Summary of Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) Under the SECURE Act

Note: CAREs Act waived RMDs for the entire year of 2020.

Lifetime RMDs

Determining Date of 1st RMD

If born before July 1, 1949, your RMDs start the year you turn age 70½

If born after June 30, 1949, your RMDs start the year you turn age 72

Participants can defer their first payment for the year they reach their RMD age until April 1 of the following year but would also require a second RMD payment be made for that year.

New, more generally favorable life expectancy tables will be effective starting in 2022.

RMDs After Death

Death prior to January 1, 2022

• Single life expectancy (SLE) of beneficiary reduced by 1 year each subsequent year
  • Named beneficiaries only - living people and certain look-thru trusts
  • Must start no later than year following death of participant
• If SLE not elected (distribution taken in the first year) or not a named beneficiary, the account must be distributed by the end of the 5th year following death

Death after December 31, 2021

• “Eligible Designated Beneficiaries” – defined as named spouse, disabled under IRC Section 72m7, chronically ill under IRC Section 7702Bc2, minors* or an individual not more than 10 years younger than the deceased.
  • Single life expectancy (SLE) of beneficiary reduced by 1 year each subsequent year
• All other designated named beneficiaries
  • Must distribute account by the end of the 10th anniversary of participant’s death
• If not a designated named beneficiary, i.e. estate
  • Must distribute account by the end of the 5th anniversary of participant’s death
• Minors use SLE until reach age of majority (or up to age 26 if in a “specified course of education”) and then must distribute within 10 years
• Surviving spouses continue to have the ability to roll over assets to an account in their own name.