This is a great question and too many people make mistakes when taking or NOT taking their RMD’s and guess what the IRS fines you with a nice penalty and that is 50% of what your RMD should be. So you don’t want to make a mistake on this one.
The basic rule is you can add up all of your IRA accounts, come up with a total, and only have to draw from 1, you don’t need to withdrawal from each and every IRA. If you have an account titled as a 401K, a separate withdrawal needs to be taken from that account as well. You 401K cannot be added together with your IRA accounts, same goes for 403B’s, 457’s or other tax deferred accounts. In January of each year the custodian that holds your IRA will mail you out a 5498 form. This form may, or may not inform you of what you actually have to withdraw, so that is when you need to look at the IRS life expectancy table to know how much needs to be withdrawn. This is where we help our clients. We know the rules, we specialize in distributions. So rest assured, you just need to go have fun in your retirement years, we will help you with the correct distributions.