Can I convert my required minimum distribution to a Roth IRA?

No. An RMD cannot be converted or rolled over (Publication 590-A). In an RMD year take the RMD first; anything above it can be converted. With $500,000 on December 31, 2025, a 74-year-old’s 2026 RMD is $19,608.

How is a conversion taxed if I have after-tax money in my IRAs?

Pro rata. All your traditional, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs count as one pool, and the nontaxable share of a conversion is your after-tax basis divided by the pool, figured on Form 8606; you cannot convert only the after-tax dollars. The backdoor Roth pro-rata calculator works out the taxable part.

Should I convert my IRA to a Roth after I retire?

It depends on whether the tax you pay now is lower than the tax the same dollars would carry later, for you or your heirs, which this page does not decide. What it shows is the cost now: the tax the conversion adds this year, the Social Security it makes taxable, and how close it takes your MAGI to an IRMAA tier. The Roth Conversion Planner sets a year-by-year schedule against no conversions at all.

Roth Conversion Rules 2026

A Roth conversion moves money from a traditional IRA or a 401(k) into a Roth IRA: you pay income tax on it now, and qualified withdrawals later are tax-free. The rules are short, but each one has a date or a trap attached. This page states each rule with its official source and checks your own 2026 conversion against them with the tax engine: the RMD that must come out first, the tax the conversion adds, the room in your bracket and under the first IRMAA tier, and when the 5-year rule stops applying.

Want the cost of every dollar you convert, the ACA credit included? The Roth conversion calculator shows it. Converting before 59½ and planning to spend the money? The Roth 5-year rule calculator runs both clocks.

What are the Roth conversion rules for 2026?

There is no income limit and no dollar limit on converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA: the $100,000 income test was repealed for years after 2009 (IRC §408A, amendment notes). The converted amount is ordinary income in the year it leaves the traditional IRA, so a 2026 conversion has to be done by December 31, 2026, not by the April filing deadline, and it cannot be undone: conversions made in 2018 or later cannot be recharacterized (IRS Publication 590-A). In a year you owe a required minimum distribution, the RMD must come out first, because it cannot be converted. Example: a married couple, 74 and 72, in North Carolina, with $48,000 of Social Security, a $24,000 pension and $500,000 in a traditional IRA on December 31, 2025 must take the 2026 RMD of $19,608 first. Converting $40,000 after it adds $6,517 of federal and $1,596 of North Carolina tax: $8,113, 20.3% of the amount converted, partly because it makes $14,733 more of their Social Security taxable.

The worked example, computed by the tax engine: married filing jointly, ages 74 and 72, North Carolina, $48,000 Social Security, $24,000 pension, $500,000 traditional IRA on December 31, 2025, the 2026 RMD taken, then $40,000 converted in 2026; the pension, the IRA money and the conversion split evenly between the spouses for the state return.
Key number	2026
2026 RMD that must come out before converting (Uniform Lifetime Table)	$19,608
Federal tax the $40,000 conversion adds (Rev. Proc. 2025-32)	$6,517
North Carolina tax it adds (NC rules)	$1,596
Federal + state tax on the conversion	$8,113
Tax as a share of the conversion	20.3%
Social Security the conversion makes taxable (Pub. 915)	$14,733
Conversion that keeps taxable income within the 12% bracket (Rev. Proc. 2025-32)	$63,892
Conversion that keeps MAGI at the first IRMAA floor (CMS 2026 tiers)	$133,592
IRMAA MAGI with the RMD and the conversion	$124,408

An estimate from QuantCalc’s open tax engine (federal 2.3.1, state 1.14.2) for the 2026 tax year. Not tax advice: your return depends on facts this page does not ask about, so check a move with your tax preparer or custodian before acting. IRMAA: 2026 MAGI sets the 2028 premiums; the 2028 tiers are not published, so the 2026 tiers are shown. Whether a conversion is worth its tax depends on the rate the same dollars would be taxed at later, which this page does not decide. How the engine computes each line, with its official source: federal, state.

Check your own conversion against each rule in the calculator below.

Check your 2026 conversion against the rules

Amount to convert in 2026 ($) Filing status Your age on Dec 31, 2026 Spouse’s age on Dec 31, 2026 State

Your other 2026 income

Social Security ($)Gross benefits Pension or annuity ($) IRA / 401(k) withdrawals ($)Spent, not converted; including any RMD already taken Traditional IRA balance on Dec 31, 2025 ($)Yours: sets your 2026 RMD

Whose income is it? (married filing jointly)

Split evenly All in my name All in my spouse’s name Enter my spouse’s amounts

State tax figured with your IRA withdrawals, pension and Roth conversion split evenly between you and your spouse.

Evenly is the default: it is the tax engine’s neutral split and the one our published examples use, and most retired couples have income in both names. Arkansas, Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio and Virginia tax a couple by each spouse’s own income, so there the split can change the state tax, as it can wherever a retirement exclusion is capped per spouse. Federal tax does not depend on it.

Example — enter your numbers

Is there a limit on how much I can convert?

No. Anyone with a traditional IRA can convert any part of it in any year, whatever their income: the rule that barred conversions above $100,000 of AGI was struck for tax years after 2009 (IRC §408A, amendment notes to subsection (c)(3)). A conversion does not count against the Roth IRA contribution limit, and the income limits on contributions do not apply to it (§408A(c)(5)(B)). A conversion can be made by a 60-day rollover, a trustee-to-trustee transfer, or a transfer between two accounts at the same trustee (IRS Publication 590-A, “Conversions”).

What is the deadline for a 2026 Roth conversion?

December 31, 2026. The converted amount is included in income for the year it is distributed from the traditional IRA (Publication 590-A, “Income”), so a conversion cannot be made “for 2026” in the new year the way an IRA contribution can. Leave time for your custodian to process it before the year ends. Because the tax is due on your 2026 return, a large conversion can also call for more withholding or an estimated payment; the estimated tax calculator shows what is due by January 15, 2027.

Can I undo a Roth conversion?

No. A conversion made in a tax year beginning after December 31, 2017 cannot be recharacterized back to a traditional IRA (Publication 590-A, “No recharacterizations of conversions made in 2018 or later”). If the account falls after you convert, the tax is still figured on the amount converted.

Do I have to take my RMD before converting?

Amounts that must be distributed for a year under the required minimum distribution rules cannot be converted, including in the year you reach your RMD age (Publication 590-A, “Required distributions”). The RMD has to be paid out to you; only what you take above it can go into the Roth. Take the RMD, then convert. The RMD is the December 31, 2025 balance divided by the IRS divisor for your age (Uniform Lifetime Table); in the example it is $19,608, and the $40,000 conversion comes on top of it. The RMD calculator works out yours.

How is a Roth conversion taxed?

Everything converted is taxed as ordinary income in the conversion year, at your top federal bracket plus your state’s rate, except any part that is a return of after-tax basis (Publication 590-A, “Income”). The extra income can also make more of your Social Security taxable (IRS Publication 915), raise the MAGI that sets your Medicare premiums two years later, and lower an ACA premium tax credit. In the example, only the first $63,892 of a conversion keeps the couple’s taxable income within the 12% bracket, and $133,592 would bring their 2026 MAGI to the first IRMAA floor; with the $40,000 conversion their IRMAA MAGI is $124,408. The Roth conversion calculator shows the next $1,000 and the ACA credit as well.

What is the 5-year rule for a Roth conversion?

Each conversion starts its own 5-year period on January 1 of the year it is made. If you take converted dollars out of the Roth IRA within that period and before 59½, the part that was taxable when you converted it owes the 10% additional tax, although no income tax (IRC §408A(d)(3)(F)). A 2026 conversion is clear of it on January 1, 2031, or at 59½ if that comes first. A second clock, five years from January 1 of the first year you made a contribution or a conversion to any Roth IRA, decides whether earnings come out tax-free (IRS Publication 590-B, 26 CFR 1.408A-6). The Roth 5-year rule calculator runs both clocks on your own dates.

What if some of my IRA money is after-tax?

Then the conversion is taxed pro rata. All your traditional, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs count as one pool, and the nontaxable share of anything you convert is your after-tax basis divided by the value of the whole pool, figured on Form 8606; you cannot convert only the after-tax dollars. The check on this page treats the conversion as fully taxable; the backdoor Roth pro-rata calculator works out the taxable part when you have basis.

Can I convert a 401(k) to a Roth IRA?

Yes. An eligible rollover distribution from a 401(k), 403(b) or governmental 457(b) plan can be rolled over to a Roth IRA; the pre-tax part is income for the year of the rollover, and after-tax contributions in the plan come out without tax (Publication 590-A, “Rollover From Employer’s Plan Into a Roth IRA”). A required minimum distribution and a hardship distribution are not eligible rollover distributions, so they cannot be converted. A plan paying you directly must withhold 20%; a direct rollover has nothing withheld (Form W-4R).

Paid tool The rules settle what you may convert this year; how much to convert in each year from now to your plan end age is a multi-year bracket problem. The Roth Conversion Planner works that schedule: the federal and state tax each year’s conversion costs, the IRMAA tier that year’s MAGI sets two years later and the ACA subsidy it affects, set beside the same years with no conversions at all. A planning tool, not advice: the numbers move when your assumptions do. See what the Roth Conversion Planner includes →

Common questions

Is there a limit on how much I can convert to a Roth IRA?: No. There is no income limit and no annual dollar limit on conversions: the $100,000 income test was repealed for years after 2009 (IRC §408A notes). A conversion does not count against the Roth IRA contribution limit (§408A(c)(5)(B)). What limits a conversion in practice is its tax: in the North Carolina example a $40,000 conversion adds $8,113 of federal and state tax.
What is the deadline for a 2026 Roth conversion?: December 31, 2026. A conversion is income for the year the money is distributed from the traditional IRA (Publication 590-A), so unlike a Roth IRA contribution it cannot be made for 2026 after the year ends.
Can I undo a Roth conversion?: No. Conversions made in 2018 or later cannot be recharacterized back to a traditional IRA (Publication 590-A, “Recharacterizations”), so the tax on a 2026 conversion is due even if the account falls in value afterwards.
Can I convert my required minimum distribution to a Roth IRA?: No. An RMD cannot be converted or rolled over (Publication 590-A). In an RMD year take the RMD first; anything above it can be converted. With $500,000 on December 31, 2025, a 74-year-old’s 2026 RMD is $19,608.
What is the 5-year rule for Roth conversions?: Each conversion has its own 5-year period, beginning January 1 of the year of the conversion. Taking converted dollars out of the Roth IRA within that period before age 59½ costs the 10% additional tax on the part that was taxable when converted (IRC §408A(d)(3)(F)). A 2026 conversion is clear of it on January 1, 2031, or at 59½ if that comes first. A separate 5-year clock, from January 1 of the first year you made a contribution or a conversion to any Roth IRA, decides whether earnings come out tax-free (Publication 590-B, 26 CFR 1.408A-6). The Roth 5-year rule calculator runs both clocks.
How is a conversion taxed if I have after-tax money in my IRAs?: Pro rata. All your traditional, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs count as one pool, and the nontaxable share of a conversion is your after-tax basis divided by the pool, figured on Form 8606; you cannot convert only the after-tax dollars. The backdoor Roth pro-rata calculator works out the taxable part.
Can I convert a 401(k) to a Roth IRA?: Yes. An eligible rollover distribution from a 401(k), 403(b) or governmental 457(b) plan can be rolled over to a Roth IRA, and the pre-tax part is income in the year of the rollover (Publication 590-A, “Rollover From Employer’s Plan Into a Roth IRA”). As with an IRA, an RMD and a hardship distribution are not eligible rollover distributions.
Should I convert my IRA to a Roth after I retire?: It depends on whether the tax you pay now is lower than the tax the same dollars would carry later, for you or your heirs, which this page does not decide. What it shows is the cost now: the tax the conversion adds this year, the Social Security it makes taxable, and how close it takes your MAGI to an IRMAA tier. The Roth Conversion Planner sets a year-by-year schedule against no conversions at all.