Note from APA OKC: Continuing with our posts on retirement, this article will help you be a payroll pro if you have an employee ask you about your company's retirement plan. 

If you’ll be age 70½ or older by the end of 2017, you must withdraw a minimum amount — a required minimum distribution (RMD) — from your non-Roth IRAs for 2017. Withdrawals are not required from Roth IRAs until after the owner’s death.

RMD Deadline

You must take your 2017 RMD by December 31, 2017. If you reached 70½ years of age in 2017, you can delay taking your 2017 RMD until April 1, 2018.

RMD Amount

Your 2017 RMD is your account balance as of the end of 2016 divided by a distribution period from the IRS’s “Uniform Lifetime Table.” A separate table is used if your spouse is your sole beneficiary and is 10 or more years younger than you. You can use these worksheets to calculate your RMDs.

Failure to Take Full Amount of a RMD

If you fail to take the full amount of your RMD (you can always withdraw more than the required amount), you may have to pay a 50 percent excise tax on the amount not distributed as required.

• To report the excise tax, you must file Form 5329, Additional Taxes on Qualified Plans (Including IRAs) and Other Tax-Favored Accounts.

• See the Form 5329 instructions for additional information about this tax.

Here are some additional resources:

• FAQs regarding Required Minimum Distributions – answers to common questions on these required distributions.

• Chart of Required Minimum Distributions for IRA Beneficiaries – information on when you must start withdrawing amounts from an inherited IRA.

• Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) – general information about IRAs, including benefits of contributing, annual contribution and deduction limits, and tax on withdrawals.