
A. Yes, you will be caught!
The custodian of your retirement account sends a report to both you and IRS about your required minimum distribution. Therefore, IRS knows how much is your RMD and how much you take out.
The penalty is severe!
If you failed to take the RMD, the penalty is 50% of what you are supposed to take out. For example, if you are supposed to take out RMD $10K, if you didn't do so, you will need to pay $5K penalty, plus the income tax on the full amount, even you didn't take it out.
Just remember, once you reach the age 70.5 this year, you have until April 1 of this year to take out your first RMD. Older IRA owners' deadline is Dec 31 of the year.