Roth IRA Conversion: Protecting Retirement Assets from Rising Tax Rates

Roth IRA Conversion

A Roth IRA conversion is a useful technique to reduce the impact of rising taxes. The process begins with the review of your tax return and identifying any triggers that warrant a possible conversion. If you are nearing or at retirement age, there may be merit in moving assets from a traditional IRA or 401(k) plan to a Roth Individual Retirement Account due to the tax-free income it will deliver in your later years.

When a Roth Conversion Makes Sense

One of the important considerations in converting to a Roth include Medicare expenses. For example, this year a 72-year-old with $1.5 million in a Traditional IRA will have an RMD (Required Minimum Distribution) of $58,593.75. The RMD is considered earned income and creates additional expenses for Medicare. This impact may be substantial. For example, moving income brackets from $176,000 to $176,001 triggers a 40% increase in monthly Medicare premiums. If the RMD was smaller, income levels could be lower and therefore lead to lower Medicare expenses.

Other situations when a Roth conversion may make sense include relocations, early retirement and small-business owners looking to better capitalize on the 20% pass-through deduction.

Unlike traditional IRAs, where distributions are fully income-taxable, a Roth generally allows for tax-free distributions once you reach age 59½ and have held the Roth IRA for five years. They also come with no required minimum distributions during your lifetime, allowing additional years of compounding investment returns.

How to Convert to a Roth

Roth conversions became a popular topic last year when an unexpected opportunity arose from the CARES (Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security) Act. The legislation allowed eligible clients to suspend required minimum distributions for tax year 2020, creating a window in which they could instead convert that money into after-tax Roth accounts at a historically low tax rate. However, the RMD relief ended with the close of the 2020 year.
The new administration’s tax proposals now again incentivize moving funds into a Roth IRA. Converting to a Roth IRA can be achieved in the following ways:

• Indirect rollover: You receive a distribution from a traditional IRA and contribute it to a Roth IRA within 60 days.
• Trustee-to-trustee or direct rollover: You tell the financial institution holding your traditional IRA assets to transfer an amount directly to the trustee of your Roth IRA at a different financial institution.
• Same trustee transfer: If your traditional and Roth IRAs are maintained at the same financial institution, you can tell the trustee to transfer an amount from your traditional IRA to your Roth IRA.

The “Backdoor” Roth Conversion

Under current rules, a Roth IRA cannot be opened or contributed to if one’s modified adjusted gross income is greater than $139,000 in 2020 ($140,000 in 2021) for single filers and $206,000 in 2020 ($208,000 in 2021) if married and filing jointly. A solution to this for high-income earners could be to explore a ‘backdoor’ Roth IRA. A ‘backdoor’ Roth IRA is a legal workaround by which high-income earners can circumvent income limits.

To begin the process, one must make a nondeductible contribution to a traditional IRA. Once completed, that contribution to the traditional IRA can be converted into a Roth IRA shortly thereafter. The annual contribution limit for a Roth IRA is $6,000 ($7,000 if you're age 50-plus). By scooting through the back door every year, you can potentially build up a tax-free retirement nest egg over time and enjoy the Roth IRA's unique benefits.

Adding it All Up

Depending on individual tax situations, the financial benefits of a Roth conversion may be substantial as after-tax investments can compound over a period of years, or decades. Given the likelihood of potential changes in tax legislation, especially on higher-income earners, the protection provided by a Roth conversion a Roth Conversion may be an appropriate financial planning technique to consider.