Is a Roth IRA withdrawal taxable?

The two-part test

Publication 590-B (2025) includes a flowchart (Figure 2-1) that boils the test down to a short sequence of questions. First: has it been at least 5 years from the beginning of the year for which you first opened and contributed to a Roth IRA? If not, the distribution is not qualified. If yes, were you at least 59½ at the time of the distribution? If yes, it is qualified. If not, is the distribution being used to buy or rebuild a first home? Is it due to disability? Was it made to the owner’s beneficiary or estate? Any yes makes it qualified; otherwise it is not. A qualified distribution is not subject to tax or the 10% penalty. The tool above runs this path for the year-level inputs.

If it is qualified

Everything is tax free: contributions, conversions and earnings. You do not report a taxable amount. The publication also notes that the basis of property distributed from a Roth IRA is its fair market value on the date of distribution, whether or not the distribution is qualified.

If it is not qualified

The word “taxable” then depends on what is distributed. The publication says you do not include distributions that are a return of your regular contributions, and under the ordering rules those come out first. After that, conversion amounts you already included in income are not taxed again, but the earnings are generally included in income, and the 10% additional tax applies to the taxable part unless an exception applies. Exceptions: age 59½, disability, terminal illness certification, beneficiary of a deceased owner, a first home, substantially equal payments, medical expenses over 7.5% of AGI, health insurance during unemployment, corrective distributions, higher education, an IRS levy, reservist, birth or adoption, disaster recovery, domestic abuse and emergency expense distributions. You use Form 8606, Part III, to figure the taxable part.

Worked example

Chen opened his first Roth IRA with a contribution for 2019 and is 48. In 2026 he withdraws $15,000 to start a business. The 5-year test passes (2019 plus five years ends after 2023), but he is under 59½, not disabled, not using the money for a first home, and the owner is alive, so it is not qualified. His account holds $22,000 of regular contributions and $9,000 of earnings, so the $15,000 is entirely a return of contributions: not taxable, no 10% tax. If he had contributed only $10,000 in total, the last $5,000 would be earnings, taxable income of $5,000 and a $500 additional tax. If instead Chen were 61, the same $15,000 would be qualified and entirely tax free whatever the mix.

The first-home route, with its limit

A first-home distribution counts as qualified only up to a $10,000 lifetime limit, and the five-year test still applies. The home conditions come from chapter 1: the distribution must pay qualified acquisition costs for a first-time homebuyer, who is you, your spouse, a child, grandchild, parent or other ancestor of you or your spouse, before the close of the 120th day after receipt, and it counts toward a $10,000 total. If a purchase falls through you can generally put the money back within 120 days and treat it as a rollover.

Inherited Roth IRAs

The same qualified test applies to a beneficiary. For the five-year test the publication looks at the period beginning with the first tax year for which a contribution was made to a Roth IRA set up for the owner. If a distribution to a beneficiary is not qualified, it is included in the beneficiary’s income as it would have been for the owner, and the 10% tax does not apply because the distribution results from the owner’s death. The inherited IRA page has the pro rata example.

Related pages

Dig deeper with the ordering rules, the 5-year rule, and withdrawing contributions. Designated Roth accounts in a 401(k) or 403(b) are not Roth IRAs; the publication reminds readers they follow plan rules covered in Pub. 575.

Sources

• IRS Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) (2025): Roth IRAs: Are Distributions Taxable?; What Are Qualified Distributions? and Figure 2-1; Additional Tax on Early Distributions; Distributions After Owner’s Death. Read November 2, 2026.

Edition read: Publication 590-B (2025), for use in preparing 2025 returns. Dollar limits and dates in this publication are for 2025; check the current publication and form instructions for your tax year. This page summarizes the publication and does not replace it.