How Much Tax Will You Pay on Your 2026 RMD? 64 Retiree Cases, Federal Tax and Every State

Published 2026-10-10. Tax year 2026 (the return filed in early 2027).

How much tax will I pay on my RMD in 2026?

Usually more than the bracket suggests. A 73-year-old with $250,000 in an IRA must take $9,434 in 2026. For a single retiree with $30,000 of Social Security and a $20,000 pension, that RMD adds $1,872 of federal tax, 19.8% of the RMD, although the retiree is in the 12% bracket: each RMD dollar also makes 85 cents of Social Security taxable. A married couple living on $48,000 of Social Security pays $0 on the same RMD. In 18 of the 64 cases computed here the federal tax on the RMD is a larger share of it than the household's top bracket rate; in 14 it is $0.

Your RMD and the tax on it: the RMD calculator
Free: your 2026 RMD, the federal and state tax it adds, its IRMAA effect and the QCD offset, from the same engines.

The four households

Each household's other 2026 income is below; the only thing that changes across the grid is the age and the IRA balance on December 31, 2025, which set the RMD (the balance divided by the Uniform Lifetime Table divisor for the age, withdrawn rounded up to the cent). On a joint return the IRA is the older spouse's; the other spouse is two years younger.

• R1: Single, $24,000 of Social Security.
• R2: Single, $30,000 of Social Security and a $20,000 pension.
• R3: Married filing jointly, $48,000 of Social Security.
• R4: Married filing jointly, $60,000 of Social Security and $40,000 of pensions.

The federal tax on the RMD, at 75

Why the share runs above the bracket. Up to 85% of Social Security is taxable, and how much depends on the other income (IRS Publication 915). In the range where benefits are still being pulled into income, each RMD dollar is taxed and also makes up to 85 cents of benefits taxable, so a household in the 12% bracket pays about 1.85 times that rate on the RMD: $222 on the next $1,000 for the single retiree with a pension (R2, age 73, $250,000). The senior deduction new for 2026 is phased out as income rises, which adds to the same effect: the RMD phases part of it out in 20 of the 64 cases, by up to $7,920. Couples living on Social Security alone have the most room: their larger standard deduction and the senior deduction for each spouse absorb a small RMD entirely.

Medicare. The RMD also raises MAGI, which sets the Medicare IRMAA surcharge two years later; in 6 of the 64 cases it crosses into a higher tier. Figured on the 2026 tiers (CMS 2026 premiums): the 2028 tiers this MAGI is measured against are not published yet, and indexed tiers will be higher.

All 64 cases

State tax on the same RMD, every state

The state tax the RMD adds at 75 on a $1,000,000 balance (an RMD of $40,650), on top of the federal tax above. 17 jurisdictions tax none of the four. States that exempt part of retirement income, or Social Security, often tax the RMD of one household and not another. Local income taxes are not included.

Ways the tax on an RMD can be lower

A qualified charitable distribution from age 70½ counts toward the RMD and is left out of income (IRC §408(d)(8)); the QCD calculator shows what it saves against a cash gift. Roth conversions in the years before RMDs begin shrink the balance the RMD is figured on; the tax on a 2026 conversion, by state is the cost side of that trade. Withholding does not change the tax, only when it is paid: an RMD has 10% withheld by default unless you choose another rate on Form W-4R.

Related: Retirees' 2026 returns, every state · QCD vs the charitable deduction · The 2026 RMD table · Social Security tax calculator

Download the data

Every case on this page, with its inputs: rmd-tax-2026.csv (the 64 federal cases) · rmd-tax-2026-states.csv (the 204 state returns) · rmd-tax-2026.json (both, CC0). Dollar amounts in USD; shares and rates as decimals.

Questions

How much tax will I pay on my RMD in 2026?

It depends on your other income more than on the RMD. A $9,434 RMD (age 73, $250,000 IRA) adds $1,872 of federal tax for a single retiree with $30,000 of Social Security and a $20,000 pension, and $0 for a couple living on $48,000 of Social Security. A $40,650 RMD (age 75, $1,000,000) adds $4,177 for a single retiree on $24,000 of Social Security and $1,673 for the couple.

Why is the tax on my RMD higher than my tax bracket?

Because the RMD also makes Social Security taxable and can phase out the 2026 senior deduction. In the range where up to 85% of benefits are being pulled into income, each RMD dollar adds about 1.85 dollars of taxable income: 18 of the 64 cases here pay a larger share of the RMD in federal tax than their top bracket rate.

Do states tax required minimum distributions?

Most do, but not all, and many exempt part of retirement income. On a $40,650 RMD at 75, 19 jurisdictions tax a single retiree on $24,000 of Social Security nothing, and 17 tax none of the four households.

Does an RMD raise my Medicare premiums?

It can: the RMD raises the MAGI that sets the IRMAA surcharge two years later. In 6 of the 64 cases here the RMD crosses into a higher IRMAA tier, on the 2026 tiers; the 2028 tiers are not published yet.

Method and sources

Every figure was computed by QuantCalc's open tax engines (federal 2.3.1, state 1.14.2) through the same module the free RMD calculator runs: the 2026 return of each household without the RMD and with it, the difference being the tax the RMD adds. The RMD is the engine's (the balance divided by the Uniform Lifetime Table divisor for the age reached in 2026), withdrawn rounded up to the cent. Every figure on this page and in the data files was then recomputed by the C engines behind the federal and state tax APIs, from independently written requests, and agrees to the cent. Federal tax uses the IRS Tax Table below $100,000 of taxable income, as a return does. The engine documentation lists the official source of every rule; the rules this study leans on:

• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9: Life expectancy and distribution period tables
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-2: Distributions commencing during an employee's lifetime
• Publication 915, Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits
• 26 U.S. Code § 86
• 26 U.S. Code § 151
• Rev. Proc. 2025-32: 2026 inflation-adjusted items (incl. One Big Beautiful Bill amendments)
• 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles
• 26 U.S. Code § 408
• Instructions for Form 1040 (2025)

What is not modelled

• The households are illustrations, not averages. Each takes the standard deduction and has no other income than shown.
• One IRA per household, owned by the older spouse on a joint return; the spouse whose IRA it is changes the state tax in states that tax each spouse separately or cap an exclusion per person.
• The Uniform Lifetime Table only: an owner whose spouse is the sole beneficiary and more than 10 years younger uses the Joint and Last Survivor table and has a smaller RMD.
• Each pension is a private pension; a public pension is exempt or partly exempt in several states.
• IRMAA is figured on the 2026 tiers; the 2028 premiums this MAGI sets use tiers not yet published.
• Local income taxes (county, city and school-district) are not included; the local income tax study covers them.

An estimate, not tax advice. These are computed examples for the 2026 tax year from QuantCalc's open tax engines (federal 2.3.1, state 1.14.2). Your own return depends on facts these examples do not include. Check any decision with your tax preparer before acting.

@misc{quantcalc2026howmuchtaxwillyoupayonyourrmd2026require,
  title  = {How Much Tax Will You Pay on Your RMD? 2026 Required Minimum Distributions From $250,000 to $2 Million, Federal and Every State},
  author = {{QuantCalc Research}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://quantcalc.app/research/rmd-tax-2026/},
  note   = {Accessed <date>}
}