Last reviewed 25 July 2026
SECURE 2.0 raised the age for required minimum distributions twice in one section. It reads as two conditions:
Work through a 1959 birth year and both are true. Born in 1959, you turn 72 in 2031 — after the first cut-off — and you turn 74 in 2033, after the second. The statute gives two answers to the same person.
This is not a reading anyone had to strain for. Treasury noted it, and the proposed regulations (REG-103529-23) propose treating the 1959 cohort as 73.
The common phrasing is "the RMD age rises to 75 in 2033." That is a calendar-year framing, and the law is not written that way — it keys off when you were born, not what year it happens to be. The calendar framing hides the 1959 problem entirely, because it never asks which birth year you fall in.
| Born | RMD begins at | Settled? |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 or earlier | 72 | Yes |
| 1951–1958 | 73 | Yes |
| 1959 | 73 under the proposed rule | No — see above |
| 1960 or later | 75 | Yes |
If you were born in 1959 and you plan around age 75, and the rule finalises at 73, you will have missed two years of required withdrawals. The penalty for taking less than required is 25% of the shortfall — reduced to 10% if you correct it promptly. Planning around 73 and being wrong costs you nothing beyond having taken money out earlier than you had to.
The asymmetry is the whole point: one error is expensive and one is not. That is why 73 is the safer working assumption even though it is the unresolved one.
Retirement Benefit Estimator uses your birth date to pick the starting age, and flags the 1959 cohort as unsettled rather than quietly choosing for you.
Estimates and general information only — not tax, investment, or financial advice, and not a substitute for your own tax professional. Not affiliated with the IRS, the Social Security Administration, or any government agency. Tax rules change; check against current official materials before acting.