Distributions by the required beginning date.

You must receive at least a minimum amount for each year starting with the year you reach age 70½ (your 70½ year). If you don't (or didn't) receive that minimum amount in your 70½ year, then you must receive distributions for your 70½ year by April 1 of the next year.

If an IRA owner dies after reaching age 70½, but before April 1 of the next year, no minimum distribution is required because death occurred before the required beginning date.

More than minimum received.

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 minimum required distributions 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 one 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 70½ year will be credited toward the amount that must be distributed by April 1 of the following year.

Distributions after the required beginning date.

The required minimum distribution for any year after the year you turn 70½ must be made by December 31 of that later year.

Distributions from individual retirement account.

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 below.

Distributions from individual retirement annuities.

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, IRS offices, and online at IRS.gov.

Change in marital status.

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, he or she remains 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.

Change of beneficiary.

If your spouse is the sole beneficiary of your IRA, and he or she dies before you, your spouse won't fail to be your sole beneficiary for the year that he or she 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.

Surviving spouse.

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 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 he or she fails to take a required minimum distribution (if one is required) by December 31 under the rules discussed below for beneficiaries, he or she 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.

Date the designated beneficiary is determined.

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, he or she disclaimed entitlement or received his or her entire benefit), won't be taken into account in determining the designated beneficiary. An individual may be designated as a beneficiary either by the terms of the plan or, if the plan permits, by affirmative election by the employee specifying the beneficiary.

Death of a beneficiary.

In general, the beneficiaries of a deceased beneficiary must continue to take the required minimum distributions after the deceased beneficiary’s death, based on the distribution schedule established by that beneficiary under the rules in the following paragraphs. The beneficiaries of a deceased beneficiary don't calculate required minimum distributions using their own life expectancies.

For the exception to this rule, see Death of surviving spouse prior to date distributions begin , later.

More than one beneficiary.

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

Table I (Single Life Expectancy).

Use Table I for years after the year of the owner's death if either of the following applies.

Surviving spouse.

If you are the owner's surviving spouse and sole designated beneficiary, you will also use Table I for your required minimum distributions. However, if the owner hadn't reached age 70½ when he or she died, and you don't elect to be treated as the owner of the IRA, you don't have to take distributions until the year in which the owner would have reached age 70½.

Table II (Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy).

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.

Table III (Uniform Lifetime).

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

No table.

Don't use any of the tables if the 5-year rule (discussed earlier) applies.

Table I (Single Life Expectancy).

If you are a designated beneficiary figuring your first distribution, 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 you are the owner's surviving spouse and the sole designated beneficiary, this is generally the year in which the owner would have reached age 70½. After the first distribution year, use your age as of your birthday in each subsequent year.

Owner's life expectancy.

In two cases where the owner dies on or after the required beginning date, you need to use the owner's life expectancy. First, you need to use it 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 his or her age as of the owner's birthday in the year of death and reduce it by one for each subsequent year. Second, use the owner’s life expectancy in the year of death (reduced by one for each subsequent year) if it results in a longer distribution period than using your life expectancy as detailed in Table I (Single Life Expectancy) above.

Table II (Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy).

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 70½. Your combined life expectancy is at the intersection of your ages.

If you are figuring your required minimum distribution for 2018, use your ages as of your birthdays in 2018. For each subsequent year, use your and your spouse's ages as of your birthdays in the subsequent year.

Table III (Uniform Lifetime).

For your first distribution by your required beginning date, use your age as of your birthday in the year you become age 70½.

If you are figuring your required minimum distribution for 2018, use your age as of your birthday in 2018. For each subsequent year, use your age as of your birthday in the subsequent year.

Installments allowed.

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.

More than one IRA.

If you have 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.

More than minimum received.

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 one 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 70½ year will be credited toward the amount that must be distributed by April 1 of the following year.

Multiple individual beneficiaries.

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.

Separate accounts.

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 minimum required 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.

Trust as beneficiary.

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:

The deadline for the trustee to provide the beneficiary documentation to the IRA custodian or trustee is October 31 of the year following the year of the owner's death.

Trust beneficiary is another trust.

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.

Annuity distributions from an insurance company.

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, IRS offices, and online at IRS.gov.

Fully taxable.

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.

Partly taxable.

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.

Form 8606.

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 2017, and your total IRA basis for 2017 and earlier years. See the illustrated Forms 8606 in this chapter.

Contribution and distribution in the same year.

If you received a distribution in 2017 from a traditional IRA and you also made contributions to a traditional IRA for 2017 that may not be fully deductible because of the income limits, you can use Worksheet 1-1 to figure how much of your 2017 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.

Reporting your nontaxable distribution on Form 8606.

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.

Distribution of an annuity contract from your IRA account.

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.

Tax treatment.

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 .

Cashing in retirement bonds.

When you cash in retirement bonds, you are taxed on the entire amount you receive. Unless you have already cashed them in, you will be taxed on the entire value of your bonds in the year in which you reach age 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.

Number codes.

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

Letter codes.

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

If the distribution shown on Form 1099-R is from your IRA, SEP IRA, or SIMPLE IRA, the small box in box 7 (labeled IRA/SEP/SIMPLE) should be marked with an "X."

Withholding.

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

The amount of tax withheld from an annuity or a similar periodic payment is based on your marital status and the number of withholding allowances you claim on your withholding certificate (Form W-4P). If you haven't filed a certificate, tax will be withheld as if you are a married individual claiming three withholding allowances.

Generally, tax will be withheld at a 10% rate on nonperiodic distributions.

IRA distributions delivered outside the United States.

In general, if you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien and your home address is outside the United States or its possessions, 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.

More information.

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.

Reporting taxable distributions on your return.

Report fully taxable distributions, including early distributions, on Form 1040, line 15b (no entry is required on line 15a); Form 1040A, line 11b (no entry is required on line 11a); or Form 1040NR, line 16b (no entry is required on line 16a). If only part of the distribution is taxable, enter the total amount on Form 1040, line 15a; Form 1040A, line 11a; or Form 1040NR, line 16a, and enter the taxable part on Form 1040, line 15b; Form 1040A, line 11b; or Form 1040NR, line 16b. You can't report distributions on Form 1040EZ or Form 1040NR-EZ.

Estate tax.

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 his or her former employer(s)) must be included in the decedent's gross estate. For more information, see the Instructions for Schedule I, Form 706.

Fiduciary.

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

Effect on an IRA account.

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.

Effect on you or your beneficiary.

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.

Borrowing on an annuity contract.

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.

Pledging an account as security.

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.

Trust account set up by an employer or an employee association.

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.

Owner participation.

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

Taxes on prohibited transactions.

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.

Loss of IRA status.

If the traditional IRA ceases to be an IRA because of a prohibited transaction by you or your beneficiary, you or your beneficiary aren't 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.

Collectibles.

These include:

Exception.

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 defined.

Early distributions generally are 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.

Tax on excess.

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 50% excise tax for that year on the amount not distributed as required.

Reporting the tax.

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.

Request to waive the tax.

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 in the Instructions for Form 5329.

Exemption from tax.

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 50% 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.

Conditions.

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 defined.

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.

Requirements.

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.

Available portion.

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.

Make up of shortfall in distribution.

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.

Filing a tax return.

If you must file an individual income tax return, complete Form 5329 and attach it to your Form 1040 or Form 1040NR. Enter the total additional taxes due on Form 1040, line 59, or on Form 1040NR, line 57.

Not filing a tax return.

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 or Form 1040NR. 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 payable to the United States Treasury for the tax you owe, as shown on Form 5329. Write your social security number and "2017 Form 5329" on your check or money order.

Form 5329 not required.

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

Distributions of conversion and certain rollover contributions within 5-year period.

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 rollover 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 generally must 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, 2017, and makes a regular contribution for 2016 on the same date, the 5-year period for the conversion begins January 1, 2017, while the 5-year period for the regular contribution begins on January 1, 2016.

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 also must pay the additional tax on any portion of the distribution attributable to earnings on contributions.

Other early distributions.

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.

Exceptions.

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

Most of these exceptions are discussed earlier in chapter 1 under Early Distributions .

Aggregation (grouping and adding) rules.

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

Add any recharacterized contributions that end up in a Roth IRA to the appropriate contribution group for the year that the original contribution would have been taken into account if it had been made directly to the Roth IRA.

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.

Figuring your recapture amount.

If you had an early distribution from your Roth IRAs in 2017, you must allocate the early distribution by using the Recapture Amount—Allocation Chart, later.

Amount to include on Form 5329, line 1.

Include on line 1 of your 2017 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 2017 Form 8606 on your 2017 Form 5329, line 2, and enter exception number 09.

Distributions to beneficiaries.

Generally, the entire interest in the Roth IRA must be distributed by the end of the fifth calendar year after the year of the owner's death unless the interest is payable to a designated beneficiary over the life or life expectancy of the 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, he or she can either delay distributions until the decedent would have reached age 70½ or treat the Roth IRA as his or her own.

Combining with other Roth IRAs.

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

Distributions that aren't qualified distributions.

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 he or she was alive.

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

each type of contribution is divided among multiple beneficiaries according to the pro-rata share of each. See Ordering Rules for Distributions , earlier in this chapter under Are Distributions Taxable?

Exceptions.

You cannot repay the following types of distributions.

Repayment of qualified disaster distributions if reporting under the 1-year election.

If you elect to include all of your qualified disaster distributions received in a year in income for that year and then repay any portion of the distributions during the allowable 3-year period, the amount repaid will reduce the amount included in income for the year of distribution. If the repayment is made after the due date (including extensions) for your return for the year of distribution, you will need to file a revised Form 8915B with an amended return. See Amending Your Return , later.

Repayment of qualified disaster distributions if reporting under the 3-year method.

If you are reporting the distribution in income over the 3-year period and you repay any portion of the distribution to an eligible retirement plan before filing your 2017 tax return, the repayment will reduce the portion of the distribution that is included in income in 2017. If you repay a portion after the due date (including extensions) for filing your 2017 return, the repayment will reduce the portion of the distribution that is included in income in 2018. If you repay a portion after the due date (including extensions) for filing your 2018 return, the repayment will reduce the portion of your distribution that is includible on your 2019 return. If, during a year in the 3-year period, you repay more than is otherwise includible in income for that year, the excess may be carried forward or (after 2017) back to reduce the amount included in income for that year.