Do Roth IRAs Have RMDs?

Cardio Renal Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity organization. Your donation advances our mission to provide a solution beyond dialysis.

No. A Roth IRA has no required minimum distributions for its owner — not at 73, not at 83, not ever, in her lifetime. The IRS never forces a dollar out of your Roth IRA while you are alive to own it. That is the whole answer, and it is also why the Roth is treasured by everyone who holds one. Since 2024 the same is true of a designated Roth account inside a workplace plan — a Roth 401(k) — which used to follow the old forced-withdrawal rules until the SECURE 2.0 law removed them. The reason is built into the design: with a Roth, the tax was paid on the way in, so the IRS has nothing left to collect on the way out, and no schedule to enforce.

The Account Sitting Next to It Plays by Opposite Rules

The reason this question gets asked so often is that most savers hold a traditional IRA too — and the traditional IRA is the Roth's mirror image. There, the tax was postponed during the working years, and the IRS collects on the way out, on its schedule: required withdrawals begin at age 73 (at age 75 if you were born in 1960 or later), every dollar out is taxed as income, and it makes no difference whether you need the money or not. The full walk-through of how those forced withdrawals work is here: what is a required minimum distribution (RMD)?

That asymmetry decides something practical that surprises people. The most efficient giving move in the retirement accounts — the qualified charitable distribution, sending money straight from an IRA to a charity so it satisfies the required withdrawal without ever being taxed — lives entirely on the traditional side. It works precisely because the traditional IRA's withdrawals would otherwise be taxed. From a Roth there is no tax to avoid: qualified Roth withdrawals are already tax-free, so the charity door that matters is the one on your traditional IRA. Give from the account the IRS is taxing, and keep the Roth whole. (If you are still adding to a Roth, the companion question — how much you may put in — is answered here: what are the Roth IRA limits?)

The One Place the Clock Returns: Whoever Inherits Your Roth

The no-forced-withdrawals promise is made to the owner only. Whoever inherits your Roth IRA generally must empty it within ten years of your death — the same outer deadline that applies to inherited traditional IRAs. But the inheritance is a gentle one: no yearly withdrawals are required along the way, so most beneficiaries leave the account untouched and growing until the tenth year, and the money generally comes out tax-free, just as it would have for you. Of all the accounts a person can leave behind, a Roth is the kindest — the tax was settled long ago, by you, so it never lands on them.

Why This Foundation

If the charity door on the traditional side is one you choose, here is this Foundation's answer, in one paragraph. The Cardio Renal Foundation exists for the people living with kidney and heart disease, and its conviction is plain: dialysis should not be a life sentence. The gifts that arrive here keep a library of plain-words health articles and a shelf of free everyday tools — grocery lists, calendars, recipe boxes — free for the seniors who rely on them, and they carry forward the work of finding a way beyond dialysis. A qualified charitable distribution has one more virtue worth naming: because no tax is taken out of it on its way, the full amount you send is the amount that arrives — every dollar of it goes straight to work.

Stated Plainly

Stated plainly, because a money page owes you the same honesty as any other kind: this page explains how the rules work in general. It is not advice about your return. Your own picture — other income, a workplace plan, state taxes, a spouse's separate accounts — can change the details, and a qualified tax advisor who knows your situation is the right referee for your own numbers. And what can be checked, check: our legal name is Cardio Renal Foundation Inc, our EIN is 33-4359765, and we are a qualified 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization — verifiable in the IRS records by anyone, in about three minutes, and we would rather you checked than took our word.

A Roth is the rare account that asks nothing of you — the planning lives on the traditional side of the shelf. Questions reach a person here, at donations@cardiorenalfoundation.org or (646) 770-3946.

This article is informational only and is not tax, legal, or financial advice. Charitable giving and tax rules change and depend on your individual circumstances; consult a qualified tax advisor or attorney about your own situation.