Roth Ira Distribution Calculator
To the IRS, your Roth IRA is not one pile of money: it is three. Regular contributions, converted amounts, and earnings each leave the account under different rules, and the order they leave in decides whether a withdrawal costs you anything. This calculator applies the actual IRS ordering rules to your numbers, checks the 5-year rule and the age 59½ test, and tells you exactly how much of a withdrawal is taxable, how much 10% early-withdrawal penalty applies, and what you keep after both.
Estimates use the federal ordering rules in 26 U.S.C. §408A and the 10% additional tax in §72(t). This is an educational estimate of federal treatment only: it does not model state taxes, penalty exceptions (disability, first-home purchase and the others listed below), or multiple conversions with different 5-year clocks. Report distributions on Form 8606 and confirm with a tax professional.
Quick Answer
A 62-year-old whose first Roth IRA contribution was 12 years ago can withdraw $100,000 from a $150,000 account (90,000 of contributions, 60,000 of earnings) with zero federal tax and zero penalty. The withdrawal is a qualified distribution: age 59½ and the 5-year rule are both satisfied, so the ordering rules only decide the bookkeeping ($90,000 from contributions, then $10,000 from earnings), not the tax bill.
The 60-second version of the whole page: contributions always come out first and are always free; conversions come out second and face the 10% penalty only if withdrawn within five years before age 59½; earnings come out last and are the only layer that can be taxed. Run your own numbers in the calculator above.
Key takeaways
- Every Roth IRA distribution follows the same mandatory sequence: regular contributions first, then converted amounts (oldest first), then earnings. You cannot choose which layer a withdrawal comes from.
- Withdraw up to your lifetime contributions at any age, for any reason, with no tax and no penalty. That is why the ordering rules matter more than the 59½ rule for most people.
- A distribution is qualified (earnings fully tax-free) only when the 5-year account clock AND one qualifying event, usually age 59½, are both satisfied.
- Two different 5-year clocks exist: one account clock that runs once, and a separate clock for each conversion that governs the 10% penalty on converted principal.
- Roth IRA owners face no required minimum distributions during their lifetime, a genuine edge over Traditional IRAs and 401(k)s.
- Quick Answer
- How to use this calculator
- The IRS ordering rules, explained
- The two different 5-year rules
- Worked example: three withdrawals, three tax bills
- What competing calculators get wrong
- No required minimum distributions for owners
- Penalty exceptions worth knowing
- Frequently asked questions
- Add This Calculator to Your Website
- References
How to use this calculator
Fill in the eight fields, then press Calculate distribution. The inputs mirror exactly what the IRS cares about: your age and how long the account has existed decide whether the distribution is qualified, while the balance, contributions, conversions and withdrawal amount decide which tax layers the withdrawal reaches.
Three conveniences worth knowing: leave Your marginal federal tax rate blank and the tool uses 22%, the most common bracket; leave the conversion fields blank and it treats conversions as zero with a satisfied 5-year clock; and earnings are computed as balance minus contributions minus conversions (floored at zero), which is how the tool derives the third layer from your numbers.
If you enter an age, balance or withdrawal that is not above zero, or a withdrawal larger than the balance, the calculator tells you exactly which entry to fix instead of guessing. Press Reset to restore the worked example. Copy my results and Share results sit inside the results box so you can keep or send the breakdown.
The IRS ordering rules, explained
The ordering rules are the single most valuable thing to understand about Roth IRA withdrawals, because they are heavily tilted in your favor. When you take any distribution, the IRS deems the dollars to leave in this fixed sequence, whatever you actually intended to spend.
| Tier | What leaves first | Tax treatment | 10% penalty treatment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Regular contributions | Never taxed, at any age | Never penalized |
| 2 | Converted and rollover amounts, oldest first | Never taxed again (you paid at conversion) | 10% penalty if withdrawn within 5 years of that conversion and you are under 59½ |
| 3 | Earnings (growth, dividends, interest) | Taxed as ordinary income unless the distribution is qualified | 10% penalty unless qualified or a penalty exception applies |
The practical payoff: if you contributed $90,000 over the years and your account is now worth $150,000, you can withdraw up to $90,000 without touching the tax rules at all. Only the remaining $60,000 of earnings ever reaches the qualified-distribution tests. The IRS also treats every Roth IRA you own as a single combined account for these tiers, so you cannot wall off one account from the ordering.
One simplification this calculator makes, stated openly: the IRS tracks each conversion on its own 5-year clock and pulls them out oldest-first (FIFO), with the taxable portion of each conversion ahead of its nontaxable portion. The tool models your conversions as one amount with one clock, which is exact for the common case of a single conversion or conversions all made more than five years ago, and approximate when you have stacked several recent conversions.
The two different 5-year rules
Confusing the two clocks is the most expensive Roth withdrawal mistake, and most online calculators only mention one of them. They answer different questions.
| Account clock | Conversion clocks | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts | January 1 of the tax year of your first contribution to any Roth IRA | January 1 of the tax year of each individual conversion |
| Runs | Once, ever | Separately for every conversion |
| Decides | Whether earnings can come out tax-free (with a qualifying event) | Whether the 10% penalty hits converted principal withdrawn before age 59½ |
| After 59½ | Earnings still taxable until this clock finishes | No penalty on converted principal regardless of the clock |
So a 65-year-old with a two-year-old Roth IRA owes ordinary income tax on the earnings portion of a withdrawal (no penalty), while a 45-year-old who converted money four years ago and now withdraws that converted principal owes the 10% penalty on it (no new tax, since the conversion was taxed when made). The calculator above models both clocks and shows you which one bites in your case.
Worked example: three withdrawals, three tax bills
Take a $150,000 account holding $90,000 of lifetime contributions and $60,000 of earnings, with no conversions. The owner withdraws $100,000 at a 22% marginal rate. The ordering is identical in all three cases ($90,000 from contributions, then $10,000 from earnings); what changes is the tax treatment of that $10,000 earnings slice.
| Scenario | Status | Federal tax | 10% penalty | Net received |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age 62, account 12 years old | Qualified: fully tax-free | $0.00 | $0.00 | $100,000.00 |
| Age 45, account 3 years old | Non-qualified: partly taxable | $2,200.00 | $1,000.00 | $96,800.00 |
| Age 45, account 3 years old, but only $80,000 withdrawn | Non-qualified: partly taxable | $0.00 | $0.00 | $80,000.00 |
The third row is the one most people miss: withdrawing only what you contributed never reaches the earnings layer, so even a technically non-qualified distribution can cost nothing. That is why keeping a running total of lifetime contributions matters more than watching the calendar.
Now add conversions. A 40-year-old holds $100,000: $30,000 of contributions, $20,000 of converted principal (converted two years ago), $50,000 of earnings. She withdraws $60,000 at a 24% rate. Ordering pulls $30,000 from contributions, $20,000 from the conversion, and $10,000 from earnings. Tax: $10,000 of earnings at 24% = $2,400. Penalty: 10% on the $10,000 earnings slice plus 10% on the $20,000 converted amount (within its 5-year clock, under 59½) = $3,000. Net: $54,600. Enter those numbers in the calculator and you will reproduce every figure.
What competing calculators get wrong
I tested the usual Roth withdrawal tools against the same numbers. Most of them ask only for your age and the withdrawal amount, which means they cannot answer the question at all: without the contributions-versus-earnings split, any tax estimate is a guess. The common failures, and what this page does instead:
- Ignoring the ordering rules entirely. Several tools tax a flat percentage of the whole withdrawal. The IRS never does that: it taxes at most the earnings slice, after contributions and conversions are exhausted. This calculator applies the three tiers explicitly and shows each one.
- One 5-year clock instead of two. Tools that mention only the account clock give wrong penalty answers on conversions. This page models the conversion clock separately and tells you when the converted amount itself triggers the 10% penalty.
- No conversion inputs. Conversion-heavy accounts are exactly where penalties hide, yet most calculators have no conversion field. Ours takes converted principal and its clock as first-class inputs.
- Vague qualified/non-qualified verdicts. A tool that says "non-qualified" without splitting tax from penalty leaves you guessing. Here you get the status badge, the federal tax line, the penalty line, and the net you keep, all itemized.
- Silent on RMDs. Roth IRA owners face no required minimum distributions during their lifetime, which changes withdrawal strategy versus Traditional accounts, but few tools say so. It is covered in its own section below.
If you are deciding whether to create the converted layer in the first place, our IRA conversion to Roth calculator models the tax cost of converting from a Traditional IRA. And if your question is the other side of the same account, how fast it can grow before you ever withdraw, the Roth IRA investment calculator projects the tax-free balance from your contributions and expected return.
No required minimum distributions for owners
Unlike Traditional IRAs and 401(k)s, Roth IRAs impose no required minimum distributions during the owner's lifetime, at any age. You can leave the balance compounding untouched, withdraw strategically in low-income years, or pass the account on. That is a structural advantage, not a loophole: the contributions were already taxed, so the government has no deferred tax revenue to force out.
Beneficiaries are a different story. People who inherit a Roth IRA follow separate inherited-account distribution rules (most non-spouse beneficiaries face the SECURE Act 10-year payout window), which is a separate planning topic. Our TSP RMD calculator shows how the forced-distribution math works on the Traditional side for comparison.
Penalty exceptions worth knowing
The 10% early-withdrawal penalty on the taxable portion of a non-qualified distribution is not absolute. The main exceptions include disability, a first-home purchase (up to $10,000 of earnings, lifetime), unreimbursed medical expenses above 7.5% of adjusted gross income, substantially equal periodic payments under §72(t), qualified birth or adoption distributions (up to $5,000), and certain higher-education expenses for IRAs.
Two cautions. First, exceptions generally waive the penalty, not the income tax: non-qualified earnings stay taxable. Second, the calculator above does not apply exceptions automatically, because claiming one is a tax-filing decision (reported on Form 5329), not an arithmetic one. The notes under your results flag when a penalty was assessed so you can check whether an exception applies to you.
This page is for education only and is not tax advice. Most non-qualified distributions are reported on IRS Form 8606, which tracks your basis (contributions and conversions) and computes the taxable and penalty portions, and your custodian will send you Form 1099-R. Keep lifetime contribution records across every provider: in an audit, the burden of proving your basis is on you.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Regular contributions come out first under IRS ordering rules and are always tax-free and penalty-free, at any age and regardless of how long the account has been open, because you already paid tax on that money. Only when a withdrawal exceeds your lifetime contributions and conversions does it reach the earnings layer, where the qualified-distribution tests apply.
Two conditions must both be met: the 5-year account clock has run (measured from January 1 of the tax year of your first contribution to any Roth IRA) and you are 59½ or older, disabled, or meet another qualifying event such as death or a first-home purchase. When both hold, even the earnings come out completely tax-free and penalty-free.
Two. The account clock runs once from your first Roth IRA contribution and governs whether earnings are tax-free. Each conversion starts its own separate clock, which governs whether the 10% early-withdrawal penalty applies to converted principal withdrawn within five years before age 59½. After 59½, the conversion clocks no longer matter.
No, not during the owner's lifetime. Roth IRA owners face no RMDs at any age, unlike Traditional IRA and 401(k) owners. Beneficiaries who inherit a Roth IRA follow separate inherited-account distribution rules, which most non-spouse beneficiaries must complete within ten years under the SECURE Act.
Common exceptions include disability, a first-home purchase (up to $10,000 of earnings, lifetime), unreimbursed medical expenses above 7.5% of adjusted gross income, substantially equal periodic payments, qualified birth or adoption distributions (up to $5,000), and certain higher-education expenses. Exceptions remove the penalty but generally not the income tax on non-qualified earnings.
No. You already paid income tax when you converted, so the converted principal is not taxed again on withdrawal. However, withdrawing it within five years of the conversion before age 59½ triggers the 10% early-withdrawal penalty on that amount, which this calculator assesses separately from any tax on earnings.
Most non-qualified distributions are reported on IRS Form 8606, which tracks your basis (contributions and conversions) and computes the taxable and penalty portions. Your custodian will also send you Form 1099-R showing the gross distribution. Keep lifetime contribution records across every provider, since the IRS expects you to substantiate your basis.
No. It estimates federal income tax on the earnings portion using the marginal rate you enter, and the federal 10% early-withdrawal penalty. State treatment of Roth distributions varies, so check your state's rules separately before relying on the net figure for planning.
Add This Calculator to Your Website
Embed this calculator on your own site with the code below. Pick a size to preview it live, then copy the code.
Powered by Calculator Zilo
References
- Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 451, Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service. Roth Comparison Chart. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Cornell Legal Information Institute. 26 U.S.C. § 408A – Roth IRAs (ordering rules and qualified distributions). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Cornell Legal Information Institute. 26 U.S.C. § 72(t) – Additional Tax on Early Distributions. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8606, Nondeductible IRAs. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service. IR-2025-111: 401(k) limit increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA limit increases to $7,500. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-A (2025), Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Beneficiary (inherited IRA distribution rules). Accessed October 23, 2026.