Once you reach RMD age, the IRS forces a withdrawal from tax-deferred accounts every year whether you need the money or not. The projection models that force exactly, because it's what makes "do nothing" a tax plan too.
The rules as modeled
- Start age by birth year (SECURE 2.0): 1950 or earlier → 72, 1951–1959 → 73, 1960 or later → 75.
- Amount = prior-year tax-deferred balance ÷ the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table factor for your age.
- Tax-deferred only: Roth is exempt, which is much of why conversions exist.
- Per owner: each spouse's RMD runs on their own birth year and their own tax-deferred balance, keyed by account ownership.
How RMDs interact with the plan
The forced RMD is withdrawn from tax-deferred first and counts as ordinary income; if spending needs more, the rest follows your draw order. If the RMD exceeds spending, the surplus still comes out and gets taxed. This is the classic late-70s bracket creep the RMD table lets you see coming.
RMD dollars are reported both nominal (the literal forced check) and in today's dollars. When conversions are on, the table becomes a with-vs-without comparison, so you can see the exact RMD and tax stream a conversion plan erases.