RMD Table 2026: Uniform Lifetime Divisors by Age, 73 to 120

The table: Uniform Lifetime divisors from age 73 to 120

This is Table III in Appendix B of IRS Publication 590-B (2025), the table the IRS says to use if you are the IRA owner and your spouse is not the sole beneficiary, or is the sole beneficiary and is not more than 10 years younger. The same 49 numbers, ages 72 to 119 and “120+,” are in 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9(c), and we checked the two texts against each other. Use your age on your birthday in the year the RMD is for. The third and sixth columns are our arithmetic: the RMD for 2026 if the IRA held exactly $1,000,000 on December 31, 2025, and the RMD scales with the balance.

Source: IRS Publication 590-B (2025), Appendix B, Table III (Uniform Lifetime), page last reviewed April 30, 2026, read October 26, 2026. The row “120 and over” is the IRS wording. Age 72, 27.4, is also printed in the table; no one born in 1951 or later has an RMD at 72 (our reading). The RMD columns are our arithmetic.

The IRS had not published a new table for 2027 on October 26, 2026, and the 2027 RMD cannot be figured until the December 31, 2026 balance exists, so every dollar figure on this page is for 2026. Publication 590-B (2025) is the current edition; it translates to 2026 because its text reads “your applicable denominator for 2026” (as of October 26, 2026; a 2026 edition was not on the IRS page).

How the RMD is worked out

Three inputs set the number, per the IRS retirement topics page: the account balance “as of the end of the immediately preceding calendar year,” a divisor from the Uniform Lifetime Table, and your age in the year. Publication 590-B defines the balance: “The IRA account balance is the amount in the IRA at the end of the year preceding the year for which the required minimum distribution is being figured.” A contribution made after December 31 for the prior year does not count in it. A rollover that was in transit on December 31 is added back (Publication 590-B, “Outstanding rollovers”).

Our two examples use $1,000,000 in a traditional IRA on December 31, 2025:

Our arithmetic from Table III. Publication 590-B allows installments: “The yearly required minimum distribution can be taken in a series of installments (monthly, quarterly, etc.)” as long as the year’s total reaches the minimum.

Publication 590-B works its own example this way: a balance of $100,000 and a divisor of 24.6 for a 75-year-old gives an RMD of $4,065. The Publication also has the example of a 73-year-old, Justin, whose $38,400 balance divided by 26.5 gave $1,450. The scale is different; the division is the same.

Three details trip people up. A withdrawal above the RMD does not count for the next year; the IRS FAQ asks “Can a distribution in excess of the RMD for one year be applied to the RMD for a future year?” and answers “No.” The RMD cannot be rolled over; the same FAQ answers “No” to “Can RMD amounts be rolled over into another tax-deferred account?” And a qualified charitable distribution does count: Publication 590-B says “A QCD will count towards your required minimum distribution,” which our QCD page works through for an IRA with illiquid holdings.

Age 73 or age 75: which one is yours

Publication 590-B (2025) says “Age 73 for tax years 2023 and later” and does not mention 75. The law does. Section 401(a)(9)(C)(v) of the Internal Revenue Code reads: “(I) In the case of an individual who attains age 72 after December 31, 2022, and age 73 before January 1, 2033, the applicable age is 73. (II) In the case of an individual who attains age 74 after December 31, 2032, the applicable age is 75.” The final regulation turns that into birth years, in 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-2(b)(2):

Source: 26 U.S.C. 401(a)(9)(C)(v) and 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-2(b)(2), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, read October 26, 2026. The year of the first RMD is our arithmetic: the year the person reaches the age.

The 1959 row is real. A person born in 1959 reaches 73 in 2032, which fits clause (I), and reaches 74 in 2033, which fits clause (II). The regulation reserves the paragraph, and our companion page on RMDs for illiquid IRAs reports a proposed rule that would set 73; we did not read that rule for this page, so treat the 1959 age as not verified here. Everyone born in 1958 or earlier, and 1960 or later, is covered by the final text.

If you were born in 1952 you reached 73 in 2025. Your first RMD was due April 1, 2026 and your RMD for 2026 is due by December 31, 2026 (our arithmetic on the IRS rule that later years are due December 31).

The first RMD and the April 1 deadline

Publication 590-B: “You must begin receiving required minimum distributions by April 1 of the year following the year you reach age 73.” The first RMD is for the year you reach 73, and it can be paid in that year or by April 1 of the next. The IRS topic page shows the choice: “You can make your first withdrawal by December 31 of the year you turn 73 instead of waiting until April 1 of the following year.”

Waiting has a price. The RMD for the second year is still due December 31 of that year. Our assumptions: a person turns 73 in 2026, the IRA held $1,000,000 on December 31, 2025, and $1,040,000 on December 31, 2026.

Our arithmetic on Table III. The $1,040,000 balance is an assumption. Publication 590-B: “any amount distributed in the year you become age 73 will be credited toward the amount that must be distributed by April 1 of the following year.” Both RMDs in the second row are taxable in 2027; this page does not compute the tax, which depends on the rest of the return (see our Roth conversion and bracket page for how a larger income year can move other thresholds).

The deadline after the first year is December 31: “The required minimum distribution for any year after the year you reach age 73 must be made by December 31 of that later year.” The penalty for missing a deadline, 25 percent of the shortfall or 10 percent if corrected in time under the IRS FAQ, and Form 5329 are on our RMD penalty and illiquid IRA page, so we do not repeat them.

A spouse more than 10 years younger: Table II

Publication 590-B: “If the sole beneficiary of your IRA is your spouse and your spouse is more than 10 years younger than you, use the applicable denominator from Table II in Appendix B.” The divisor is where your age and your spouse’s age meet, both as of the birthday in the RMD year. The IRS topic page words the test as “ten or more years younger”; the regulation (26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-5(c)(2)) and the Publication say “more than 10 years,” and Table III is used when the spouse “is not more than 10 years younger.” We follow the regulation. A spouse exactly 10 years younger is under Table III (our reading).

Selected cells of Table II (Joint and Last Survivor Life Expectancy), with the RMD on $1,000,000:

Source: IRS Publication 590-B (2025), Appendix B, Table II; the dollar figures are our arithmetic on a $1,000,000 balance. The Publication’s own example: owner 75, spouse 64, denominator 25.3, RMD $3,953 on $100,000.

The gap grows with age because Table III shortens faster than Table II. At 80 with a spouse of 60 the RMD on $1,000,000 is $35,971.22 instead of $49,504.95, a difference of $13,533.73 (our arithmetic). It applies only while the spouse is the sole beneficiary; Publication 590-B says “marital status is determined as of January 1 each year,” and that a divorce or death after January 1 is generally disregarded until the next year.

401(k), Roth accounts and several IRAs

The table is the same for a 401(k), 403(b) or 457(b), but several rules around it differ:

• Employer plans. The IRS topic page: the first date is “April 1 following the later of the calendar year in which you: reach age 73, or retire (if your plan allows you to delay taking your RMD until retirement).” A 5-percent owner of the employer cannot use the retirement delay (IRS FAQ). Each 401(k) and 457(b) is calculated and paid separately.
• Several IRAs. The IRS FAQ: “An IRA owner must calculate the RMD separately for each IRA they own but can withdraw the total amount from one or more of the IRAs.”
• Roth. “If you are the original owner of a Roth IRA, you don’t have to take distributions regardless of your age” (Publication 590-B). The IRS topic page says the same for designated Roth accounts in a 401(k) or 403(b) “while the account owner is alive.”
• Inherited accounts do not use this table. They use Table I or the 10-year rule, covered on our inherited IRA page.

If part of the IRA is illiquid

The divisor does not know what the IRA holds. The RMD is a percentage of the December 31 balance, and the custodian reports the year-end value on Form 5498, which our Form 5498 page takes box by box. The cash has to come from somewhere.

Our assumption: a traditional IRA of $1,000,000 on December 31, 2025, of which $400,000 is in an illiquid fund and $600,000 can be sold, with the liquid part unchanged:

Our arithmetic from Table III. Valuation, the fund’s repurchase terms and whether a custodian will distribute the shares in kind are questions for the fund and the custodian; they are not in the table.

Three things matter here. First, the year-end valuation, since a higher value raises the next RMD. Second, the multi-IRA rule above: the total can be withdrawn from another IRA, so an illiquid IRA can be paired with a liquid one. Third, a qualifying longevity annuity contract can lower the balance the table is applied to (the rule is on our QLAC page); our QLAC page gives the 2026 limit and a year-by-year example. How fund repurchase notices treat RMD tenders is in the illiquid IRA page.

What a holder can do with this

• Find your applicable age from your date of birth: 73 for 1951 through 1958, 75 for January 1, 1960 or later, and a question for 1959.
• Get the December 31 balance of every IRA from the custodians (the Form 5498 or year-end statement) and divide each by the divisor for your age this year.
• Add the IRAs together and decide which account will pay. A 401(k) must pay its own.
• Check the spouse test. If your spouse is the sole beneficiary and more than 10 years younger, ask the custodian whether it is using Table II.
• If you are about to turn 73, choose the year for the first RMD with a CPA: one year of income or two.
• Leave the 2027 numbers alone until the December 31, 2026 balance is known and the IRS publishes anything new.

What to ask your CPA

1. Is my applicable age 73 or 75, and when is my first RMD year and deadline?
2. Does my spouse’s age put me in Table II?
3. If my first RMD is delayed to April 1, what does two RMDs in one year do to my brackets and Medicare premiums?
4. Which of my accounts will pay the total, and does my custodian value the illiquid holdings at December 31?
5. Should part of the RMD go to charity as a qualified charitable distribution?

This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice. The person who can say what your RMD is, and when, is a CPA or tax attorney with your account statements.

FAQ

Sources, read and saved on October 26, 2026: IRS Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), 2025 edition, page last reviewed April 30, 2026, at irs.gov/publications/p590b; IRS “Retirement topics - Required minimum distributions (RMDs),” page last reviewed April 8, 2026; IRS “Retirement plans FAQs regarding required minimum distributions,” page last reviewed January 29, 2026; 26 U.S.C. 401(a)(9) and 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-2, -5 and -9 (Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School). Dollar amounts, shares and the examples are our arithmetic; the build script and the sources are saved with the page. A 2026 edition of Publication 590-B and the treatment of people born in 1959 were not verified.