Generally, you calculate RMDs for each account by dividing the prior Dec. 31 balance by a “life expectancy factor,” according to the IRS. Some companies calculate RMDs for you, but you’re ultimately responsible for withdrawing the correct amount.  

There’s a 25% penalty for skipping the RMD or not withdrawing enough, said certified financial planner Scott Bishop, partner and managing director of Presidio Wealth Partners, based in Houston.

But the IRS could reduce the fee to 10% if you correct the mistake, withdraw the proper amount within two years and file Form 5329. 

“If you miss [the RMD], own up to it,” Bishop said. “Make sure you’re timely with it.”  

In some cases, the IRS could waive the penalty entirely if you show the shortfall happened due to “reasonable error” and you’re taking “reasonable steps” to fix it, according to the agency.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at dismantling the U.S. Department of Education.

The Education Department oversees the country’s $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio, provides funding to low-income students and enforces civil rights across the country.

Only Congress can unilaterally eliminate the Education Department. But the Trump administration can starve the agency of resources.

Earlier this month, the department laid off nearly half of its staffers. The actions leave the department with 2,183 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Thursday that she expected some key functions of the Education Department, including federal student loans, to continue to be run out of the minimized agency.

It was hard to overestimate the harm the order would inflict, consumer advocates said.

“Today’s decision does not serve the interests of students or families,” said Mitria Spotser, vice president and federal policy director at the Center for Responsible Lending, in a statement.

“It weakens public education, abandons civil rights enforcement and prioritizes corporate interests over the fundamental right to a quality education,” Spotser said.

Former President Jimmy Carter established the current day U.S. Department of Education in 1979. Since then, the department has faced other existential threats, with former President Ronald Reagan calling for its end and Trump, during his first term, attempting to merge it with the Labor Department.

A federal judge Thursday issued a temporary restraining order barring Elon Musk‘s so-called Department of Government Efficiency team from getting access to personally identifiable information from the Social Security Administration.

Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander in a scathing ruling accused DOGE of launching a “fishing expedition” at the Social Security agency and failing to provide any reason why it needed to access vast swaths of Americans’ personal and private data.

The order in U.S. District Court in Baltimore blocks the Social Security Administration, acting commissioner Leland Dudek and chief information officer Michael Russo, as well as all related agents and employees working with them, from granting access to any system containing personally identifiable information.

Per the lawsuit, personally identifiable information is defined as information that can be used to identify an individual, either on its own or when combined with other information.

Hollander, noting the affiliates of DOGE have kept their identities hidden, wrote, “ironically, the identity of these DOGE affiliates has been concealed because defendants are concerned that the disclosure of even  their names would expose them to harassment and thus invade their privacy.”

“The defense does not appear to share a privacy concern for the millions of Americans whose SSA records were made available to the DOGE affiliates, without their consent,” the judge wrote.

— CNBC’s Dan Mangan and Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.

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