replaced the older tables with ones built on longer life expectancies. A year in the title of a table refers to the year you are taking the distribution for, not to a new set of numbers. What does change with the year is your age, and therefore your divisor.

Which table do I use?

The Uniform Lifetime Table below, unless your spouse is the sole beneficiary of the account for the whole year and more than ten years younger than you, in which case the Joint and Last Survivor Table applies and your divisor is larger. Beneficiaries of an inherited account use the Single Life Table instead, under rules this page does not cover.

What percentage of my IRA is the RMD?

One divided by the divisor. It starts at 3.65% at 72 and rises every year: 3.77% at 73, 4.95% at 80, 8.20% at 90 and 15.63% at 100. The percentage column below is that figure for every age.

Related

• RMD calculator

  The same tables applied to your balance and birth year, with the deadline, the excise tax on a shortfall and a year-by-year projection.

• Retirement withdrawal calculator

  What the distribution costs in federal tax, and how long the account lasts once spending, Social Security and a pension are in the picture.

• Taxable Social Security calculator

  A required distribution raises provisional income, which is what decides how much of a Social Security benefit is taxed.

• How these figures are verified

  The regulation paragraphs behind each rule, and what two independent reads and a red team checked.