The age at which retirement savers must begin pulling taxable money out of a traditional IRA has shifted again, and the change gives many people extra breathing room. Under the SECURE 2.0 Act, the starting line for required minimum distributions now sits at 73 for anyone who reached that age in 2023 or later, and it is scheduled to climb to 75 in 2033. For savers born in 1960 or later, the first forced withdrawal will not arrive until age 75 — several additional years for a balance to keep compounding before the tax collector takes a share.
How SECURE 2.0 moved the required beginning age
A required minimum distribution is the smallest amount a saver must withdraw each year from most tax-deferred retirement accounts once a set age arrives. The rule exists because traditional IRAs and workplace plans grow untaxed for decades, and the government eventually wants its cut. For years the trigger age was 70½, then Congress lifted it to 72, and the pace of change has left many retirees unsure which number applies to them.
The current framework comes from the SECURE 2.0 Act, the 2022 retirement law that reset the schedule in two steps. According to the Internal Revenue Service guidance on required minimum distributions, anyone who turned 73 in 2023 or afterward begins distributions at 73, and the age moves to 75 starting in 2033. The rule covers traditional IRAs, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs, and most employer plans such as 401(k) and 403(b) accounts, though Roth IRAs remain exempt during the original owner’s lifetime.
Free retirement updates: One number can cost or save hundreds a month in retirement. The free Retirement Shield newsletter surfaces the ones worth knowing. Sign up free.
Who reaches 73 first and who waits until 75
Birth year is what decides the deadline. A congressional research summary of the required minimum distribution rules lays out the split cleanly: people born between 1951 and 1959 begin distributions in the year they turn 73, while people born in 1960 or later wait until the year they turn 75. Someone born in 1960 will therefore reach the milestone in 2035, since the higher age formally takes effect for distribution years beginning in 2033.
The first distribution carries a scheduling quirk worth knowing. A saver may delay that initial withdrawal until April 1 of the year after reaching the required age, but doing so forces two distributions into a single tax year, because the second year’s amount is still due by December 31. Stacking two withdrawals can push a retiree into a higher bracket and inflate the income figure that drives Medicare premium surcharges.
The penalty for ignoring the requirement remains serious, even after SECURE 2.0 softened it. Missing a distribution triggers an excise tax on the amount that should have come out, so the extra years granted by the higher age are a delay to be tracked, not a rule to forget. Each account owner is responsible for calculating the correct figure or confirming it with the plan custodian.
Why a later start is not the same as a tax break
Pushing the age higher does not erase the tax; it postpones and, in many cases, enlarges it. Every dollar withdrawn from a traditional account counts as ordinary income in the year it comes out, taxed at the same rates as wages rather than the lower rates on long-term capital gains. A balance that keeps growing untouched until 75 will generally produce a larger required withdrawal, because the annual amount is calculated from the account value and a life-expectancy factor.
That math is why some savers use the gap years deliberately. The agency’s distribution worksheets show the required amount rising as life expectancy shortens, so the window before distributions begin is often when partial Roth conversions or qualified charitable transfers do the most to shrink a future bill. Converting during a low-income year moves money out of the taxable pipeline at a known rate rather than an unknown future one.
The higher age also collides with a separate reality: many retirees need the money regardless of what the law requires. For a household drawing on an IRA to cover living costs, the distribution age is academic, since withdrawals are already happening. The rule matters most for savers wealthy enough to leave the account alone, and for them the later trigger is a planning opportunity rather than a windfall.
What remains unsettled is whether Congress stops at 75. Each upward move has been framed as recognition that Americans work and live longer, yet every delay also defers federal revenue, and the schedule already written into law does not take full effect until 2033. Whether the age holds there or drifts higher again is the open question savers born in the 1960s will be watching as they map out the decade before their own deadline.
This article was researched and drafted with the assistance of AI and reviewed by The Money Overview editorial team.
More Financial Reading
