Clear Money Guide
What this guide covers
A quick view of the questions and evidence developed below.
Updated August 2, 2026. Quick answer: since tax year 2024 the Roth balance in a TSP account is no longer subject to required minimum distributions during your lifetime. The RMD is computed on the traditional balance alone, and only traditional withdrawals count toward satisfying it. The move people used to make — rolling the Roth TSP to a Roth IRA purely to escape RMDs — now has no RMD reason behind it.
The traditional balance that is still subject to the rule is divided by the ordinary table: the Uniform Lifetime divisor for your age, which does not change for 2027.
What changed, in the TSP’s own words
“Roth balances are no longer subject to RMDs prior to a participant’s death. Your RMD calculation includes only your traditional balance, and only distributions from your traditional balance count toward satisfying the RMD amount.”
tsp.gov SECURE 2.0 and the TSP, Section 325
Read the first sentence twice. The exemption is during your lifetime. Death changes the analysis entirely, and the beneficiary rules are a different rulebook — see what a beneficiary actually inherits from a TSP or 403(b).
Plan the withdrawal, not just the minimum
A required distribution is the floor rather than the plan, and an adviser can look at how the withdrawal interacts with your bracket, your Medicare premiums and your other accounts before a deadline decides it for you.
Before you start, what actually happens. The form is run by Kapitalwise, our advisor-matching partner. Kapitalwise sends your details to advisers who pay for the introduction, so expect calls and texts. Clear Money Guide is paid when you submit the form, whether or not you ever hire anyone. This is free to you and there is no obligation to hire anyone.
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The age the traditional balance still answers to
The traditional side is unchanged, and the starting age is written as a moving target. The statute at 26 U.S.C. § 401(a)(9)(C)(v) sets it out by when you attain an age, not by birth year:
“In the case of an individual who attains age 72 after December 31, 2022, and age 73 before January 1, 2033, the applicable age is 73… In the case of an individual who attains age 74 after December 31, 2032, the applicable age is 75.”
26 U.S.C. § 401(a)(9)(C)(v)
The TSP states the same progression in plainer terms: “The start age for RMDs increased from 72 to 73 starting on January 1, 2023. The start age will further increase to 75 on January 1, 2033.” Popular summaries convert this into birth years. We have kept the statutory framing deliberately, because the conversion is where the errors creep in and the calendar test is the one that governs.
What this obsoletes, and what it does not
Obsolete: rolling the Roth TSP into a Roth IRA for the sole purpose of avoiding lifetime RMDs. That gap closed for 2024 and later.
Not obsolete: every other reason a person might move money, good or bad — investment choice, withdrawal flexibility, consolidation, or the advice that comes with it. Those reasons now have to stand on their own, which is a healthier test. What that decision costs puts a number on it.
Still true: a withdrawal you have taken cannot be undone. The TSP says so directly — “Withdrawals and distributions cannot be reversed once they’ve been processed”.
Roth RMD exemption and the RMD start ages from tsp.gov (SECURE 2.0 and the TSP, sections 325 and 107); the applicable-age rule from 26 U.S.C. § 401(a)(9)(C)(v); the irreversibility statement from tsp.gov Withdrawals in retirement. Read August 2026. General information, not tax advice.