Start with the type of money you want to withdraw: contributions, conversions or earnings. These eleven guides cover the rules and common situations, including early retirement. Pick the question closest to yours; the comprehensive reference lives at Withdrawal Rules.
Roth IRA Withdrawal Rules
Qualified and nonqualified distributions, the withdrawal order, and the distinction between income tax and additional tax.
The 5-Year Rule
The earnings-qualification clock, separate conversion clocks, and the conditions that matter alongside time.
5-Year Rule After 59½
Why reaching 59½ does not replace the five-tax-year requirement for qualified earnings withdrawals.
5-Year Rule for Conversions
The separate five-tax-year periods for conversions and when an early withdrawal can trigger additional tax.
Early Withdrawal Penalties
The 10% additional tax, selected exceptions and why avoiding that tax is different from avoiding income tax.
Withdrawal Age Rules
How age 59½ interacts with the earnings clock and the type of dollars withdrawn.
Withdrawal for Home Purchase
The $10,000 lifetime first-home limit, qualifying costs and the separate earnings-qualification test.
Withdrawal for Education
The higher-education exception to additional tax, without assuming that earnings also become income-tax-free.
Roth IRA RMD Rules
No lifetime RMDs for Roth IRA owners; the rules that apply to Roth 401(k) and inherited Roths.
Can You Borrow From a Roth IRA?
You cannot borrow from your own IRA as a participant loan. A withdrawal of remaining regular contribution basis is different from borrowing.
Roth IRA for Early Retirees
A money-access scorecard and spending-bridge example, with conversion timing, workplace-plan access and health coverage kept separate.
Frequently asked questions
Can I withdraw Roth IRA contributions at any time?
For ordinary distributions from your own Roth IRAs, remaining regular contribution basis comes out first, without federal income tax or the 10% early-distribution tax. You do not need to reach age 59½ or wait five years for that layer. Previous withdrawals can reduce that basis, and investment losses can leave less money available. Your current balance is not your contribution record.
When are Roth IRA earnings tax-free?
Earnings are federally tax-free in a qualified distribution. That requires both the five-tax-year period and a qualifying event: age 59½, death, qualifying disability, or a qualifying first-time home purchase within the $10,000 lifetime limit. For a calendar-year owner, the period starts January 1 of the first tax year for which a regular contribution was made to any of their own Roth IRAs, or an earlier year in which a conversion was made. Merely opening an empty account does not start it.
What are the IRS ordering rules?
For an ordinary nonqualified distribution, combine your own Roth IRAs: remaining regular contribution basis comes first, then conversions grouped by tax year, oldest year first and taxable portion first within each year, then earnings. Track prior withdrawals so the same basis is not counted twice. This is not an instruction to combine inherited Roth IRAs with your own; workplace-plan rollovers and corrective distributions can also need separate treatment.
Are Roth IRAs subject to RMDs?
Roth IRA owners have no required minimum distributions during their lifetime. Designated Roth accounts in workplace plans also have no owner-lifetime RMDs for 2024 and later years. Beneficiaries still face distribution rules. An individual who inherits directly from an owner who died after 2019 and is not an eligible designated beneficiary generally must empty the inherited Roth IRA by December 31 of the tenth year after the owner’s death. Special beneficiary and successor rules can change the applicable deadline.
What is the 10% early-withdrawal tax?
Before age 59½, taxable Roth IRA earnings generally face a 10% additional federal tax unless an exception applies. A nonqualified withdrawal reaching a conversion within its separate five-tax-year period can also trigger that tax on the portion that was taxable when converted, even though that principal is not income-taxed again. Exceptions can apply to this conversion tax too. A penalty exception does not by itself make earnings income-tax-free. Remaining regular contribution basis is not subject to this early-distribution tax.
Sources and next steps
- IRS Publication 590-B, chapter 2: Roth distributions, clocks and ordering; chapter 1 covers first-home and education exceptions.
- Treasury regulation §1.408A-6, Q&A 1–9: qualification, conversion recapture and aggregation.
- IRS minimum-distribution overview: owner and beneficiary distinctions. See our inherited-Roth guide before using a beneficiary deadline.
- IRS retirement-plan loan FAQs, questions 1 and 3: borrowing from an IRA is not a workplace-plan loan option.
Corrections and updates
October 28, 2026 — Correction. Replaced the reference to all contributions ever made with remaining regular contribution basis and clarified prior withdrawals and conversion-year ordering. Removed the fixed age-54½ opening suggestion: the earnings clock is measured by tax year and requires funding. Corrected the conversion-tax summary to distinguish the amount taxable at conversion from earnings, and narrowed overbroad loan and exception summaries. Related directory wording now distinguishes earnings and conversion clocks.
October 28, 2026 — Update. Added the early-retiree guide and aligned the directory and its topic count.