See your penalty-free income options
Three quick details — then compare every method the rules permit.
Your age sets the life expectancy factor.
The balance and valuation date anchor the math.
The date the balance above was measured. The IRS allows any daily account balance between December 31 of the year before distributions begin and your actual first distribution date — the prior year-end (December 31) is the most commonly cited example.
Rates are optional — the RMD method needs none.
The fixed amortization and fixed annuitization methods need an interest rate. That rate may not exceed the greater of 5% or 120% of the mid-term AFR for either of the two months before your first distribution. The RMD method uses no interest rate at all.
The ceiling exists because §72(t) requires substantially equal payments across your lifetime. An artificially high interest rate would front-load distributions into the early years and undermine that requirement, so the IRS caps the rate a SEPP may use.
Nothing is saved until you create a free account.