A required minimum distribution (RMD) is the amount the IRS requires you to withdraw each year from traditional IRAs and most workplace retirement plans, starting with the year you turn 73.
Your first RMD is for the year you reach 73. You can delay it until April 1 of the next year, but then you take two RMDs in that year. After the first one, the deadline is December 31. Each year's amount is the account's balance on the prior December 31 divided by a life-expectancy factor from IRS tables, so the required share grows as you age.
Roth IRAs, and Roth accounts inside a 401(k) or similar plan, have no RMDs while the owner is alive. People who inherit any of these accounts do have to take distributions.
Missing an RMD triggers a 25% excise tax on the amount not withdrawn, reduced to 10% if corrected within two years. RMDs are taxed as ordinary income, which is why people plan around them years ahead with Roth conversions and, from age 70½, qualified charitable distributions.
How to check
Your custodian usually reports each year's RMD, and the SEC's Investor.gov has a free RMD calculator. With several IRAs you can add up the RMDs and take the total from any of them; RMDs from 401(k) plans must come from each plan separately.
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