If you are the owner of a traditional IRA, you must generally start receiving distributions from your IRA by April 1 of the year following the year in which you reach your applicable required beginning date.

See the following to determine your applicable required beginning date.

If you were born after December 31, 1950, but before January 1, 1959, you must begin receiving required minimum distributions by April 1 of the year following the year you reach the age 73.

If you were born after June 30, 1949, you must begin receiving required minimum distributions by April 1 of the year following the year you reach age 72.

If you were born before July 1, 1949, you were required to begin receiving required minimum distributions by April 1 of the year following the year you reach age 70 ½.

You must receive at least a minimum amount for each year starting with the year before the year that contains your required beginning date.

If an IRA owner dies after reaching age 73, but before their required beginning date, no minimum distribution is required for that year because death occurred before the required beginning date.

If, in any year, you receive more than the required minimum distribution for that year, you won't receive credit for the additional amount when determining the required minimum distributions for future years. This means that if you receive more than your required minimum distribution in 1 year, you can't treat the excess (the amount that is more than the required minimum distribution) as part of your required minimum distribution for any later year. However, 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.

The required minimum distribution for any year after the year you reach age 73 must be made by December 31 of that later year.

If you are the owner of a traditional IRA that is an individual retirement account, you or your trustee must figure the required minimum distribution for each year. See Figuring the Owner's Required Minimum Distribution, later.

If your traditional IRA is an individual retirement annuity, special rules apply to figuring the required minimum distribution. For more information on rules for annuities, see Regulations section 1.401(a)(9)-6. These regulations can be read in many libraries, and IRS offices, and online at IRS.gov.

For purposes of figuring your required minimum distribution, your marital status is determined as of January 1 of each year. If your spouse is a beneficiary of your IRA on January 1, they will remain a beneficiary for the entire year even if you get divorced or your spouse dies during the year. For purposes of determining your distribution period, a change in beneficiary is effective in the year following the year of death or divorce.

If your spouse is the sole beneficiary of your IRA, and they die before you, your spouse won't fail to be your sole beneficiary for the year they died solely because someone other than your spouse is named a beneficiary for the rest of that year. However, if you get divorced during the year and change the beneficiary designation on the IRA during that same year, your former spouse won't be treated as the sole beneficiary for that year.

If you are the surviving spouse who is the sole beneficiary of your deceased spouse's IRA, you may elect to be treated as the owner and not as the beneficiary. If you elect to be treated as the owner, you determine the required minimum distribution (if any) as if you were the owner beginning with the year you elect or are deemed to be the owner. For details, see Inherited from spouse under What if You Inherit an IRA, earlier in this chapter.

.You can never make a rollover contribution of a required minimum distribution. Any rollover contribution of a required minimum distribution is subject to the 6% tax on excess contributions. See chapter 1 of Pub. 590-A for more information on the tax on excess contributions..

.For any year after the owner’s death, where a surviving spouse is the sole designated beneficiary of the account and they fail to take a required minimum distribution (if one is required) by December 31 under the rules discussed below for beneficiaries, they will be deemed the owner of the IRA. For details, see Inherited from spouse under What if You Inherit an IRA, earlier in this chapter..

Generally, the designated beneficiary is determined on September 30 of the calendar year following the calendar year of the IRA owner's death. In order to be a designated beneficiary, an individual must be a beneficiary as of the date of death. Any person who was a beneficiary on the date of the owner's death, but isn't a beneficiary on September 30 of the calendar year following the calendar year of the owner's death (because, for example, they disclaimed entitlement or received their entire benefit), won't be taken into account in determining the designated beneficiary.

If an IRA has more than one beneficiary or a trust is named as beneficiary, see Miscellaneous Rules for Required Minimum Distributions, later.

An IRA beneficiary is an eligible designated beneficiary if the beneficiary is the owner's surviving spouse, the owner's minor child, a disabled individual, a chronically ill individual, or any other individual who is not more than 10 years younger than the IRA owner.

In general, the beneficiaries of a deceased beneficiary must continue to take the required minimum distributions after the deceased beneficiary's death. However, the beneficiaries of a deceased beneficiary don't calculate required minimum distributions using their own life expectancies. Instead, the deceased beneficiary's remaining interest must be distributed within 10 years after the beneficiary's death, or in some cases within 10 years after the owner's death. See 10-year rule, later.

In using the tables for lifetime distributions, marital status is determined as of January 1 each year. Divorce or death after January 1 is generally disregarded until the next year.

The change in beneficiary will take effect in the year after the distribution calendar year following the year that includes the spouse's death or divorce.

Use Table I for years after the year of the owner’s death if you are the owner’s eligible designated beneficiary. If you are the owner's surviving spouse and sole designated beneficiary, see Table III (Uniform Lifetime Table) later, for more information.

If you are the owner’s eligible designated beneficiary, find your life expectancy in the year following the owner’s death. Use your age as of your birthday in the year distributions must begin. This is usually the calendar year immediately following the calendar year of the owner's death. After the first distribution year, reduce your life expectancy by one for each subsequent year.

If there is no designated beneficiary, use the life expectancy based on the owner’s age as of the owner’s birthday in the calendar year of their death. The life expectancy in the years after the owner’s death is reduced by one for each calendar year that has elapsed after the calendar year of the owner’s death.

You use the owner’s life expectancy to calculate required minimum distributions when the owner dies on or after the required beginning date and there is no designated beneficiary as of September 30 of the year following the year of the owner’s death.

In this case, use the owner’s life expectancy for their age as of the owner’s birthday in the year of death and reduce it by 1 for each subsequent year. If the beneficiary is older than the deceased IRA owner, use the owner’s life expectancy in the year of death (reduced by 1 for each subsequent year).

Use Table II if you are the IRA owner and your spouse is both your sole designated beneficiary and more than 10 years younger than you.

For your first distribution by the required beginning date, use your age and the age of your designated beneficiary as of your birthdays in the year you become age 73. Your combined life expectancy is at the intersection of your ages.

If you are figuring your required minimum distribution for 2025, use your ages as of your birthdays in 2025. For each subsequent year, use your and your spouse's ages as of your birthdays in the subsequent year.

Use Table III if you are the IRA owner and your spouse isn’t the sole designated beneficiary or if your spouse is the sole designated beneficiary of your IRA and not more than 10 years younger than you.

Use your age as of your birthday in the year you become age 73 to meet your first distribution by your required beginning date.

You may also use Table III if you are the owner's surviving spouse and sole designated beneficiary.

If you are figuring your required minimum distribution for 2025, use your age as of your birthday in 2025. For each subsequent year, use your age as of your birthday in the subsequent year.

Don't use any of the tables if the owner died before their required beginning date and either the 5-year rule or the 10-year rule (discussed earlier) applies.

New life expectancy tables apply to distribution calendar years beginning on or after January 1, 2022.

If an IRA owner died before January 1, 2022, the distribution period that applies for a calendar year following the calendar year of the owner’s death is equal to a single life expectancy calculated as of the calendar year of the owner’s death, reduced by 1 for each subsequent year, and is reset using the new table.

In order to do this, find your life expectancy based on your age in the year following the owner’s death on Table I and reduce that number by 1 for each year since the year of the owner’s death.

The requirement to reset the initial life expectancy also applies to an owner’s surviving spouse who dies before January 1, 2022.

The yearly required minimum distribution can be taken in a series of installments (monthly, quarterly, etc.) as long as the total distributions for the year are at least as much as the minimum required amount.

If you are the owner of more than one traditional IRA, you must determine a separate required minimum distribution for each IRA. However, you can total these minimum amounts and take the total from any one or more of the IRAs. The same rule applies if you are a designated beneficiary of more than one IRA that was owned by a single decedent.

If, in any year, you receive more than the required minimum amount for that year, you won't receive credit for the additional amount when determining the minimum required amounts for future years. This doesn't mean that you don't reduce your IRA account balance. It means that if you receive more than your required minimum distribution in 1 year, you can't treat the excess (the amount that is more than the required minimum distribution) as part of your required minimum distribution for any later year. However, any amount distributed in your age 73 year will be credited toward the amount that must be distributed by April 1 of the following year.

If, as of September 30 of the year following the year in which the owner dies, there is more than one beneficiary, the beneficiary with the shortest life expectancy will be the designated beneficiary if both of the following apply.

A single IRA can be split into separate accounts or shares for each beneficiary. These separate accounts or shares can be established at any time, either before or after the owner's required beginning date. Generally, these separate accounts or shares are combined for purposes of determining the required minimum distribution. However, these separate accounts or shares won't be combined for required minimum distribution purposes after the death of the IRA owner if the separate accounts or shares are established by the end of the year following the year of the IRA owner's death.

The separate account rules can't be used by beneficiaries of a trust unless the trust is an applicable multi-beneficiary trust.

A trust can't be a designated beneficiary even if it is a named beneficiary. However, the beneficiaries of a trust will be treated as having been designated beneficiaries for purposes of determining required minimum distributions after the owner’s death (or, after the death of the owner’s surviving spouse described in Death of surviving spouse prior to date distributions begin, earlier) if all of the following are true.

If the beneficiary of the trust (which is the beneficiary of the IRA) is another trust and both trusts meet the above requirements, the beneficiaries of the other trust will be treated as having been designated as beneficiaries for purposes of determining the distribution period.

An applicable multi-beneficiary trust is a trust (1) which has more than one beneficiary; (2) all of the beneficiaries of which are treated as designated beneficiaries for purposes of determining the distribution period pursuant to section 401(a)(9); and (3) at least one of the beneficiaries of which is an eligible designated beneficiary who is either disabled or chronically ill. There are two types of applicable multi-beneficiary trusts:

Special rules apply if you receive distributions from your traditional IRA as an annuity purchased from an insurance company. See Regulations sections 1.401(a)(9)-6 and 54.4974-2. These regulations can be found in many libraries, and IRS offices, and online at IRS.gov.

If only deductible contributions were made to your traditional IRA (or IRAs, if you have more than one), you have no basis in your IRA. Because you have no basis in your IRA, any distributions are fully taxable when received. See Reporting and Withholding Requirements for Taxable Amounts, later.

If you made nondeductible contributions or rolled over any after-tax amounts to any of your traditional IRAs, you have a cost basis (investment in the contract) equal to the amount of those contributions. These nondeductible contributions aren't taxed when they are distributed to you. They are a return of your investment in your IRA.

Only the part of the distribution that represents nondeductible contributions and rolled over after-tax amounts (your cost basis) is tax free. If nondeductible contributions have been made or after-tax amounts have been rolled over to your IRA, distributions consist partly of nondeductible contributions (basis) and partly of deductible contributions, earnings, and gains (if there are any). Until all of your basis has been distributed, each distribution is partly nontaxable and partly taxable.

You must complete Form 8606, and attach it to your return, if you receive a distribution from a traditional IRA and have ever made nondeductible contributions or rolled over after-tax amounts to any of your traditional IRAs. Using the form, you will figure the nontaxable distributions for 2024, and your total IRA basis for 2024 and earlier years. See the illustrated Forms 8606 in this chapter.

If you received a distribution in 2024 from a traditional IRA and you also made contributions to a traditional IRA for 2024 that may not be fully deductible because of the income limits, you can use Worksheet 1-1 to figure how much of your 2024 IRA distribution is tax free and how much is taxable. Then, you can figure the amount of nondeductible contributions to report on Form 8606. Follow the instructions under Reporting your nontaxable distribution on Form 8606 next to figure your remaining basis after the distribution.

To report your nontaxable distribution and to figure the remaining basis in your traditional IRA after distributions, you must complete Worksheet 1-1 before completing Form 8606. Then, follow these steps to complete Form 8606.

You can tell the trustee or custodian of your traditional IRA account to use the amount in the account to buy an annuity contract for you. You aren't taxed when you receive the annuity contract (unless the annuity contract is being converted to an annuity held by a Roth IRA). You are taxed when you start receiving payments under that annuity contract.

If only deductible contributions were made to your traditional IRA since it was opened (this includes all your traditional IRAs, if you have more than one), the annuity payments are fully taxable.

If any of your traditional IRAs include both deductible and nondeductible contributions, the annuity payments are taxed as explained earlier under Distributions Fully or Partly Taxable.

When you cash in retirement bonds, you are taxed on the entire amount you receive. If you reach age 70½ and you have not yet cashed in your retirement bonds, you should include the entire value of the bonds in your income in the year in which you turn 70½. The value of the bonds is the amount you would have received if you had cashed them in at the end of that year. When you later cash in the bonds, you won't be taxed again.

Some of the number codes are explained below. All of the codes are explained in the instructions for recipients on Form 1099-R.

Some of the letter codes are explained below. All of the codes are explained in the instructions for recipients on Form 1099-R.

Federal income tax is withheld from distributions from traditional IRAs unless you choose not to have tax withheld.

If you are receiving periodic payments (payments made in installments at regular intervals over a period of more than 1 year) use Form W-4P to have tax withheld from your IRA. The amount of tax withheld from an annuity or a similar periodic payment is based on your marital status and any adjustments you claim on your Form W-4P.

Complete Form W-4R to have taxes withheld from your nonperiodic payments or eligible rollover distribution from your IRA. Generally, tax will be withheld at a 10% rate on nonperiodic payments.

In general, if you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien and your home address is outside the United States or its territories, you can't choose exemption from withholding on distributions from your traditional IRA.

To choose exemption from withholding, you must certify to the payer under penalties of perjury that you aren't a U.S. citizen, a resident alien of the United States, or a tax-avoidance expatriate.

Even if this election is made, the payer must withhold tax at the rates prescribed for nonresident aliens.

For more information on withholding on pensions and annuities, see Pensions and Annuities in chapter 1 of Pub. 505. For more information on withholding on nonresident aliens and foreign entities, see Pensions, Annuities, and Alimony under Withholding on Specific Income in Pub. 515.

Report fully taxable distributions, including early distributions, on Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR, line 4b (no entry is required on line 4a). If only part of the distribution is taxable, enter the total amount on Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR, line 4a, and enter the taxable part on Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR, line 4b.

Generally, the value of an annuity or other payment receivable by any beneficiary of a decedent's traditional IRA that represents the part of the purchase price contributed by the decedent (or by their former employer(s)) must be included in the decedent's gross estate. For more information, see the instructions for Form 706, Schedule I.

For these purposes, a fiduciary includes anyone who does any of the following.

Generally, if you or your beneficiary engages in a prohibited transaction in connection with your traditional IRA account at any time during the year, the account stops being an IRA as of the first day of that year.

However, if you own more than one IRA, each IRA is treated as a separate account, and loss of IRA status only affects that IRA that participated in that prohibited transaction.

If your account stops being an IRA because you or your beneficiary engaged in a prohibited transaction, the account is treated as distributing all its assets to you at their fair market values on the first day of the year. If the total of those values is more than your basis in the IRA, you will have a taxable gain that is includible in your income. For information on figuring your gain and reporting it in income, see Are Distributions Taxable, earlier. The distribution may be subject to additional taxes or penalties.

If you borrow money against your traditional IRA annuity contract, you must include in your gross income the fair market value of the annuity contract as of the first day of your tax year. You may have to pay the 10% additional tax on early distributions, discussed later.

If you use a part of your traditional IRA account as security for a loan, that part is treated as a distribution and is included in your gross income. You may have to pay the 10% additional tax on early distributions, discussed later.

Your account or annuity doesn't lose its IRA treatment if your employer or the employee association with whom you have your traditional IRA engages in a prohibited transaction.

If you participate in the prohibited transaction with your employer or the association, your account is no longer treated as an IRA.

If someone other than the owner or beneficiary of a traditional IRA engages in a prohibited transaction, that person may be liable for certain taxes. In general, there is a 15% tax on the amount of the prohibited transaction and a 100% additional tax if the transaction isn't corrected.

If the traditional IRA ceases to be an IRA because of a prohibited transaction by you or your beneficiary, neither you nor your beneficiary is liable for these excise taxes. However, you or your beneficiary may have to pay other taxes, as discussed under Effect on you or your beneficiary, earlier.

These include:

Your IRA can invest in one, one-half, one-quarter, or one-tenth ounce U.S. gold coins, or one-ounce silver coins minted by the Treasury Department. It can also invest in certain platinum coins and certain gold, silver, palladium, and platinum bullion.

Early distributions are generally amounts distributed from your traditional IRA account or annuity before you are age 59½, or amounts you receive when you cash in retirement bonds before you are age 59½.

If distributions are less than the required minimum distribution for the year, discussed earlier under When Must You Withdraw Assets? (Required Minimum Distributions), you may have to pay a 25% excise tax for that year on the amount not distributed as required.

You may be subject to a reduced additional tax rate of 10% of the amount not distributed, if, during the correction window, you take a distribution of the amount on which the tax is due and submit a tax return reflecting this additional tax.

The “correction window” ends on the earliest of the following dates:

Use Form 5329 to report the tax on excess accumulations. See the discussion of Form 5329, later, under Reporting Additional Taxes for more information on filing the form.

If the excess accumulation is due to reasonable error, and you have taken, or are taking, steps to remedy the insufficient distribution, you can request that the tax be waived. If you believe you qualify for this relief, attach a statement of explanation and complete Form 5329 as instructed under Waiver of tax for reasonable cause in the Instructions for Form 5329.

If you are unable to take required distributions because you have a traditional IRA invested in a contract issued by an insurance company that is in state insurer delinquency proceedings, the 25% excise tax doesn't apply if the conditions and requirements of Revenue Procedure 92-10 are satisfied. Those conditions and requirements are summarized below. Revenue Procedure 92-10 is in Cumulative Bulletin 1992-1. You can read the revenue procedure at most IRS offices, at many public libraries, and online at IRS.gov.

To qualify for exemption from the tax, the assets in your traditional IRA must include an affected investment. Also, the amount of your required distribution must be determined as discussed earlier under When Must You Withdraw Assets? (Required Minimum Distributions).

Affected investment means an annuity contract or a guaranteed investment contract (with an insurance company) for which payments under the terms of the contract have been reduced or suspended because of state insurer delinquency proceedings against the contracting insurance company.

If your traditional IRA (or IRAs) includes assets other than your affected investment, all traditional IRA assets, including the available portion of your affected investment, must be used to satisfy as much as possible of your IRA distribution requirement. If the affected investment is the only asset in your IRA, as much of the required distribution as possible must come from the available portion, if any, of your affected investment.

The available portion of your affected investment is the amount of payments remaining after they have been reduced or suspended because of state insurer delinquency proceedings.

If the payments to you under the contract increase because all or part of the reduction or suspension is canceled, you must make up the amount of any shortfall in a prior distribution because of the proceedings. You make up (reduce or eliminate) the shortfall with the increased payments you receive.

You must make up the shortfall by December 31 of the calendar year following the year that you receive increased payments.

If you must file an individual income tax return, complete Form 5329 and attach it to your Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR. Enter the total additional taxes due on Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 8.

If you don't have to file a return, but do have to pay one of the additional taxes mentioned earlier, file the completed Form 5329 with the IRS at the time and place you would have filed Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR. Be sure to include your address on page 1 and your signature and date on page 2. Enclose, but don't attach, a check or money order made payable to “United States Treasury” for the tax you owe, as shown on Form 5329. Write your social security number and “2024 Form 5329” on your check or money order.

You don't have to use Form 5329 if any of the following situations exists.

Form 5329, page 1 Tom Jones

Form 5329 Additional Taxes on Qualified Plans (Including IRAs) and Other Tax-Favored Accounts 2024

Form 5329 Additional Taxes on Qualified Plans (Including IRAs) and Other Tax-Favored Accounts 2024

Summary: This is an example of Form 5329 (2024) as pertains to the description in the text. The line items completed are:

"Name of individual subject to additional tax. If married filing jointly, see instructions." field contains Tom Jones

"Your social security number" field contains 004-00-0000

Under"Part I: Additional Tax on Early Distributions":

"1. Early distributions included in income. For Roth IRA. distributions, see instructions" field contains 3,000 "2. Early distributions included on line 1 that aren't subject to the additional tax (see instructions)." field contains 0 "3. Amount subject to additional tax. Subtract line 2 from line 1" field contains 3,000 "4. Additional tax. Enter 10% (0.10) of line 3. Include this amount on Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 8" field contains 300

Please click here for the text description of the image.

If, within the 5-year period starting with the first day of your tax year in which you convert an amount from a traditional IRA or roll over an amount from a qualified retirement plan to a Roth IRA, you take a distribution from a Roth IRA, you may have to pay the 10% additional tax on early distributions. You must generally pay the 10% additional tax on any amount attributable to the part of the amount converted or rolled over (the conversion or rollover contribution) that you had to include in income (recapture amount). A separate 5-year period applies to each conversion and rollover. See Ordering Rules for Distributions, later, to determine the recapture amount, if any.

The 5-year period used for determining whether the 10% early distribution tax applies to a distribution from a conversion or rollover contribution is separately determined for each conversion and rollover, and isn't necessarily the same as the 5-year period used for determining whether a distribution is a qualified distribution. See What Are Qualified Distributions, earlier.

For example, if a calendar-year taxpayer makes a conversion contribution on February 25, 2024, and makes a regular contribution for 2023 on the same date, the 5-year period for the conversion begins January 1, 2024, while the 5-year period for the regular contribution begins on January 1, 2023.

Unless one of the exceptions listed later applies, you must pay the additional tax on the portion of the distribution attributable to the part of the conversion or rollover contribution that you had to include in income because of the conversion or rollover.

You must pay the 10% additional tax in the year of the distribution, even if you had included the conversion or rollover contribution in an earlier year. You must also pay the additional tax on any portion of the distribution attributable to earnings on contributions.

Unless one of the exceptions listed below applies, you must pay the 10% additional tax on the taxable part of any distributions that aren't qualified distributions.

You may not have to pay the 10% additional tax in the following situations.

Determine the taxable amounts distributed (withdrawn), distributions, and contributions by grouping and adding them together as follows.

Disregard any recharacterized contribution that ends up in an IRA other than a Roth IRA for the purpose of grouping (aggregating) both contributions and distributions. Also, disregard any amount withdrawn to correct an excess contribution (including the earnings withdrawn) for this purpose.

If you had an early distribution from your Roth IRAs in 2024, you must allocate the early distribution by using the Recapture Amount—Allocation Chart located in Appendix C.

Include on line 1 of your 2024 Form 5329 the following four amounts from the Recapture Amount—Allocation Chart that you filled out.

Also, include any amount you allocated to line 20 of your 2024 Form 8606 on your 2024 Form 5329, line 2, and enter exception number 09.

Generally, the entire interest in the Roth IRA must be distributed by the end of the 5th or 10th calendar year, as applicable, after the year of the owner's death unless the interest is payable to an eligible designated beneficiary over the life or life expectancy of the eligible designated beneficiary. See When Must You Withdraw Assets? (Required Minimum Distributions) in chapter 1.

If paid as an annuity, the entire interest must be payable over a period not greater than the designated beneficiary's life expectancy and distributions must begin before the end of the calendar year following the year of death. Distributions from another Roth IRA can't be substituted for these distributions unless the other Roth IRA was inherited from the same decedent.

If the sole beneficiary is the spouse, they can either delay distributions until the decedent would have reached age 73 or treat the Roth IRA as their own.

A beneficiary can combine an inherited Roth IRA with another Roth IRA maintained by the beneficiary only if the beneficiary either:

If a distribution to a beneficiary isn't a qualified distribution, it is generally includible in the beneficiary's gross income in the same manner as it would have been included in the owner's income had it been distributed to the IRA owner when they were alive.

If the owner of a Roth IRA dies before the end of: