Roth IRA Conversions

Converting Your Roth IRA

A Roth IRA conversion may be right for you if your income is too high to contribute to a Roth IRA outright ($140,000 and up for individuals in 2021; $208,000 and up for married couples filing jointly). Don’t let these income limits hinder you from the advantages of a Roth IRA account. With this Roth conversion strategy, you convert all or part of your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA and pay regular income taxes on the converted amount.

It may seem counterintuitive to pay taxes now that you could put off until later, but doing so will allow you to take advantage of a Roth IRA’s main benefit: tax-free withdrawals of contributions and earnings in retirement (so long as you’re age 59½ or older and have held the account for at least five years).

“It’s an attractive option for individuals who believe their tax rate may be higher in retirement, or for those who just want the flexibility that tax-free income provides,” says Rob Williams, managing director of financial planning at the Schwab Center for Financial Research. “And, unlike tax-deferred retirement accounts, Roth IRAs aren’t subject to required minimum distributions beginning at age 72.”

If you think a Roth IRA conversion might be right for you, Rob points to three tax-efficient strategies:

1. Max out your bracket: Let’s say you’re single and make $145,000 a year, which puts you in the 24% tax bracket. The next bracket doesn’t kick in until your income exceeds $164,925, so you could convert $19,925 ($164,925 – $145,000) and still stay within your current bracket.
2. Spread it out: Breaking up the Roth IRA conversion across multiple years can make the tax hit easier to manage—and could, when combined with the strategy above, reduce the overall tax you pay on the conversion.
3. Get ahead of tax changes: If upcoming changes to tax law will adversely affect future taxes, converting some or all of your traditional IRA in the year preceding the change could help you avoid paying more tax on the conversion than necessary.

In any case, you may want to wait until the end of the year to perform the Roth IRA conversion. “That way, you can account for any year-end changes to your total taxable income,” Rob says.

There are other benefits when you change an IRA to a Roth IRA. Our Roth IRA advisors can help you with a successful backdoor Roth IRA strategy that limits your tax bill. Roth IRA conversions allow extended tax-free growth because they don’t have RMDs. Roth IRA conversions can maximize the advantages of compound interest and allow tax-free growth for a longer duration.

Roth conversion tax strategies can also help you to take advantage of Roth’s flexible withdrawals as you can withdraw contributions without penalty. Roth IRA conversions are also a great estate planning tool to help you pass on the benefits to your beneficiaries.

We work with industry-leading financial products like Fidelity IRAs for Roth conversions. A Fidelity Roth IRA conversion can help you save more in the future.

Talk to a Roth IRA financial advisor today!

Let our estate planning company help you manage your assets so you can leave behind a lasting legacy that takes care of the people and causes you care about. Our team can help you get started with Roth IRAs from Scottsdale, Phoenix, or Surprise in Arizona. You can also visit our location in Henderson, Nevada for Roth conversion tax strategies.

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