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Educational planning tool — not personalized financial, tax, or investment advice. Consult a licensed professional.
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In a hurry? Get a quick estimate
Four questions, about a minute — see roughly what a Roth-conversion plan could do before you fill in the details.
Marital Status & Filing
Marital Status
Filing status?Your filing status is based on your marital status as of December 31 of the tax year. If married, you can typically choose "Married filing jointly" or "Married filing separately" — jointly is almost always better unless there's a specific reason (like separating liability) to file separately.
State of Residence
Your state
State income tax rate?Your state income tax rate applied to Adjusted Gross Income. Select a state to auto-fill, or enter a custom rate. Some states partially or fully exempt SS or retirement income.
0%15%
Local (city / county) income tax?Some localities charge their own income tax on top of the state, and it applies to a Roth conversion too. It's common in Maryland (every county), New York City / Yonkers, and Indiana (every county) — roughly 1%–4%, which can add hundreds to a couple thousand dollars on a large conversion. Most people leave this at 0%. Note: many city "wage taxes" (e.g. in Ohio and Pennsylvania) only tax paychecks, not IRA or retirement income — so leave this at 0% if that's your only local tax.
Most people: 0%. If your city or county has an income tax (mainly Maryland, New York City, and Indiana), enter that rate — the easiest place to find it is last year's state tax return, or see this list of local income taxes ↗. Not sure? Leave it at 0% and check with a tax pro.
Date of Birth & Sex
You
First name (optional)?Optional. Enter it and we'll label your accounts and results with your name — e.g. "Bob's 401(k)" — instead of the generic "You". Leave it blank to keep "You".
Your date of birth?We use your birth date to work out your current age, your Social Security Full Retirement Age (FRA), and the age your Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) begin. Both the FRA and RMD rules are set by the year you were born, and the cutoffs fall on exact year boundaries — so entering the real date keeps you on the right side of them.
Sex assigned at birth?Used only for the official Social Security mortality table, which is sex-specific — it powers the "life expectancy" suggestion and the Social Security claiming optimizer. It does not change your taxes.
📅 Life expectancy (the age we plan through) is on the Assumptions page — set it there, or let it auto-fill from the official Social Security table.
Spouse
Spouse’s first name (optional)
Spouse date of birth?Your spouse's Full Retirement Age (FRA) and Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) start age are set by their own birth year, independently of yours — so the two of you may hit these milestones in different years.
Spouse’s sex assigned at birth?Used only for the sex-specific Social Security mortality table (life-expectancy suggestion + the claiming optimizer). It does not change your taxes.
Income
New here? I'll walk you through it — or just fill in the cards below.
Full-Time W-2 Income & Retirement
You
Nickname (optional)
The “Wages, tips, other compensation” box on your W-2 — it already has 401(k), pre-tax health premiums & HSA taken out. (On a pay stub it’s the “federal taxable wages.”) Enter your 401(k) contribution separately on the Accounts tab. Self-employed? Use your net earnings.
Spouse
Nickname (optional)
The “Wages, tips, other compensation” box on the W-2 — already net of 401(k), pre-tax health & HSA. (Pay stub: “federal taxable wages.”)
Pension Income
You
Nickname (optional)
Spouse
Nickname (optional)
Does your pension get a raise each year? Many private pensions are fixed — leave this at 0%. Set a rate only if yours has a cost-of-living adjustment (common for federal, military, and some state pensions). Applies to both pensions.
Social Security
You
Eligible for SS? ?Not everyone qualifies for Social Security.

You may not be eligible if:
• You worked for a federal, state, or local government covered by a pension instead of SS (e.g. some teachers, police, firefighters)
• You worked for the railroad (covered by Railroad Retirement instead)
• You are a non-citizen who hasn't met work requirements
• You haven't accumulated 40 work credits (roughly 10 years of SS-covered employment)
• You worked only in jobs exempt from SS withholding

If unsure, check your Social Security statement at ssa.gov.
yr (62–70)
I don't know the amount at my start age
Let me enter my current amount instead
Annual gross SS used in calculation: $38,004
Spouse
Eligible for SS? ?Not everyone qualifies for Social Security.

You may not be eligible if:
• You worked for a federal, state, or local government covered by a pension instead of SS (e.g. some teachers, police, firefighters)
• You worked for the railroad (covered by Railroad Retirement instead)
• You are a non-citizen who hasn't met work requirements
• You haven't accumulated 40 work credits (roughly 10 years of SS-covered employment)
• You worked only in jobs exempt from SS withholding

If unsure, check your Social Security statement at ssa.gov.
yr (62–70)
I don't know the amount at their start age
Let me enter their current amount instead
Annual gross SS used in calculation: $18,000
📈 Cost-of-living increase (COLA) — currently —, set once for your whole plan on the Assumptions page →
Other Income Sources
You
Nickname (optional)
Nickname (optional)
Nickname (optional)
Spouse
Nickname (optional)
Nickname (optional)
Nickname (optional)
Which kind of income is it?
Expected windfall / inheritance
Do you expect to receive an inheritance or other windfall in the next 20 years? ?Includes: inheritance from a parent, a home sale, a business exit, a legal settlement, life insurance payout, or any other one-time cash event that isn't ongoing income. Skip if you don't expect one — most people can leave this off.
Accounts
New here? I'll walk you through it — or use "Add account" below.
Traditional IRA / 401(k)
Whose is this?
Override
Override
After-tax basis?
After-tax basis?
You
Spouse
Expected annual return & fee
Reinvested RMD account
ⓘ RMDs you don’t spend are reinvested here and earn this rate; gains are taxed as ordinary income each year (like CD interest).
Roth IRA
Whose is this?
Nickname (optional)
Nickname (optional)
You
Spouse
Expected annual return & fee
ⓘ Roth growth is never taxed and has no RMDs — so many investors hold their Roth most aggressively (a higher return here).
Savings / money market
Nickname (optional)
Brokerage / investment account
Nickname (optional)
ⓘ Cost basis is what you originally paid for the investments (before growth). When the tool sells from this account, only the gain above your basis is taxed, at long-term capital-gains rates. Leave it at $0 to assume the whole balance is gains — the most conservative (highest-tax) assumption.
Additional accounts
Have Roth, brokerage, or savings accounts earning different returns? Add each one and we'll grow it at its own rate — no need to blend them into a single guess. (Multiple traditional IRAs: combine those into the field above, since conversions treat your pre-tax money as one pool.)
Health Savings Account (HSA)
A tax-free account that pays qualified healthcare as it spends down — Medicare Part B & D premiums, out-of-pocket medical and prescriptions, and long-term care. (It doesn’t cover Medigap or ACA marketplace premiums, which aren’t HSA-eligible — those keep coming from your other accounts.)
Current balance
Expected annual return (optional)
It grows tax-free. Leave blank for 0%/yr (no growth) — enter a rate only if it’s invested.
Expenses
New here? I'll walk you through it — or just fill in the cards below.
Time-limited expenses
These start and stop at specific times.
Long-term care
Health care & Medicare
Coverage between now and Medicare
How will you be covered in the years before Medicare Part B starts? This only affects future years — past coverage doesn't matter here.
How much do you pay for it? Leave $0 if it comes out of your paycheck — that's already netted out of your take-home. Enter it only if you pay out of pocket (private plan, COBRA, retiree plan, health-share).
Already taken out pre-tax and reflected in your W-2 wages — shown here just so your budget looks complete. It doesn't come out of your savings or change your plan. Leave blank if you pay out of pocket above.
Prescription-drug cost (per year, now)?What you spend out of pocket on prescription drugs each year right now, before Medicare. We spend this every pre-Medicare year, then once you're on Medicare we automatically cap it at the Part D out-of-pocket max (about $2,100/yr per person under the Inflation Reduction Act) — so a big current drug bill drops to the cap at 65. Leave $0 if minimal.
Your current out-of-pocket drug spend. On Medicare we automatically cap it at the Part D max (about $2,100/yr per person).
Medicare
Most people: 65. Enter a later age only if you'll delay (e.g. still working past 65 on an employer plan).
Fills typical national-average Medicare (Part B + D) and a Plan G supplement, in today's dollars — we automatically grow them each year (rate on the Assumptions page) to what you'll actually pay when your Medicare starts, whether that's at 65 or a later age you choose. Adjust any figure for your own plan, age & state.
Supplement or Advantage plan?The monthly premium for your extra Medicare coverage — either a Medigap (Supplement) policy or a Medicare Advantage plan. Enter whichever you have (many Advantage plans are $0). Premiums differ by plan, age, and area. Leave $0 if none.
Monthly premium for your Medigap supplement or Advantage plan — many Advantage plans are $0.
Prescription-drug cost (per year)?Your out-of-pocket drug spend per year. Under 2025+ rules the Part D out-of-pocket is capped around $2,000/yr per person, so most people are at or below that. Leave $0 if minimal.
Yearly out-of-pocket — capped ~$2,000/person. Leave $0 if minimal.
Medicare, Medigap & IRMAA inflation rates are on the Assumptions page.
Household Expenses
Your ongoing, everyday cost of living. Leave out anything entered on its own card: medical & Medicare (Health card), long-term care, the mortgage, and one-time / time-limited costs — so nothing is double-counted.
Tax Assumptions
How brackets, future rates, and your heirs' tax situation are modeled — these drive whether converting now beats paying later.
Future tax rate assumption

Choose how future tax rates are modeled in every strategy calculation. This lets you stress-test whether converting now beats waiting if rates change down the road. iWhen a non-default scenario is selected, federal tax rates are raised starting at the selected year and held there for the rest of the projection — either by scaling the current rates (the multiplier options) or by swapping in the real pre-TCJA schedule. Bracket dollar thresholds still rise with inflation each year either way. This lets you stress-test whether converting now (at today's locked-in rates) beats waiting and risking higher future rates.

Rate increase
takes effect in year
Calendar year
2031
We are near 100-year-low tax rates — and they're now locked in
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 lowered brackets across the board. For years, these cuts were widely expected to expire after 2025, reverting to higher pre-2018 rates (the top bracket would have jumped from 37% to 39.6%, and the 12/22/24% brackets would have reverted to 15/25/28%). That sunset did not happen. On July 4, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) made the TCJA's 7-bracket structure — 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, 37% — permanent.

That's genuinely good news for current taxpayers — but it doesn't mean rates are guaranteed to stay this low forever. Top marginal rates have been far higher across U.S. history: 94% in 1944, 70%+ through the 1970s, and 50% as recently as 1986. Federal deficits, entitlement funding pressure, and future legislative changes mean brackets could still rise again at any point — they're just no longer scheduled to by current law. The case for Roth conversions isn't "rates are about to expire" anymore — it's "rates are historically inexpensive right now, and converting locks in today's known cost instead of gambling on a future unknown."
Annual bracket adjustment
2026 Federal Income Tax Brackets
Current law — OBBBA, permanent.
Single filers
RateIncome range
Married filing jointly
RateIncome range
Historical perspective: top marginal federal rate
Top marginal federal income tax rate by era. Today's 37% top rate is among the lowest in the past 110 years of U.S. tax history — comparable only to the brief window of 1925–1931 and 1988–1992.
Choose Your Strategy
Set how conversion taxes get paid, add any charitable giving, and optionally define your own strategies to compare.
Want to customize a strategy?

Define up to two custom strategies below — they'll be included in the results alongside all the automatically generated ones so you can see exactly how they compare.

Custom Strategy A Bracket gross-up, then switch ?Custom Strategy A lets you gross-up to a specific tax bracket for a set number of years, then automatically switch to a different approach. For example: fill the 22% bracket for 5 years while still working, then stop converting at retirement. Great if you have a known income change on the horizon.
Fill a tax bracket ceiling each year for N years, then switch.
Custom Strategy B Fixed amount, then switch ?Custom Strategy B converts a fixed dollar amount each year for a set number of years, then switches to another approach. Useful if you want predictable annual tax bills — for example, convert exactly $50,000/yr for 10 years to keep taxes in a known range, then stop.
Convert a fixed dollar amount each year for N years, then switch.
How will conversion taxes be paid? ?Example: $200k conversion at 22% = $44k in taxes.

Pay from savings: Full $200k enters Roth. Savings drops by $44k. More long-term Roth growth.

Withhold from conversion: Only $156k enters Roth. No savings impact. Simpler but leaves $44k less compounding tax-free.

Split with reserve: Savings pays taxes down to your reserve floor. If taxes exceed available funds above the floor, the remainder is withheld from the conversion.
Paying taxes from outside the IRA keeps more money in the Roth and is almost always better. Withholding is simpler but less efficient. The split option protects a cash reserve.
Two separate pots of money. The amount you convert always comes from your Traditional IRA / 401(k) — that's what a conversion is. This setting only decides where the tax on that conversion is paid from. Choosing "Pay from outside the IRA" leaves your Traditional and Roth balances untouched by the tax bill.
If cash runs short, which account is spent first? ?Most years, income and savings cover your spending. But if a year's spending is more than your income — after savings, brokerage, and CDs are used — the tool taps a retirement account next. This setting decides whether it draws the Roth or the traditional IRA first. It only matters in years that actually run short; well-funded plans rarely reach this.
Most years, income and savings cover your spending. In a year that does run short, the tool taps these accounts from the top down until the gap is filled. Drag the cards (or use the ▲▼ buttons) to set the order. The recommended order spends taxable money first and saves the tax-free Roth for last — it usually leaves more after-tax wealth, but can cost a little more tax some years, so run What-If to confirm.
ⓘ You may not have all five of these — that's fine. We still list them all, because money can flow into them over time: reinvested RMDs collect in CDs, and excess savings sweeps into your brokerage. An account with nothing in it is simply never tapped.
    Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) ? What is a QCD?

    A Qualified Charitable Distribution lets anyone age 70½ or older donate money directly from your IRA to a qualified charity. The donation never touches your bank account and never appears in your AGI — it simply reduces your IRA balance.

    Why this matters for Roth conversions:
    • The QCD satisfies your RMD obligation for the year (up to the QCD amount)
    • Since it doesn't hit AGI, it can't push you into a higher bracket, trigger IRMAA surcharges, or increase Social Security taxation
    • It's almost always better to give from the IRA than from savings or a brokerage account — those after-tax dollars are worth more to you

    2026 annual QCD limit: $108,000 per person (indexed to inflation)
    Donating $20,000/year from your IRA instead of from savings could save thousands in federal taxes annually, lower your IRMAA tier, reduce Social Security taxation, and shrink the IRA balance that generates future taxable RMDs — all at the same time.
    Plan to make charitable gifts from IRA?
    Results
    New here? Take the tour to see everything the Results page can do.
    Tools
    Admin / debug — raw data
    Your plan composes automatically when you open the Results tab.