Benefits (or not) of rolling funds from Trad IRA to aRoth

[singletond]

We are obliged to take MRDs and these grow to a large % in later years. If one stays in the same tax bracket for a long time, is it worth rolling funds from trad. IRA to a Roth and pay the income tax now, rather than wait and pay the higher income tax on very large MDRs later?

I assume that rolling only sufficient funds to bring taxable income up to the top of one's tax band would be beneficial. Does anyone know of authoritive articles on this topic?

Dave

[MN Finance]

If you're already at RMD age then converting is of a nominal benefit since the assumption is that you can't convert much above the RMD and stay in current brackets. There's a lot more that goes into the answer so it's hard to tell from the data you provided.

[BL]

I don't think "rolling" is the correct term. Maybe it is converting.

We do this, I am not positive it is going to pay off but it may very well pay off. Also, it should benefit our heirs.

Also, I have decided to use the QCD (Qualified Charitable Distribution) this year for most non-minor charitable contributions( since we don't itemize) rather than limit it to RMD amount. Again, not positive it will help, but I think it will, since we will then contribute that much to our taxable account rather than "blow" it. I used the QCD last year for my RMD amount so it will not be taxed.

Not only do the %s increase with age, there is a likelihood of one survivor of a married couple being in a higher tax bracket if income is not cut exactly in half.

Keeping more/most of fixed income in the IRA rather than elsewhere may keep it from growing as fast as the other accounts. That seems to be recommended in the Wiki.

[kaneohe]

If you're already taking RMDs, remember that you have to take the RMD before doing any conversions........and since all of your TIRAs are considered to be 1 big TIRA, you need to fulfill that RMD for all TIRAs before doing any conversions.