What are the exact IRS Publication 590‑B life‑expectancy divisors for every age in 2026 (full table)?
Executive summary
The IRS’s Publication 590‑B includes the official life‑expectancy divisors (Appendix B Tables I–III) used to compute required minimum distributions (RMDs), and those divisors applicable for 2026 appear in the Publication 590‑B tables (Appendix B) rather than in the news summaries or guidance pages (IRS Publication 590‑B and its Appendix B contains the life‑expectancy tables) [1] [2]. The materials provided in this briefing confirm which tables exist and how they are used, but do not include the full numeric chart of divisors for every age in 2026, so the exact per‑age numbers cannot be reproduced here from the supplied sources [3] [2].
1. What the user is actually asking—and why the IRS publication is the authoritative source
The request seeks the precise numeric divisors that the IRS publishes for use in RMD calculations for each age in 2026; those divisors live only in Appendix B of Publication 590‑B (the Single Life, Joint Life and Last Survivor, and Uniform Lifetime tables) and are the authoritative, controlling figures for tax compliance—Publication 590‑B explicitly contains the life‑expectancy tables in Appendix B [1] [2].
2. Which table to use depends on the taxpayer’s status, not the calendar year alone
Publication 590‑B sets out three separate life‑expectancy tables and explains the circumstances under which each applies: Table I (Single Life Expectancy) for individual beneficiaries, Table II (Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy) when a sole spouse beneficiary is more than 10 years younger, and Table III (Uniform Lifetime) for account owners generally; IRS guidance repeatedly points taxpayers to the specific table they must use based on beneficiary status rather than the year itself [3] [4] [2].
3. The 2022 table revision matters for post‑2022 RMDs, including 2026
The IRS revised its life‑expectancy tables effective for 2022 and later, and Publication 590‑B acknowledges those revised tables are the ones to use for current RMD computations (the “revised life expectancy tables for 2022” language appears in the publication) [2] [3]. Any financial‑industry reproductions or guides referencing “effective for 2022 and later” are therefore relying on those updates and instruct users to use Appendix B of Pub. 590‑B for the official divisors [5].
4. Why a reproduced numeric table was not provided here
The assembled source material in this briefing confirms the existence, role, and selection rules for the tables, and includes the IRS PDF references, but the snippets and documents supplied do not contain the full numeric list of divisors for each age for 2026; hence the exact per‑age divisors cannot be asserted from these provided sources without risk of error [1] [2] [6]. Third‑party summaries and calculators reproduce these numbers (and can be helpful), but Publication 590‑B’s Appendix B is the legal source that must be cited for compliance [7] [8].
5. How to obtain the exact 2026 divisors and verify them for tax use
For exact numeric divisors for every age for 2026, retrieve Appendix B in the official Publication 590‑B PDF on the IRS website (the IRS’s Publication 590‑B PDF and the online Publication 590‑B page both point to Appendix B as the location of the tables) and use the table appropriate to the taxpayer’s situation (owner vs. beneficiary; spouse more than ten years younger) as explained in the publication [1] [2] [4]. Financial firms and RMD calculators often republish the same table for convenience, but taxpayers should verify numbers directly against the IRS Appendix B in Publication 590‑B [8] [7].