Widowed at 72 With a $1.6 Million IRA: Her First RMD Comes at 73, and It Will Be Taxed as a Single Filer

A 72-year-old widow with $1.6 million in a traditional IRA has two changes coming at once. Her first required minimum distribution (RMD) is due the year she turns 73, and it will be reported on a single-filer return. That withdrawal is taxed more heavily on a single return than it would have been on a joint return, even though her total income is lower.

When Her First RMD Is Due

Under 26 U.S.C. § 401(a)(9)(C)(v)(I), the RMD starting age is 73 for anyone who “attains age 72 after December 31, 2022, and age 73 before January 1, 2033”. That covers people born from 1951 through 1958.

This woman was born in 1954 and was the only beneficiary. She treated her late husband’s IRA as her own, so her own age sets when RMDs begin and the Uniform Lifetime Table applies (Table III in Publication 590-B). Her balance is $1.6 million on December 31, 2026, so 2027 is her first RMD year. Her only other income is Social Security. The table uses the basic standard deduction only. The extra age-65 deduction and the temporary senior deduction would lower taxable income in both columns.

If she kept the account as an inherited IRA instead, the timing could change. A surviving spouse whose husband died before the year he would have reached 73 can wait until the year in which the owner would have reached age 73.

At age 73, the Uniform Lifetime Table divisor is 26.5. Dividing $1.6 million by that divisor gives a first RMD of $60,377.

Which Filing Status She Gets

For the year her husband died, she can generally file a joint return that shows his income up to the date of death and her own income for the full year (Form 1040 instructions). In later years she files single. Qualifying surviving spouse status keeps joint brackets for the two taxable years after the death, but only if she maintains a home for a dependent son, daughter, stepson or stepdaughter (26 U.S.C. § 2(a)(1)(B)). She has no dependent child, so her 2027 return is a single return.

Same RMD, Two Returns

The joint column shows the 2027 RMD as if her husband were still alive. It uses SSA’s estimated 2027 average benefit for an senior couple both receiving benefits, $3,355 a month. The single column uses the senior widow(er) average of $2,005 a month.

Why Her Single Return Costs More

Social Security becomes taxable at a lower income level. For a single filer, the base amount is $25,000 and the adjusted base amount is $34,000. On a joint return, those amounts are $32,000 and $44,000 (26 U.S.C. § 86(c)). In both columns the RMD pushes provisional income above the upper threshold, so 85% of benefits becomes taxable, the maximum.

The brackets are also narrower. For 2027, the 22% rate starts above $52,025 for a single filer and above $104,050 on a joint return. Her taxable income on the single return is higher than the couple’s, even though her AGI is lower. Her federal tax rises by $1,815.90. A large pre-tax balance eventually becomes a large taxable withdrawal, and the fix starts years before the first RMD, which is the case we laid out in a free guide on defusing the first-year tax bomb.

Medicare Premiums Follow the Return

IRMAA is an income-based surcharge on Medicare premiums. SSA bases it on modified adjusted gross income (AGI plus tax-exempt interest) from the most recent federal tax return the IRS provides. That means her 2027 single return will set a future year’s premium. Her room below the single threshold is much smaller than the couple’s, and a Roth conversion or a large capital gain could use it up. In 2026, crossing into the first single level adds $81.20 a month to the $202.90 standard Part B premium. It also adds $14.50 a month for Part D.

If an older joint return triggers a surcharge after her household income has dropped, she can appeal. SSA lists the death of a spouse as a life-changing event, and the appeal is filed on Form SSA-44.

Penalty for a Missed RMD

Missing an RMD triggers an excise tax of 25% of the amount not take. The rate falls to 10% if the shortfall is made up within the window set by 26 U.S.C. § 4974(e).

Documents to Check Before 2027

• The account title on the custodian’s paperwork, which shows whether the IRA is in her name or held as an inherited IRA.
• The December 31, 2026, year-end statement, which sets the balance used for the 2027 RMD.
• Her Form SSA-1099, which reports the Social Security amount that feeds the taxable-benefits worksheet.
• The filing status box on her 2027 Form 1040, which should read single unless she has a qualifying dependent child.

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