Back Door Roth Ira Conversion

In order to prepare myself for a backdoor roth conversion i recently rolled over all my non roth ira accounts to my current employer s 401 k to avoid the pro rata rule as well as contributed my annual non deductible 5500 to a tira.

Back door roth ira conversion. Return to iras faqs. See publication 590 a contributions to individual retirement arrangements iras for more information. A conversion to a roth ira results in taxation of any untaxed amounts in the traditional ira. The backdoor roth ira is one of those options but there are state and federal tax pitfalls to converting money from a traditional ira or a qualified retirement account such as a 401 k to a.

For example if your traditional ira balance is 20 000 after rolling over money from a 401 k and 2 000 is from nondeductible contributions only 10 of any conversion to a roth will be tax free. A backdoor roth ira lets you convert your traditional ira to a roth even if your income is too high to open a roth ira the regular way. A method that taxpayers can use to place retirement savings in a roth ira even if their income is higher than the maximum the irs allows for regular roth ira contributions. Since the income limits on roth conversions were removed in 2010 higher income individuals who are not eligible to make a roth ira contribution have been able to make an indirect backdoor roth contribution instead by simply contributing to a non deductible ira which can always be done regardless of income and converting it shortly thereafter.

The backdoor roth ira contribution is a strategy and not a product or a type of ira contribution. Therefore you shouldn t ask your ira custodian or trustee for a backdoor roth ira contribution. There s no upfront tax break with a roth ira but contributions.