Can a retired individual do a back door roth conversion from an ira. I am retired (age 66) with no income beyond Social Security and two partial pensions.

[macuser_22 · Accepted solution]

No.  A backdoor Roth is used by people whose income it too high to permit a direct Roth contribution so they make a non-deductible Traditional IRA contribution and then convert that to a Roth.

To make *any* IRA contribution you must have taxable compensation (money that your worked for) or spouse worked for on a joint return, at least as much as the contribution.

If your only income is SS and retirement income, you are not eligible to make any IRA contribution at all.

[dmertz]

If you instead want to do a Roth conversion from an already existing balance in a traditional IRA, there are no restrictions against doing so.