How do you find joint life expectancy tables?

Joint life expectancy tables can be found on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official website. The table, along with single life expectancy and uniform lifetime tables, are stated on IRS Publication 590-B. The life expectancy method is a method of calculating an account holder's annuity payments, notes Investopedia.com.

To calculate annuity payments using the life expectancy method, the total value of account holder's retirement account is divided by his expected length of life, states Investopedia. His expected length of life can be found on life expectancy tables published by the IRS. Joint life expectancy tables can only be used if the spousal exception applies, which is if the spouse is the only beneficiary and that the owner of the account is 10 years older than the beneficiary.

The following shows how to search for joint life expectancy tables on the IRS website.

1. Go to the website

Type IRS.gov into the browser and press Enter.

2. Go to the Forms & Pubs page

Click on the Forms & Pubs button on the main menu on top of the IRS homepage. Alternatively, click on the Forms & Pubs panel on the page.

3. Navigate to Browser-Friendly Publications and Instructions

Click on the Browser-Friendly Publications and Instructions link on the left-hand panel menu on the page.

4. Click on Read Publications

Click on the Read Publications Online link.

5. Click on Publication 590-B

Scroll down to search for Publication 590-B. Select HTML to view the tables on the browser or PDF format for its printable version.