How it works
Your required minimum distribution for a year is the account balance on December 31 of the year before, divided by the divisor for your age on your birthday that year in the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table (Publication 590-B, Table III). The divisor falls every year, from 26.5 at 73 to 12.2 at 90, so the share you must take rises: 3.77% at 73, 8.20% at 90. The publication's own example gives the same answer here: $100,000 at age 75 in 2026, divided by 24.6, is $4,065. The table in this calculator was checked against the one in the IRS publication at every age, and the calculation against an independent one in 3,001 cases. More in the RMD guide.