@user17717088430 wrote:
That answer makes no sense. When you do a conversion from a traditional IRA to a Roth, you pay tax on the amount converted. It should make no difference what the reason to do the conversion is, whether it is to accomplish an RMD or simply to move the money from one account to the other.
You are missing the entire point of the RMD. You can't keep retirement money in a tax-advantaged account forever. You are supposed to withdraw it and spend it. Essentially, the tax deferral has a built-in expiration date.
As a result, one of the things you can't do with your RMD is to move it into a different tax-deferred account. Even though you are taking a distribution and paying the income tax, you are moving it into a Roth account, which is another form of tax deferral. You can't do that. You have to withdraw your RMD, pay tax on it, and either spend it or invest it in a traditional taxable invest. After you have taken the RMD, you can think about moving additional funds from one tax-deferred account to another.
Anyway, it doesn't matter whether you like it or not. That's how the law and regulations are written. Period.
