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- Apr 14, 2006
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My understanding has always been that you must put RMDs in taxable. You cannot convert RMDs to a Roth.
You can convert any amount above your RMD to a Roth, but for most people, SS+pensions+RMDs are pushing you into a higher bracket already, so you don't want even more income. The more ideal time is after you ER, but before you start SS, pension and RMDs, when you're likely to be in a lower bracket.
Yes, we're going to start Roth conversions at age 61/59 and hope to mostly drain the IRA/401k accounts before RMDs kick in, but I was hoping to be able to send the RMD money to a Roth also. After I asked earlier, I poked around in the IRS Publication 590-B, which seems to say that they treat the Roth conversion as a rollover and you can't rollover an RMD. Not particularly sensible to me, but if that's the rule, then I guess I just have to hold RMDs in a fully taxable account. Bummer. That might be another factor in the decision of how much to rollover before we hit 70. (i.e roll to 24% or 22%).
Thanks for the Marketwatch article. It is much clearer than the IRS.
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