What is your required minimum distribution for 2026?

Required minimum distributions (RMD) are mandatory withdrawals seniors must take from their retirement accounts starting at age 73. It's not a set dollar amount, however — RMDs are a sliver of your total retirement nest egg, based on the IRS's determination of your life expectancy.

Your first RMD is due by April 1 of the year after you turn 73. The deadline for future withdrawals is Dec. 31.

If you don't take your full RMD by the due date, you can face a penalty of 25% of the amount you should have withdrawn.

When IRAs were established in the early 1970s, the IRS set a minimum amount seniors had to withdraw annually to ensure the agency received its share of tax-deferred accounts. In 2023, the Secure Act 2.0 bumped the age at which RMDs must begin from 72 to 73. (It will increase again to 75 in 2033.)

Generally, RMDs must be withdrawn by the end of the year. Your first distribution, however, can be delayed until April 1 of the following year.

If you turned 73 on Oct. 1, 2026, for example, you have until April 1, 2027, to take your first RMD. If you wait, however, you'll have to make two withdrawals in 2027.

RMDs must be taken from employer-sponsored retirement accounts — including 401(k), 403(b) and 457(b) plans — as well as from traditional IRAs and many IRA-based plans, like SEPs, SARSEPs and SIMPLE IRAs.

Roth IRAs and Roth 401(k) accounts are exempt from RMDs while the owner is alive, although beneficiaries are subject to the RMD rules.

You need to calculate the required minimum distribution for each retirement account individually. However, you can take the total withdrawal from one account or from a combination of accounts.

Your RMD is determined by dividing the balance in any given account at the end of the prior calendar year by your life expectancy as assessed by the IRS.

If you're 75 and married, for example, the IRS says your "applicable denominator" is 24.6. If the balance in your IRA at the end of 2025 was $150,000, you would divide $150,000 by 24.6 years to get an RMD of $6,098 for 2026.

The money put into a 401(k) or IRA has been growing tax-free. Once it's withdrawn, however, "it becomes taxable income and must be declared on your tax forms," John said.

If you delay your first distribution until the calendar year following your 73rd birthday, you'll have to take out two distributions to catch up. That could push you into a higher tax bracket.

Everyone's financial circumstances are different, but there are ways to reduce the tax implications, according to John. One option is a qualified charitable distribution: If you're at least 70½ years old, you can make a direct donation of up to $105,000 from a taxable IRA to one or more charities.

If you're still working, you can also defer the RMD on your employer-sponsored 401(k) or 403(b) until you retire. You'd still have to make withdrawals from any IRAs or other non-workplace accounts, as well as from older 401(k) accounts that haven't rolled over.

Rita Assaf, vice president of retirement products at Fidelity Investments, suggests retirees hold off claiming Social Security for as long as possible and use their retirement accounts as their primary income.

That spreads out the tax liability and reduces future RMD amounts.

"It can also help you maximize your Social Security income," said Assaf. "Every year you delay claiming up to age 70, you get an 8% increase in your benefit."

Whatever your required distribution, always check the tax withholding.

"Come tax time, you may owe a lot," says Kevin Martin, manager of the Tax Institute at H&R Block. "By default, it's usually 10% withholding. Depending on the size of your accounts, that may not be enough. So, it's important to leave enough over to pay your taxes."

There's not much you can do to avoid RMDs, but you can be smart about how you use the cash.

"If you need it to live on, the best option is to put it in an account where you can get it very quickly," said John. "Somewhere that it's not going to be seriously affected by market ups and downs."

High-yield savings accounts can generate healthier returns while still providing easy access to cash.

If you don't need the money for a while, the best way to handle it depends on your circumstances. You could invest it in the market or put it in a CD.

"It's a decision that every individual needs to make once they've gotten their hands on the money," John said. "And if they have a financial advisor, it might be wise to talk to them."

Correction: An earlier version of this story had the incorrect applicable denominator for a 75-year-old married man calculating his RMD. It is 24.6.

At CNBC Select, we work with experts who have specialized knowledge and authority, grounded in relevant training and/or experience. For this story, we interviewed David John, a strategic policy advisor at the AARP Public Policy Institute, where he works on retirement savings and pension issues.

We also spoke with Rita Assaf, vice president of retirement products at Fidelity Investments, and Kevin Martin, manager of the Tax Institute at H&R Block.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every personal finance article is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

Catch up on CNBC Select's in-depth coverage of credit cards, banking and money, and follow us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date.