Can I take my RMDs from just one retirement account?

Sometimes, but not across every retirement account. For your own traditional IRAs, calculate each account's required minimum distribution separately; you can generally withdraw the combined IRA requirement from one or more of those IRAs. A 401(k) requirement must be satisfied from that plan. Taking enough dollars in total is not enough if they came from the wrong account group.

I would make the account map before placing a withdrawal order. One provider may show several accounts on the same screen without giving them the same distribution rules.

Separate the owner and account types

List the owner, institution, account type, identifying reference and relevant year for every account. Distinguish your own IRA from an inherited account and a traditional IRA from a former employer's plan.

The IRS RMD FAQ distinguishes permitted IRA aggregation from the separate requirements for plans such as 401(k)s. It also describes a separate aggregation provision for 403(b) contracts; that does not make every employer plan interchangeable.

Do not combine spouses' withdrawals because the household shares a checking account. Establish the requirement for the actual owner and account. An amount received by one person does not automatically satisfy another person's retirement-account obligation.

Inherited accounts, annuity arrangements and other special situations require their own current review. This guide's worked case concerns an original owner's ordinary traditional IRAs and a former employer's entirely pretax 401(k), not those special cases.

Calculate first, then choose where to withdraw

For each relevant account, obtain the correct prior-year-end balance and applicable distribution factor. Confirm the table that applies to the owner's circumstances. Then calculate the individual requirement before combining only the amounts the rules permit you to combine.

IRS Publication 590-B's lifetime-distribution discussion explains using the end-of-2025 balance and applicable age factor for 2026. It distinguishes the Uniform Lifetime Table from the table for a sole-beneficiary spouse more than ten years younger.

A balance shown in today's app is not automatically the balance the annual calculation uses. Nor should you reuse last year's factor merely because the institution's old notice is easy to find.

Retain the statement and calculation for each account. If an administrator provides a requirement, check which account and year it covers and what assumptions it used. A calculation for one IRA is not necessarily a calculation for every IRA you own elsewhere.

An original three-account record for 2026

Consider a wholly fictional unmarried retiree who turns 75 in 2026. This is not the person's first RMD year, and no earlier-year distribution remains due. There are no inherited accounts, Roth holdings, annuity purchases, outstanding rollovers or other special adjustments in the case.

The person's own traditional IRA A had $147,600 at the end of December 31, 2025. Traditional IRA B had $98,400. A former employer's pretax 401(k) had $123,000.

The supplied facts place the owner under the Uniform Lifetime calculation, using the published age-75 factor of 24.6. The former plan's administrator has confirmed the same applicable factor and $123,000 calculation base for its ordinary requirement.

These balances are original teaching inputs, not actual accounts or a recommendation about how much retirement money to hold. They are chosen so the calculations divide exactly.

IRA A's requirement is $6,000: $147,600 divided by 24.6. IRA B's is $4,000: $98,400 divided by 24.6. Their combined IRA requirement is therefore $10,000.

The 401(k) requirement is $5,000: $123,000 divided by 24.6. It stays in its own group. The file contains $15,000 of total requirements, but not one freely interchangeable $15,000 withdrawal requirement.

Keep calculations and withdrawals separate

Scroll across to compare calculated requirements with amounts already withdrawn. Every listed withdrawal is a completed gross cash distribution for 2026 in this fictional record.

IRA A has distributed $1,000 more than its individual $6,000 calculation, while B has distributed $3,000 less than its $4,000 calculation. Because these own-IRA requirements may be aggregated, the remaining IRA-group shortfall is $2,000, not $3,000.

The $7,000 and $1,000 are actual gross distributions in the case, not transfer requests or sale orders awaiting settlement. There is no withholding, fee, charitable payment or other deduction in these supplied transactions. That simplifying assumption is not a claim about required tax elections.

The 401(k) has distributed only $2,000 against its separate $5,000 requirement, leaving $3,000 still to be taken from that plan.

Finish each group from the right source

One permitted completion route in the example is another $2,000 from IRA A, plus $3,000 from the 401(k). Assume both complete in time under their actual applicable procedures.

IRA A then has distributed $9,000 and B $1,000, totaling the $10,000 IRA requirement. The 401(k) has distributed $5,000. Both groups are complete under the supplied facts.

The person could instead obtain the additional $2,000 IRA amount from IRA B, or split it between those two IRAs, provided the transactions otherwise meet the relevant requirements. Taking every calculated account amount from its own IRA is not necessary in this permitted group.

This flexibility does not mean you can omit B from the calculation. Its $4,000 requirement remains part of the $10,000 total even if A supplies all the dollars used to satisfy it.

Choose the actual transaction route with attention to available assets, account procedures, costs and the broader investment plan. The permission to aggregate does not establish which holding you should sell or that one institution's process is faster.

A matching grand total can still be wrong

For a separate alternative from the beginning, suppose the person withdraws $15,000 from IRA A and nothing from IRA B or the 401(k).

The IRA group has received $15,000 against a $10,000 requirement, or $5,000 more than required. But the 401(k) has received zero against its $5,000 requirement. Its shortfall is still $5,000.

The grand total withdrawn equals the grand total calculated: $15,000. The source allocation is nevertheless wrong for satisfying both groups. A spreadsheet that checks only its total row would miss the problem.

Do not relabel part of the IRA withdrawal as a 401(k) distribution. The actual source record governs what happened. Nor can you assume the IRA overage can be credited against the 401(k) because both institutions issued tax documents.

The IRS comparison chart also states that excess withdrawals cannot be applied to a future year's RMD. An extra amount this year is not a prepaid coupon that removes next year's calculation.

Verify completion before the relevant deadline

For this ordinary subsequent-year 2026 case, the applicable annual deadline is December 31, 2026. First-year timing and special circumstances need their own review; do not borrow an April deadline from someone else's first RMD.

Work backward from the administrator's actual processing requirements. If investments must be sold or instructions verified, make room for those steps. No universal processing duration is supplied here, and a form submitted at the last minute does not prove the required distribution completed.

Keep requested, pending and completed amounts in separate statuses. If a custodian confirms a transaction failed, restore the relevant amount to the remaining requirement and obtain the appropriate next step promptly. Do not preserve a finished label because an earlier email acknowledged the request.

Likewise, check automatic-withdrawal arrangements across institutions. One account's automatic calculation may cover only that account. Another account may also be scheduled to distribute, creating a different result from the manual plan you just made.

A responsible person should reconcile the combined file, rather than assume every institution knows the others' holdings and instructions. The IRS FAQ makes the owner responsible for taking the correct amount despite an institution's calculation assistance.

A transfer is not the distribution you need

Moving assets between retirement accounts is a different transaction from taking a required distribution out. Do not count an internal investment sale or a same-owner account movement as a completed RMD merely because money changed location.

The 401(k) rollover guide addresses eligible rollover amounts and expressly excludes RMDs. The IRS FAQ states that required minimum amounts cannot be rolled over into another tax-deferred account.

If an account transfer, rollover or other change occurs around the distribution, establish the actual sequencing and requirements with the relevant administrators and qualified reviewer. Do not improvise a correction by treating a prior movement as whichever transaction the remaining spreadsheet needs.

Keep gross distribution and bank receipt distinguishable in the actual records. If withholding or charges exist, use the administrator's distribution confirmation and proper treatment; do not substitute a smaller bank deposit for the entire account transaction without investigating the difference.

Leave a record that works at year-end

The final file should show the owner, account types, calculation year, supporting balance dates, applicable factors, individual calculations, permitted aggregation groups and completed qualifying distributions. Retain the original calculation when a correction is made.

For the completed main example, the useful result is specific: $10,000 distributed from the permitted own-IRA group and $5,000 from the former employer's 401(k). No group remains short under the stated facts. The file makes no finding about the person's complete tax bill or sustainable retirement spending.

If a shortfall or missed deadline is discovered, get current guidance and appropriate help promptly. Correction and possible relief require their actual conditions; neither silence nor an extra withdrawal from the wrong account fixes the record automatically.