Which RMD table to use….

I have a spreadsheet that I’ve been using for many years, to help track client RMD’s.
I am speaking about client’s who prior to 2020, had an IRA, had already reached 70-1/2
and still need to take an RMD. To continue, in 2019, I was using that spreadsheet.

Then in 2020, there was no RMD required so I updated my spreadsheet account values and divisor
for each client but I didn’t send RMD’s to clients.

Then in 2021, I updated my spreadsheet account values and divisor and sent RMD’s out to clients without issue

This year however, when I look at what the Charles Schwab’s website shows the client RMD to be,
the RMD value on the website doesn’t come close to matching what my spreadsheet RMD amount is for each client.

What I am getting at is this, am I supposed to keep using the old uniform lifetime table (like I think I am)
for these clients or am I to be using a new RMD table?

My understanding is that the new RMD tables are for those who turn age 72 and also for those who inherited IRA or ROTH-IRA accounts in 2021 and 2022, having to use the 10-year rule going forward.

Please help me figure out which RMD table I should be using for clients who were already taking RMD’s prior to 2020.

Thank you.



  • For IRA owners, use the new Uniform Table effective in 2022. This will result in RMDs roughly 6% less than the old table. Inherited IRAs are trickier, as the new single life table should be table should be used to determine what the initial inherited IRA divisor would have been had the new tables been applicable then. That divisor is then reduced by the number of years from that initial year to 2022, and the 1.0 divisor reduction will then continue for each year after 2022. This is a one time exercise to “reset” the beneficiary RMD to what would have been applied using the new tables. Below is a link to the new tables:
  • Federal Register :: Updated Life Expectancy and Distribution Period Tables Used for Purposes of Determining Minimum Required Distributions

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