For firms with retired clients, the fourth quarter runs on one deadline: December 31. Required minimum distributions are simple to compute and easy to get wrong in practice: several IRAs, a rollover in March, a new inherited account, a client who just turned 73 or 75. RMD season outreach with a calculator lets clients check the number themselves and sends you the cases that need planning.
Why use a calculator for RMDs?
Because the arithmetic is the least valuable part of the conversation. Dividing a December 31 balance by a factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table takes seconds. What clients need from you is everything around it: which account to draw from, how much to withhold, whether to give part to charity, whether to convert some to Roth in the same year.
A calculator handles the number, so your time goes to those decisions. Try ours on the RMD calculator page.
Early October: segment your list
Pull clients who are 72 or older, or who hold inherited IRAs, and sort them:
| Segment | What they need | Calculator |
|---|---|---|
| First RMD this year | Start age and the April 1 option explained | RMD year to begin |
| Multiple IRAs | Aggregation and source account | RMD |
| Inherited IRA | Beneficiary rules, ten-year planning | Inherited IRA RMD |
| Charitably inclined | Qualified charitable distribution | Charitable giving |
| Lower-income year | Partial Roth conversion alongside the RMD | Roth conversion |
Mid-October: the first email
Short, specific and dated.
Your 2026 required minimum distribution is due by December 31. You can check the amount for each IRA on our site in a minute: [link]. If you’d like help choosing the account, setting withholding or giving part to charity, reply or use the button under the result.
Send different versions to each segment. The first-RMD group should hear about the April 1 option and its trade-off: two distributions in one tax year.
November: handle the requests
Requests arrive with the balance, age and RMD figure. A good reply:
- Confirms the figure and asks about other accounts.
- Recommends a withholding percentage, or asks for what’s needed to set it.
- Raises one planning idea that fits the segment: a QCD, a conversion, consolidation.
- Gives a date by which instructions must reach the custodian.
Custodians often have internal cut-offs well before December 31. Build those into your reply.
December: confirm and close
By mid-December, every client on your list should be marked confirmed or in progress. Call anyone still open. After the 31st, record what was taken and from where; it will matter at filing.
The planning conversations RMDs open
- Withholding. Withholding on the RMD can cover tax on other income and avoid estimated payments.
- Qualified charitable distributions. For owners 70½ or older, a QCD can satisfy part of the RMD without adding to income.
- Roth conversions. RMDs can’t themselves be converted, but conversions on top of the RMD can make sense in lower-income years.
- Consolidation. Fewer accounts, fewer mistakes.
- Beneficiaries. A good moment to review beneficiary designations, especially with the ten-year rule in mind.
Compliance notes
An RMD estimate is arithmetic. Your reply recommending a withdrawal source or a QCD is advice: tax practitioners should apply Circular 230 §10.37, and advisers their suitability and documentation standards. Keep the calculator’s disclaimer visible. See the compliance guide.
Measure for next year
Count requests per segment, completions by December 31, and new planning engagements. The segments that produced conversions deserve an earlier email next year.
