@vasto7 wrote:
Thanks for the reply. I am also planning on doing a Roth conversion in January of next year.
Income is assumed to happen spread out over the whole year. The IRS wants payments to be spread out the whole year as well. That means that for a conversion done in January, it is permissible to pay 1/4 of the estimated taxes on the IRS's quarterly schedule (April 15, June 15, Sept 15, and Jan 15, 2026) and you would be considered to have made timely payments, and not be subject to a penalty. IF you have all the money on hand, you can invest 3/4s of it in the mean time and earn a little extra.
And of course, you could have withholding, which also is treated as being spread out over the year so you won't be assessed a penalty, but you would pay over all the money up front.
