RRIF Minimum Withdrawal Calculator

The minimum-withdrawal formula

Each year the CRA sets a minimum you must withdraw from a RRIF: minimum = factor × balance on January 1. The age is your age at the start of the year (January 1). Below age 71 the prescribed factor is 1 ÷ (90 − age). From 71 the CRA table takes over, 5.28% at 71, 5.82% at 75, 6.82% at 80, 8.51% at 85, 11.92% at 90, and a flat 20% from age 95 on. There is no minimum in the year you first open the RRIF.

How this tool simulates each year

Starting from your current age, for every year to 95: the minimum is computed on the January-1 balance, your actual withdrawal is max(your chosen amount, the minimum), that amount comes out, and the remainder grows at your expected return to give the year-end (next January-1) balance. The first year assumes your RRIF was already open on January 1. Because the minimum is a percentage of what's left, a minimum-only RRIF never technically reaches zero; only over-withdrawing (a fixed dollar amount that outruns growth) can deplete it. The balance chart marks the age at which the balance peaks: after it, each year's withdrawal is larger than what the account earns, (January 1 balance − withdrawal) × return.

Future dollars and today's dollars

Balances and withdrawals are in future (nominal) dollars, the amounts your RRIF statements will show. The withdrawals chart also shows each year's withdrawal in today's dollars: withdrawal ÷ (1 + inflation)years from now, using FP Canada's 2.1% planning inflation. Federal tax brackets and the OAS clawback threshold are indexed to inflation, so the today's-dollar line, not the future-dollar one, shows whether forced income will push you up the brackets later. The summary under the results uses the same test: it calls the minimum rising only if, at 90 (or 95 once you are past 90), it is at least 5% higher in today's dollars than this year's.

Range of outcomes (1,000 simulated markets)

The line on the balance chart uses the same return every year. Real markets swing, so the shaded bands run your exact plan through 1,000 simulated markets. Each year the withdrawal comes out on January 1 by the same rule (the larger of your amount and the CRA minimum on that market's balance), then the rest grows by a random yearly return drawn from a lognormal distribution whose median is your expected return. The darker band holds the middle half of markets (25th to 75th percentile) and the lighter band 8 in 10 (10th to 90th). The markets are seeded, so the same link always shows the same range.

Volatility assumption. FP Canada publishes expected returns, not volatility, so the size of the swings is inferred from your return: it implies a stock share between FP Canada's fixed-income return (3.2%, all bonds) and the average of its Canadian, US and international equity returns (6.4%, all stocks). That mix is combined with long-run volatility assumptions of 15% a year for stocks and 5% for bonds, with a correlation of 0.2 between them. Your return gives a mix of about 25% stocks and swings of about 5.8% a year. If your return is after fees, your real swings may be larger. Fat-tailed crashes and changing volatility are not modelled, so read the bands as a guide to how wide the range is, not a forecast.

RRSP → RRIF deadline

You must wind up your RRSP by December 31 of the year you turn 71. Most people convert to a RRIF; you can also buy an annuity or take the cash (fully taxable). First mandatory RRIF withdrawal is the following year, the year you turn 72, though you may open a RRIF and start earlier.

Withholding tax only above the minimum

The full withdrawal is taxable income, but no tax is withheld on the minimum amount at source. On the portion above the minimum, the payer withholds 10% on the first $5,000, 20% from $5,001–$15,000, and 30% above $15,000 (higher in Quebec). Withholding is a prepayment, not the final tax: you settle up when you file.

Younger-spouse election

You can elect to base every future minimum on your younger spouse's or common-law partner's age, which uses a smaller factor and keeps more sheltered. The election is locked in at conversion: it must be made before your first payment and can't be changed afterward (it does carry on even if the spouse later dies). It only helps when your spouse is younger, so this tool applies it only then. When it applies, an extra chart runs your plan twice, once on your spouse's age and once on your own, with everything else the same. Money the election keeps in the RRIF is still taxable when it comes out, or at death unless it passes to your spouse.

Pension income credit at 65

RRIF income qualifies for the federal pension income amount (a credit on up to $2,000 of eligible pension income) once you're 65, and can be pension-income-split with a spouse, one reason some retirees convert a slice of RRSP to RRIF at 65 rather than waiting until 71.

What this doesn't model

Income tax on withdrawals, OAS clawback, pension splitting, in-kind withdrawals, multiple RRIFs, or fees (enter your return after fees). Pair it with the retirement calculator, CPP timing calculator and income tax calculator for the full picture. Factors and rules confirmed as of July 2026.