Roth IRA Required Minimum Distribution Rules 2026

The short answer: a Roth IRA has no required minimum distributions during the original owner's lifetime. Zero. There is no RMD age, no required beginning date, and no formula that forces distributions from your Roth IRA while you are alive. The same is now true of Roth 401(k) and Roth 403(b) accounts — SECURE 2.0 eliminated their lifetime RMDs in 2024. This is the single most powerful tax planning feature of Roth accounts, and it is the foundation of why Roth conversion during the golden window between retirement and age 73 can save pre-retirees $300,000–$600,000 in lifetime taxes.

The legal basis: IRC § 408A(c)(5)

Section 408A(c)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code states that Roth IRA owners are not subject to the minimum distribution rules of § 408(a)(6) during the owner's lifetime. This is not a special election, a planning technique, or a result of account size — it is the default rule for every Roth IRA.¹

Compare this to a traditional IRA: under § 408(a)(6) and § 401(a)(9), a traditional IRA owner must begin taking annual distributions no later than April 1 of the year following the year they turn 73 (or 75 if born in 1960 or later, per SECURE 2.0 § 107).² The required amount each year is calculated by dividing the account balance by the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table divisor for that age. At age 73, the divisor is 26.5; by age 85, it drops to 16.0 — forcing a larger and larger percentage of the account out as taxable income each year.

A Roth IRA owner faces none of this. There is no required beginning date. There is no required distribution amount. The account can stay fully invested, compounding tax-free, until the owner dies — and beyond, subject to the inherited-account rules described below.

SECURE 2.0 change: Roth 401(k) and 403(b) RMDs eliminated since 2024

Before the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, Roth accounts inside employer plans — designated Roth accounts in 401(k), 403(b), and governmental 457(b) plans — were treated like traditional accounts for RMD purposes. If you had a Roth 401(k), you were required to begin taking distributions on the same schedule as a traditional 401(k).³

SECURE 2.0 § 325 eliminated this rule, effective January 1, 2024. Designated Roth accounts in 401(k), 403(b), and governmental 457(b) plans now have no lifetime RMD requirement — the same as Roth IRAs.³

The practical implications:

• If you are still employed and have accumulated a Roth 401(k) balance, those funds now grow RMD-free for life — no need to roll to a Roth IRA purely to avoid RMDs, though rolling out at retirement may still make sense for investment flexibility.
• If you retired before 2024 and were already receiving Roth 401(k) RMDs under the old rules, you are now free from that requirement going forward. The change applies prospectively to all years beginning January 1, 2024.
• Non-governmental 457(b) plans are not employer-plan designated Roth accounts in the same sense; consult with an advisor about how these are treated at your specific employer.

The previous common advice — "roll your Roth 401(k) to a Roth IRA before RMDs begin" — was sound before 2024 and remains worth considering for other reasons (investment options, custodian consolidation), but it is no longer required for RMD avoidance.

Why "no RMD" is so valuable: the traditional IRA problem

To understand why RMD exemption matters, consider what happens to a couple who retires at 63 with $2.5M in a traditional IRA and takes no action before age 73:

• Growing at 6.5%/year for 10 years, their $2.5M becomes roughly $4.7M at age 73.
• Year-1 RMD: $4,700,000 ÷ 26.5 = $177,358.
• With $54,000 in combined Social Security (85% taxable once combined income exceeds $44,000 MFJ), total AGI approaches $223,000 — above the 2026 IRMAA Tier 1 threshold of $218,000 MFJ.⁴
• By age 80, the divisor drops to 20.2 and RMDs alone could exceed $200,000/year, compounding IRMAA and bracket exposure for as long as they live.

None of the money in a Roth IRA is subject to any of this. Roth conversions during the pre-RMD window — the years between retirement and age 73 or 75 — permanently remove dollars from this forced-distribution machine.

For a worked example of the conversion math, see Roth Conversions to Reduce RMDs and the RMD Projection Calculator, which lets you enter a current conversion amount and see the year-by-year RMD impact through age 90.

Inherited Roth IRA RMD rules

When a Roth IRA owner dies, the account passes to beneficiaries. The rules depend on who inherits and when.

Surviving spouse

A surviving spouse who inherits a Roth IRA has two options:¹

1. Treat as own Roth IRA. The spouse rolls the inherited balance into their own Roth IRA (or elects to treat the inherited account as their own). Result: no lifetime RMDs, same as any Roth IRA owner. This is usually the better choice for a younger surviving spouse.
2. Elect spousal inherited IRA treatment. The spouse takes distributions under the beneficiary rules. This option can make sense in narrow circumstances — for example, needing access to the account before age 59½ without the 5-year rule applying (inherited accounts are exempt from the early withdrawal penalty).

Non-spouse beneficiaries (most inheritors)

Under the SECURE Act of 2019, most non-spouse beneficiaries (adult children, siblings, other relatives, non-spousal partners) must fully distribute an inherited Roth IRA within 10 years of the original owner's death.⁵ This is the 10-year rule.

Critically: there are no annual required distributions during the 10-year period. The beneficiary must simply empty the account by December 31 of the 10th year after the owner's death. They can take nothing for years 1–9 and then distribute the entire balance in year 10 — or distribute evenly, or front-load, or any other pattern. The only hard rule is the 10-year deadline.

This stands in contrast to inherited traditional IRAs, where Treasury Regulation T.D. 10001 (2024) requires annual distributions during the 10-year period if the decedent had already started taking RMDs (i.e., had passed their required beginning date).⁶ Roth IRAs have no required beginning date — the owner was never required to start RMDs — so T.D. 10001's annual distribution rule does not apply to inherited Roth IRAs.

Eligible designated beneficiaries (EDBs)

A narrow category of beneficiaries — defined as eligible designated beneficiaries (EDBs) — can stretch distributions from an inherited Roth IRA over their own life expectancy using the IRS Single Life Expectancy Table, rather than being constrained to the 10-year rule.¹ EDBs are:

• Surviving spouse (or, as described above, may treat as own account)
• Minor child of the original owner (must switch to the 10-year rule when the child reaches the age of majority, typically 21)
• Disabled individual (as defined under IRC § 72(m)(7))
• Chronically ill individual (as defined under IRC § 7702B(c)(2))
• Any individual not more than 10 years younger than the deceased owner

In practice, most beneficiaries are adult children — not EDBs — and must follow the 10-year rule.

How to achieve Roth RMD freedom: the conversion path

If you have substantial assets in traditional IRAs or old 401(k)s, the path to eliminating future RMDs is Roth conversion — systematically moving balances into Roth accounts during the years before mandatory distributions begin.

The most advantageous window for most pre-retirees is the years between retirement and age 73 (or 75): earned income has stopped, Social Security may not have started, and ordinary tax brackets are at their lowest since young adulthood. Converting at 22–24% now avoids paying 32–37% on forced RMD income later.

Relevant calculators and guides for planning this:

• Tax Bracket Calculator — Find your annual conversion room at 12%, 22%, and 24% given your other income
• RMD Projection Calculator — Project future RMDs and see how a conversion reduces them
• Lifetime NPV Calculator — Model the after-tax wealth difference between converting and not converting over a 25-year horizon
• IRMAA and Roth Conversions — How to size conversions to stay below Medicare surcharge tiers
• Roth Conversions to Reduce RMDs — The math on how a 10-year conversion plan halves a couple's mandatory income at 73
• The Golden Window Guide — The three phases of the 60–73 conversion opportunity for different cohorts

A fee-only financial advisor specializing in Roth conversion strategy can model the optimal annual amounts across your specific situation — accounting for IRMAA ceilings, Social Security timing, capital gain interactions, and state tax rules — rather than applying a generic rule of thumb.

1. IRC § 408A(c)(5) and IRS Publication 590-B — Roth IRA RMD exemption for original owners; spousal inherited Roth rules; eligible designated beneficiary and 10-year rule framework. IRS Publication 590-B
2. SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, § 107 — Raised the required minimum distribution age to 73 for individuals born 1951–1959, and to 75 for individuals born in 1960 or later, effective for distributions after December 31, 2022. IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 — 2026 tax brackets and standard deduction amounts. IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (PDF)
3. SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, § 325 — Eliminated required minimum distributions from designated Roth accounts in employer plans (401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b)), effective January 1, 2024. Prior to this change, Roth 401(k) accounts were subject to the same RMD schedule as traditional 401(k) accounts. SECURE 2.0 Act (H.R. 2954)
4. CMS 2026 Medicare Part B IRMAA fact sheet — 2026 IRMAA income thresholds: Tier 1 begins at $218,000 MAGI for married filing jointly and $109,000 for single filers. Based on 2024 MAGI (two-year lookback). CMS Medicare Part B Costs
5. SECURE Act of 2019 — Established the 10-year rule for most non-spouse beneficiaries inheriting IRAs (including Roth IRAs) from decedents who died after December 31, 2019, replacing the prior stretch IRA rules. IRS Publication 590-B — Summary of beneficiary distribution rules. IRS Publication 590-B
6. T.D. 10001, July 2024 — Finalized regulations requiring annual distributions during the 10-year period for inherited traditional IRAs when the original owner had passed their required beginning date. This rule applies to inherited traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, and SIMPLE IRAs — not to inherited Roth IRAs, which have no required beginning date. T.D. 10001 (Federal Register)

Roth IRA RMD exemption per IRC § 408A(c)(5). SECURE 2.0 § 325 Roth 401(k) RMD elimination effective January 1, 2024. SECURE Act 2019 10-year rule for inherited accounts. RMD ages (73/75) per SECURE 2.0 § 107. 2026 IRMAA Tier 1 thresholds ($218K MFJ / $109K single) per CMS 2026 fact sheet. Values current as of June 2026.