dmertz
Level 15

Retirement tax questions

If the Roth conversion occurred in 2015 or earlier, the amount that you converted is now treated as equivalent to a regular Roth IRA contribution with the converted amount coming out before any amounts subject to tax or penalty.

 

If the Roth conversion 2016 or later, any regular contributions you have made to Roth IRAs come out first, tax and penalty free, and only after all of your regular Roth IRA contributions have been distributed to you begin to dip into the amount converted to Roth.  Any amounts taxable at conversion would be tax-free but would be subject to a recapture of the 10% early-distribution penalty.  Once those have been distributed, amounts that were not taxable at conversion (from a conversion of after-tax money from a qualified retirement plan like a 401(k) or attributable to basis in nondeductible traditional IRA contributions) come out tax- and penalty-free.  Last come out any earnings that occurred in your Roth IRAs subject to both income tax and 10% early-distribution penalty.