72(t) SEPP calculator

A 72(t) series of substantially equal periodic payments (often written 72t) lets you take money out of an IRA or 401(k) before 59½ without the 10% additional tax, if the amount is set by one of the three methods in IRS Notice 2022-6 and then left alone. This calculator gives all three amounts side by side, uses the life-expectancy tables and mortality rates in force since 2022, looks up the interest-rate ceiling from the revenue ruling for your start month, and shows the date before which the series may not change.

2022 life-expectancy tables and the AFR history through 2026-09 checked against the official publications, last on 2026-09-10 Runs in your browser — nothing you type is sent to this site's servers or to its analytics No sign-up Methodology and data status

The three methods

1. Required minimum distribution method. Each year's payment is the account balance divided by the life expectancy for your age that year from the chosen table. The balance, the age and therefore the payment change every year; that is not a modification.
2. Fixed amortization method. The balance is amortized over the life expectancy for your age in the first year at a permitted interest rate, like a level loan payment: balance ÷ [(1 − (1 + i)⁻ⁿ) ÷ i], with n the life expectancy in years and payments at the end of each year. The amount never changes.
3. Fixed annuitization method. The balance is divided by an annuity factor — the present value of $1 a year for as long as you live, from the mortality rates in Treas. Reg. §1.401(a)(9)-9(e) at the permitted rate. The amount never changes.

The IRS's worked example — a 50-year-old with $400,000 and a 4% rate — reproduced by this calculator: RMD method $11,050 (divisor 36.2000); fixed amortization $21,102 (divisor 18.9559); fixed annuitization $22,030 (divisor 18.1568).

The other rules that matter

• Tables. The Single Life Table gives the largest payment; the Uniform Lifetime Table (extended down to age 10 by the Notice for this purpose) and the Joint and Last Survivor Table with your designated beneficiary give smaller ones. Whichever table starts the RMD method must be used every year after.
• Interest rate. Not more than the greater of 5% and 120% of the federal mid-term rate for either of the two months before the first payment (Notice 2022-6 §3.02(c)). Each ruling prints that rate for annual, semiannual, quarterly and monthly compounding; the Notice does not say which to use, and this calculator uses the annual figure, the usual reading for a series computed as an annual amount. The calculator carries every month's row from 2021-01 to 2026-09 (Rev. Rul. 2026-17).
• Account balance. Any date from December 31 of the previous year to the first payment is reasonable for the fixed methods; the RMD method uses the prior December 31 balance each year.
• The window. The series must continue until the later of five years after the first payment and age 59½ (six months after the 59th birthday; a day that does not exist in the target month becomes its last day). Before that, changing the amount, adding to the account or taking any other distribution is a modification: the 10% tax applies to every payment made so far, plus interest. Notice 2022-6 §3.02(e) also treats a transfer of part of the balance to another plan as a modification; §72(t)(4)(C), added for transfers after 2023, says a transfer or rollover to another plan is not one if the combined distributions from both continue unchanged — the two documents differ, and a transfer mid-series deserves professional advice.
• The one permitted change. A series started under either fixed method may switch once to the RMD method; after that, no further change. Exhausting the account is not a modification.
• Beneficiary. The Joint and Last Survivor Table, and a joint annuitization, must use the actual designated beneficiary as of January 1 of the year, the oldest if there are several; if that beneficiary is eliminated, the Single Life Table applies from the next year (Notice 2022-6 §3.02(b)).
• Commencement and tax. The series begins on the date of the first payment and must begin in the calendar year the amount was computed for; the annual amount may be taken in monthly or quarterly installments without recomputation. The payments are ordinary income — the exception removes only the 10% additional tax.
• Employer plans. Payments from a 401(k) or 403(b) qualify only after separation from service; IRAs have no such requirement. One series per account; balances cannot be combined.

Sources

Life-expectancy tables: verified · last verified 2026-09-10. AFR history: verified. See the methodology page.

Questions this page answers

What interest rate can a 72(t) calculation use?

Under Notice 2022-6 the fixed amortization and fixed annuitization methods may use any rate up to the greater of 5% and 120% of the federal mid-term applicable federal rate for either of the two months immediately before the month of the first payment. The rates are published monthly in an IRS revenue ruling; the calculator looks up both months for the start month you enter.

How long must 72(t) payments continue?

Until the later of five years after the first payment and the date you reach 59½. Changing the amount before then, adding money to the account or taking any other distribution from it is a modification, and the 10% additional tax is charged on every payment taken so far, with interest.

Which 72(t) method gives the largest payment?

Usually the fixed annuitization method, followed closely by fixed amortization, both at the maximum permitted rate and with the Single Life Table. The RMD method gives the smallest first payment but recomputes every year, so it rises if the account grows. The IRS's own example for a 50-year-old with $400,000 at 4% gives $11,050, $21,102 and $22,030.

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