Roth IRA Withdrawal Rules: What Comes Out Tax-Free
Roth IRA regular contributions can be withdrawn at any time without income tax or the 10% additional tax. Earnings come out tax-free only as a qualified distribution: after the 5-year period beginning with the first tax year for which a contribution was made to a Roth IRA set up for your benefit, and at age 59½ or older, disabled, after death, or for a first home (up to $10,000). A withdrawal that isn't qualified is taken in order: regular contributions first, then conversions, then earnings.
Maintained by Archie Chang · Rules checked against IRS guidance and the regulations November 7, 2026 · Methodology & sources
General information, not tax advice. FedRateCalc is an independent site and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of the Treasury or any plan administrator. Your plan document, your Form 1099-R and your plan administrator are authoritative.
Roth IRA withdrawal rules at a glance: what is taxed and what is penalized
| What you withdraw | Income tax | 10% additional tax |
|---|---|---|
| Regular contributions, at any time | Not included in income | No |
| Conversion or rollover amount, after its own 5-year period or at age 59½ or older | Not included in income | No |
| Conversion or rollover amount, within its own 5-year period and before age 59½ | Not again: it was included in income when you converted | Yes, on the part you had to include in income, unless an exception applies |
| Earnings in a qualified distribution | Not included in income | No |
| Earnings, not a qualified distribution, before age 59½ | Included in income | Yes, unless an exception applies |
| Earnings, not a qualified distribution, at age 59½ or older | Included in income | No: the age exception applies |
| Earnings used for a first home, up to $10,000, not a qualified distribution | Included in income | No: the first-home exception applies |
Based on IRS Publication 590-B (2025) and the IRS exceptions chart. A withdrawal can mix these layers; the ordering rules below decide which layer a dollar comes from.
What is a qualified Roth IRA distribution?
You don't include in your gross income qualified distributions or distributions that are a return of your regular contributions from your Roth IRA(s).
A qualified distribution is any payment or distribution from your Roth IRA that meets both of these requirements.
1. It is made after the 5-year period beginning with the first tax year for which a contribution was made to a Roth IRA set up for your benefit. 2. The payment or distribution is: a. Made on or after the date you reach age 59½, b. Made because you are disabled (defined earlier), c. Made to a beneficiary or to your estate after your death, or d. One that meets the requirements listed under First home under Exceptions in chapter 1 (up to a $10,000 lifetime limit).
So the 5-year period and one of the four events both have to be met. The period starts with the first tax year for which a contribution was made to a Roth IRA set up for your benefit. It is separate from the conversion periods described below.
Order of Roth IRA withdrawals: contributions, conversions, earnings
There is a set order in which contributions (including conversion contributions and rollover contributions from qualified retirement plans) and earnings are considered to be distributed from your Roth IRA.
- Regular contributions.
- Conversion and rollover contributions, first-in, first-out (generally the earliest year first). Within each, the taxable portion (the amount included in gross income because of the conversion or rollover) comes out first, then the nontaxable portion.
- Earnings on contributions.
This is why you can reach your own contributions before any earnings are touched. If a distribution isn't qualified, part of it may be taxable, and the earnings layer is where income tax and the 10% additional tax usually land.
Roth conversion 5-year rule for the 10% additional tax
Each conversion (and each rollover from a qualified retirement plan) has its own 5-year period, which starts on the first day of the tax year in which you converted. If you take a distribution from the Roth IRA within that period, you may owe the 10% additional tax on the part of the converted amount that you had to include in income.
The 5-year period used for determining whether the 10% additional tax on early distributions applies to a distribution from a conversion or rollover contribution, is separately determined for each conversion and rollover, and isn't necessarily the same as the 5-year period used for determining whether a distribution is a qualified distribution.
For example, if a calendar-year taxpayer makes a conversion contribution on February 25, 2025, and makes a regular contribution for 2024 on the same date, the 5-year period for the conversion begins January 1, 2025, while the 5-year period for the regular contribution begins on January 1, 2024.
You must pay the 10% additional tax in the year of the distribution, even if you had included the conversion or rollover contribution in an earlier year.
The exceptions in the table below can remove the 10% additional tax from a conversion withdrawal as well. For how conversions are made, see backdoor Roth IRA, and for who can contribute directly, the Roth IRA contribution limits page.
Early Roth IRA withdrawal penalty: when the 10% additional tax applies
Early Roth IRA withdrawal penalty means the 10% additional tax on early distributions. It applies to the taxable part of a distribution that isn't a qualified distribution, unless an exception applies. It comes on top of regular income tax on any earnings you include.
You must also pay the 10% additional tax on any portion of the distribution attributable to earnings on contributions.
Two things can keep an early withdrawal from being penalized. One is time: after the 5-year period and with one of the qualifying events, the distribution is qualified. The other is an exception, such as the first-home exception for up to $10,000 or the age 59½ exception.
Even if you are under age 59½, you don't have to pay the 10% additional tax on up to $10,000 of distributions you receive to buy, build, or rebuild a first home.
Exceptions to the 10% additional tax on IRA withdrawals
The IRS chart (page last reviewed December 11, 2025) lists these exceptions for IRAs. Each one removes the 10% additional tax, not income tax. Individuals must pay an additional 10% early withdrawal tax unless an exception applies, and Form 5329 reports it.
| Exception | The 10% additional tax does not apply (IRS wording) | Code section |
|---|---|---|
| Age | after participant/IRA owner reaches age 59½ | 72(t)(2)(A)(i) |
| Birth or adoption | distributions up to $5,000 per child for qualified birth or adoption expenses | 72(t)(2)(H) |
| Death | after death of the participant/IRA owner | 72(t)(2)(A)(ii) |
| Disability | total and permanent disability of the participant/IRA owner | 72(t)(2)(A)(iii) |
| Disaster recovery distribution | up to $22,000 to qualified individuals who sustain an economic loss by reason of a federally declared disaster where they live | 72(t)(2)(M), 72(t)(11) |
| Domestic abuse victim distribution | to a victim of domestic abuse by a spouse or domestic partner, up to the lesser of $10,000 or 50% of account (distributions made after 12/31/2023) | 72(t)(2)(K) |
| Education | qualified higher education expenses | 72(t)(2)(E) |
| Emergency personal expense | one distribution per calendar year for personal or family emergency expenses, up to the lesser of $1,000 or vested account balance over $1,000 (made after 12/31/2023) | 72(t)(2)(I) |
| Equal payments | series of substantially equal payments | 72(t)(2)(A)(iv) |
| Homebuyers | qualified first-time homebuyers, up to $10,000 | 72(t)(2)(F) |
| Levy | because of an IRS levy of the plan | 72(t)(2)(A)(vii) |
| Medical | amount of unreimbursed medical expenses (>7.5% AGI) | 72(t)(2)(B) 213(a) |
| Medical | health insurance premiums paid while unemployed | 72(t)(2)(D) |
| Military | certain distributions to qualified military reservists called to active duty | 72(t)(2)(G) |
| Returned IRA contributions | if withdrawn by extended due date of return, not including earnings on these returned contributions | 408(d)(4) |
| Rollovers | in-plan Roth rollovers or eligible distributions contributed to another retirement plan or IRA within 60 days (also see FAQs: Waivers of the 60-day rollover requirement ) | 402(c), 402A(d)(3), 403(a)(4), 403(b)(8), 408(d)(3), 408A(d)(3) |
| Unemployed health insurance | distributions equal to the amount paid for family health insurance by an individual who was unemployed for 12 weeks and received unemployment compensation in the year of the distribution or the subsequent year | 72(t)(2)(D) |
Publication 590-B (2025) also lists “You have been certified as having a terminal illness” among the exceptions for a traditional IRA, a case the IRS chart marks n/a for IRAs. Some chart rows are for other plans: for example, distributions from a SIMPLE IRA plan within the first 2 years of participation incur a 25% additional tax instead of 10%.
Traditional IRA withdrawal rules (IRA withdrawal rules)
You must include early distributions of taxable amounts from your traditional IRA in your gross income. Early distributions are also subject to a 10% additional tax, as discussed later.
- Income tax. You include early distributions of taxable amounts from your traditional IRA in your gross income, which is what the sentence above says. Publication 590-B explains how nondeductible contributions are treated.
- Age 59½. After you reach age 59½ you can receive distributions without the 10% additional tax, though the income tax remains.
- Required minimum distributions. They must start by April 1 of the year after you reach your applicable age: 73 if you were born in 1951 through 1958, and 75 if you were born in 1960 or later (26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-2(b)(2)). The regulation reserves 1959; the RMD calculator treats 1959 as 73. The 2027 RMD table covers the amounts. A beneficiary who inherits an IRA follows different post-death rules: see the inherited IRA distribution calculator.
After you reach age 59½, you can receive distributions without having to pay the 10% additional tax.
Early IRA withdrawal penalty on a traditional IRA
Generally, if you are under age 59½, you must pay a 10% additional tax on the distribution of any assets (money or other property) from your traditional IRA.
The 10% additional tax applies to the part of the distribution you have to include in gross income, and it is in addition to regular income tax. The exceptions table above applies to traditional IRAs too, for example unreimbursed medical expenses over 7.5% of AGI, disability, a first-time home purchase of up to $10,000, and one emergency personal expense distribution per calendar year. Notice 2024-55 says an IRA is eligible to permit an emergency personal expense distribution.
Roth IRA withdrawal calculator: tax and penalty by layer
Splits a withdrawal in the Publication 590-B order (regular contributions, then conversions oldest first, then earnings) and shows which part is taxed and which part gets the 10% additional tax, for tax year 2026. A conversion amount is the part you included in income when you converted. The tool assumes the account holds enough earnings to cover the rest and that none of the $10,000 first-home limit was used before. It is an estimate, not tax advice.
Conversions (optional)
Choose “Another IRA exception” only if it covers the whole withdrawal. Exceptions with a dollar cap, such as birth or adoption ($5,000) or an emergency expense ($1,000), and medical expenses above 7.5% of AGI, cover only part of it, so check the exceptions table above.
Roth IRA withdrawal questions
Can I withdraw Roth IRA contributions at any time?
Yes. You don't include in gross income a distribution that is a return of your regular contributions, and the 10% additional tax applies to the taxable part of a distribution, so regular contributions come out without either. Conversion amounts and earnings follow other rules.
When are Roth IRA earnings tax-free?
When the withdrawal is a qualified distribution: it is made after the 5-year period beginning with the first tax year for which a contribution was made to a Roth IRA set up for your benefit, and on or after age 59½, because you are disabled, to a beneficiary or estate after your death, or for a first home (up to a $10,000 lifetime limit).
What is the Roth IRA 5-year rule?
There are two clocks. One begins with the first tax year for which a contribution was made to a Roth IRA set up for your benefit and decides whether a distribution is qualified. A separate 5-year period starts with the first day of the tax year of each conversion and decides whether the 10% additional tax applies to the converted amount.
What is the early Roth IRA withdrawal penalty?
It is a 10% additional tax, and it hits two layers. Earnings in a distribution that isn't qualified are included in income, and the 10% applies to them before age 59½ unless an exception applies. A converted amount taken out within that conversion's 5-year period and before age 59½ is not taxed as income again, but the 10% applies to the part you had to include in income when you converted (the recapture amount), unless an exception applies.
What are the withdrawal rules for a traditional IRA?
You include taxable distributions in gross income, and withdrawals before age 59½ carry a 10% additional tax unless an exception applies. After age 59½ the 10% tax no longer applies. Required minimum distributions start by April 1 of the year after you reach your applicable age: 73 if born 1951 through 1958 and 75 if born in 1960 or later under 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-2(b)(2). The regulation reserves 1959, which the RMD calculator treats as 73.
In what order does money come out of a Roth IRA?
Regular contributions come out first. Then conversion and rollover contributions, oldest first, taxable portion before nontaxable portion. Earnings come out last.
Cite this page
Page title: Roth IRA Withdrawal Rules: Taxes, Penalty and 5-Year Rule. Updated November 7, 2026. Canonical URL: https://fedratecalc.com/roth-ira-withdrawal-rules/
Data source: IRS: Exceptions to tax on early distributions; IRS Notice 2024-55; eCFR: 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-2; IRS Publication 590-B (2025), compiled by FedRateCalc.
Plain-text citation
FedRateCalc. Roth IRA Withdrawal Rules: Taxes, Penalty and 5-Year Rule. Updated November 7, 2026. https://fedratecalc.com/roth-ira-withdrawal-rules/HTML link
<a href='https://fedratecalc.com/roth-ira-withdrawal-rules/'>FedRateCalc</a>Authoritative sources: IRS: Exceptions to tax on early distributions · IRS Notice 2024-55 · eCFR: 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-2 · IRS Publication 590-B (2025)