When can you draw from your 401(k)? The age for each account
A 401(k) pays without the 10 % additional tax from the month you reach 59½, or earlier when you leave that employer in the year you turn 55; other accounts follow their own clocks.
Your 401(k) and IRAs open without the 10 % in
December 2039
Leaving in 2032 is too early for the rule of 55: that 401(k) waits for 59½ too.
| 401(k) of the job you leave | December 2039 |
| Older 401(k)s and IRAs | December 2039, or now with 72(t) |
| Governmental 457(b) | 2032, after leaving |
| Roth IRA contributions | any time |
| Roth conversions | five tax years after each one |
Worked out by Radif Partners · How we calculate · figures read on irs.gov and healthcare.gov · not personal financial advice
You can draw from a 401(k) at any age once the plan lets you, but before 59½ the taxable amount owes a 10 % additional tax on top of income tax unless an exception applies. The age that matters is 59½, which lands six months after your 59th birthday: born in September 1975, you reach it in March 2035. Three doors open earlier. Leaving the employer in or after the calendar year you turn 55 (50 for qualified public safety workers) frees that employer's plan. A 72(t) series of equal payments works at any age after you leave. A governmental 457(b) owes no 10 % at all. Roth IRA contributions come back tax free whenever you want, conversions after five tax years each. Pulling $30,000 from an old 401(k) at 52 without an exception costs $3,000 of additional tax. The checker above turns your birth date and exit age into a date for each account.
Your 59½ month comes from your birth month
The IRS wording is "after participant/IRA owner reaches age 59½" (IRS exceptions table). Half a year past the 59th birthday is the line, so two people born in the same year can be almost a full year apart. A payment dated the day before that line is an early distribution; the same payment a day later is not, and the 10 % disappears for every 401(k), 403(b) and IRA you own at once.
| Born in | 1970 | 1972 | 1975 | 1978 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | July 2029 | July 2031 | July 2034 | July 2037 |
| March | September 2029 | September 2031 | September 2034 | September 2037 |
| May | November 2029 | November 2031 | November 2034 | November 2037 |
| June | December 2029 | December 2031 | December 2034 | December 2037 |
| July | January 2030 | January 2032 | January 2035 | January 2038 |
| September | March 2030 | March 2032 | March 2035 | March 2038 |
| December | June 2030 | June 2032 | June 2035 | June 2038 |
A practical point about the paperwork: the plan reports each payment on Form 1099-R with a distribution code. If you are past 59½ and the form still shows code 1, the early code, Publication 575 tells you to file Form 5329 and claim the age exception yourself, so keep the payment date handy.
Your own 59½ month
Your 401(k) and IRAs open without the 10 % in
May 2028
| 401(k) of the job you leave | 2024 |
| Older 401(k)s and IRAs | May 2028, or now with 72(t) |
| Governmental 457(b) | 2024, after leaving |
| Roth IRA contributions | any time |
Each account has its own clock
| Account | Earliest draw without the 10 % | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| 401(k) or 403(b) of the job you leave | year you turn 55 (50 in public safety) | the calendar year of the separation |
| 401(k) of an earlier employer | 59½, or a 72(t) series | your age; no rule of 55 for that plan |
| Traditional, rollover or SEP IRA | 59½, or a 72(t) series | your age |
| Governmental 457(b) | any age once the plan pays | plan rules; no 10 % (Topic 558) |
| Roth IRA: your contributions | any time | they come out first |
| Roth IRA: each conversion | five tax years after it | January 1 of the conversion year starts the count |
| Roth IRA: earnings | 59½ and five years since the first Roth | qualified distribution |
The first line is the one people miss. Take someone born in September 1975. Leaving in 2029 is too early for the rule of 55: that 401(k) waits for 59½ too. The 401(k) of the job you leave opens in 2030 (rule of 55). One calendar year of staying at work moves that plan's opening date from March 2035 to 2030. The rule looks at the year of the separation, not the birthday, which is why the rule of 55 checker only asks for two years.
The governmental 457(b) line is different in kind. The IRS says in Topic 558 that an eligible state or local government 457 plan "isn't a qualified retirement plan", so its payments escape the 10 % whatever your age (Topic 558). The money still has to be payable under the plan, and the calculator above assumes the plan starts paying after you leave the job. The 457(b) page covers the exception for money rolled in from other plans.
Drawing before your account opens: the price
Nothing stops a former employee from asking an old plan for cash at 52. The cost is arithmetic. On $30,000 with no other income in 2026, a single filer owes $1,420 of federal income tax after the $16,100 standard deduction, plus $3,000 of additional tax, and the plan withholds $6,000 up front. The additional tax is the part a little planning removes, and the tax code offers two tools for those under 55: a 72(t) series from an IRA, and the Roth IRA ordering rules.
Old 401(k) at 52: what the 10 % takes
You keep
$25,580
| 10 % additional tax | $3,000 |
| Federal income tax | $1,420 |
| State income tax | $0 |
| Withheld at payout | $6,000 |
Roth money keeps a separate calendar
A Roth IRA is not on the 59½ clock for most of its balance. Publication 590-B lists the order in which money leaves: regular contributions first, then conversions oldest first, then earnings (Publication 590-B). Contributions were never deducted, so drawing them back is neither taxable nor penalized at 41 or at 58. Each conversion has its own five-year period, counted from January 1 of the year you converted; once it has passed, that conversion can be drawn without the 10 % as well. Only the earnings wait for 59½ and for five years since your first Roth contribution. The Roth withdrawal page splits a withdrawal into those layers.
A 401(k) still open at work
Drawing from the plan of an employer you still work for is a separate question, and the plan decides it. Many plans pay nothing to active employees under 59½ except loans or hardship withdrawals; some allow in-service withdrawals of rollover money. A hardship withdrawal is not an exception to the 10 % by itself: unless the reason also matches one of the exceptions in the IRS table, the additional tax applies. Ask the administrator for the plan's distribution options in writing before counting on one.
Two spouses, two calendars
The age test belongs to the participant or IRA owner, never to the couple. A joint return does not merge the dates: if one spouse reaches 59½ in October 2029 and the other, born in 1974, only in February 2034, the older spouse's IRA opens more than four years before the younger one's. A household that stops work together can draw on the older spouse's accounts once that date passes, while the younger spouse's plans stay untouched. The rule of 55 works the same way: it looks at the year each person leaves his or her own employer.
Putting the dates together
Write the dates in one column: your 59½ month, the year you would leave, the first year each Roth conversion becomes free. The gap between your last paycheck and the first open account is the stretch you have to fund from taxable savings, Roth contributions or a 457(b). The bridge page prices that stretch, and the withdrawal steps page explains what happens the day you ask the plan for money.