General IRA
This type of retirement account receives money from a Traditional IRA during a Roth conversion.
Roth IRA
Direct Roth IRA contributions can be withdrawn at any time without these two costs?
Taxes and Penalties
This strategy allows high-income earners to effectively fund a Roth IRA despite income limitations.
Backdoor Roth IRA contribution
The deadline to complete a Roth conversion for a tax year is this day.
December 31
Unlike Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs are generally not subject to these mandatory withdrawals during the owner's lifetime.
Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)
Anyone with this type of retirement account can potentially complete a Roth conversion.
Pre-tax retirement account (post tax if Backdoor IRA)
Failing to satisfy the 5-year rule before withdrawing earnings or certain converted funds may result in this percentage penalty.
10%
Before converting, the contribution is first made to this type of IRA.
Traditional IRA
This tax strategy involves converting only enough money to remain within your current marginal tax bracket.
Filling your tax bracket
All future earnings and qualified withdrawals inside a Roth IRA receive this tax treatment.
Tax-free treatment
This IRS form tracks nondeductible IRA contributions and Roth conversions.
Form 8606
For converted Roth funds, the 5-year clock begins on this date.
January 1st of the conversion year
This IRS rule prevents taxpayers from converting only their after-tax IRA dollars.
Pro-Rata Rule
Ideal years for Roth conversions are when _______ may be unusually low.
Income
Experts generally recommend paying Roth conversion taxes with money from this source rather than from the IRA itself.
Funds outside the retirement account
The IRS charges this percentage excise tax each year that an uncorrected excess Roth IRA contribution remains in the account.
6%
Besides satisfying the 5-year rule, reaching this age qualifies Roth IRA earnings for tax-free withdrawal.
59½
A common workaround to avoid pro-rata complications is moving pre-tax IRA funds into this employer-sponsored plan.
401(k)
The period after retirement but before receiving this government benefit is often a prime Roth conversion window.
Social Security
Holding assets in both Traditional and Roth accounts creates this retirement-planning advantage.
Diversification
Under IRS rules, distributions from these three IRA types are combined when calculating taxable and nontaxable portions of conversions.
Traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs
A taxpayer completed Roth conversions in both 2025 and 2026. Under IRS rules, these two conversions are tracked separately because of what.
Separate 5-year period for each conversion
Under the pro-rata rule, the IRS treats all of a taxpayer's Traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs as this.
One combined pool of money
A large Roth conversion can increase AGI and potentially affect these three areas of a taxpayer's finances.
Medicare premiums, Social Security taxation, and tax credits/deductions
The biggest risk of a Roth conversion strategy is that future tax rates or retirement income may make this assumption incorrect.
Assuming that paying taxes now is better than paying them later