Sunday, March 27, 2011

Last Minute Tax Advice

It turns out that in 2010, one can get around income limits on ROTH donations by converting a regular IRA to a ROTH. If it's pre-tax money, you get 2 years to pay the taxes on it. A good friend clued me into this, I just have to remember to do it tomorrow... She also told me about the trick of creating an IRA with after tax money then converting it to the ROTH. So if you had a good year this year and didn't fund a ROTH yet, or think you're going to hit income limits, try this trick before March 31st.

What I don't know is if there's a $5000 limit on the Roth conversion. I assume there is, but my brother is hoping that he can convert a whole IRA account. Anyone know?

2 comments:

S said...

Another way to dodge around income limits on a Roth is to contribute enough to a 401K plan that your AGI drops back into the allowable range. Not a useful year-end strategy, but may be something to consider heading into the new tax year.

CrankyOtter said...

Ah, that could be handy too. I didn't have too much trouble though as my AGI is lower than I expected, according to my tax guy.