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RMD Tables For IRAs

How quickly do you have to pull money out of an IRA? This short guide answers the question for most people.

At some point you have to start withdrawing money from your IRA. If it’s either your own IRA or one you inherited from a spouse, you have to start at age 70½. If it’s an IRA you inherited from someone else (such as a parent), you have to start almost immediately. The minimum withdrawal is, in IRS jargon, your “required minimum distribution.”

The rules are spelled out in Publication 590, but you could waste a lot of time wading through its 114 pages. The tables here will give you a quick answer. They cover most IRAs.

The minimum withdrawal is calculated by taking the account balance and dividing by a factor related to your age. The account balance is what you had the previous Dec. 31. The age is your age at the end of the withdrawal year.

Say your balance on Dec. 31, 2013 was $100,000, and your age on Dec. 31, 2014 will be 75. The minimum withdrawal for 2014 is $100,000 divided by the factor for someone who is 75.

There are two tables that cover most situations. The first table applies if the IRA was either yours all along or one you inherited from your spouse. It has very lenient withdrawal mandates. An 89-year-old has to withdraw only 1/12 of the balance, for example. You have to start these withdrawals in the calendar year during which you turn 70½.

The other table applies to an IRA you inherit from someone other than a spouse. These divisors are smaller—so the required withdrawal is larger. In this case the money has to start coming out in the calendar year after the original owner dies.

Here are the two basic tables. The second appears in two pieces.

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