Tax Calculator
Roth Conversion Bracket Analyzer (Tax Year 2026): What It Calculates and How to Read the Result
Quick answer
A multi-year Roth conversion ladder converts pre-tax dollars to Roth in deliberate annual increments — calibrated to fill specific federal tax brackets without crossing IRMAA thresholds — across the years between retirement and the start of RMDs at age 73. Done well against 2026 brackets, this can permanently reduce lifetime tax by six figures on a $1.5M+ pre-tax balance, with the gains compounding tax-free in the Roth for decades.
Roth Conversion Bracket Analyzer · Tax Year 2026
Plan Roth conversions without hopping brackets
Lock in 2026 federal brackets, estimate the tax drag of a conversion, and see how much room you still have before stepping into the next marginal rate.
Enter your projected 2026 AGI before any Roth conversion.
Conversion amount is treated as additional ordinary income in 2026.
Taxable income (before conversion)
$103,900.00
Total tax (before conversion)
$17,570.00
Marginal bracket (before conversion)
22%
Taxable income (after conversion)
$103,900.00
Total tax (after conversion)
$17,570.00
Incremental tax from conversion
$0.00
Effective rate on conversion
0%
Room before next bracket
$1,800.00
- Your inputs suggest meaningful planning tradeoffs.
- Small assumption changes can materially change outcomes.
- A coordinated plan can reduce risk and improve efficiency.
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Taxable income, total tax, and effective rates assume no Roth conversion.
Taxable income
$103,900.00
Total tax
$17,570.00
Effective tax rate
16.9%
Marginal bracket
22%
Incorporates the selected conversion amount as additional ordinary income.
Taxable income
$103,900.00
Total tax
$17,570.00
Incremental tax
$0.00
Effective rate on conversion
0%
Marginal bracket after conversion
22%
Conversion in current bracket
$0.00
Conversion spilling higher
$0.00
Based on your inputs, your current marginal bracket is 22%.
You can add approximately $1,800.00 of ordinary income (including conversions) before you enter the 24% bracket.
With the selected conversion amount of $0.00, about $0.00 stays in your current bracket and $0.00 is taxed at higher rates.
What This Calculator Actually Answers
This analyzer models a year-by-year Roth conversion strategy against the 2026 federal tax brackets and IRMAA thresholds. It optimizes the annual conversion amount to fill — but not exceed — your target bracket each year, accounting for Social Security, capital gains, pension income, and any other taxable income that pre-fills the lower brackets.
The output is a multi-year conversion schedule with annual dollar amounts, a projection of remaining traditional IRA balance over time, the resulting RMD trajectory (which becomes much smaller after the conversion ladder), and the cumulative lifetime tax saved versus the do-nothing baseline.
How to Read the Result
The two outputs that matter most are the year-by-year conversion schedule and the cumulative lifetime tax savings. The schedule tells you what to actually execute each year; the savings figure tells you what the strategy is worth.
Also pay attention to the IRMAA tier line. A well-designed ladder stays one tier below the next cliff most years, with occasional larger conversions in years where you can absorb a single year of higher Medicare premiums. The point is intentional pacing, not maximization at any cost.
Common Mistakes
- Treating each year's conversion in isolation. The leverage comes from the multi-year sequence, not from any single year's decision.
- Maximizing the current-year conversion without modeling the IRMAA premium consequence two years out. The 2026 conversion that fills the 24% bracket may trigger a 2028 IRMAA tier that costs $7,000+ per couple.
- Forgetting that Social Security claiming affects the conversion window. Claiming Social Security early shrinks the low-bracket runway because Social Security income partially fills the lower brackets.
- Failing to coordinate conversions with capital gain realization. A large conversion plus deliberate gain harvesting in the same year can push you out of the 0% LTCG bracket entirely.
- Not updating the model annually. Tax law, your income, and your investment balances all evolve — a multi-year plan needs annual recalibration.
When This Calculator Is Not the Right Tool
This analyzer assumes you have already decided that Roth conversions make sense for your situation — that your current marginal rate is meaningfully lower than your projected future rate. For the prior-step question of whether to convert at all, use the basic Roth Conversion calculator first. Use this analyzer to design the ladder once the conversion decision is made.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many years should a Roth conversion ladder span?
Typically as many years as you have between retirement and age 73 (the RMD start age). For someone retiring at 60, that's a 13-year window. The ladder is spread across all of those years to keep each year's conversion within target brackets — concentrating the conversions in fewer years usually triggers bracket overflow and IRMAA cliffs.
Should I convert to the top of the 22% bracket or the 24%?
It depends on your projected future bracket. If RMDs and Social Security together are projected to put you in the 24% bracket for life, converting at 24% is approximately break-even (you pay the same rate either way) — but you still gain the no-RMD benefit and the tax-free legacy potential. If projected future is 22% or lower, converting at 24% probably destroys value.
What about the 2025 TCJA sunset?
Several TCJA provisions were scheduled to sunset after 2025 — most notably, the individual rate cuts. That sunset is no longer a live risk: the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act made the TCJA individual rates and elevated standard deduction permanent, so brackets now continue to adjust for inflation each year rather than reverting upward. The 2026 brackets in this calculator reflect the current, enacted law.
Can I do conversions every year or only some years?
Annually is usually best for most households — small consistent conversions accumulate the most value with the least IRMAA disruption. Occasional years with no conversion (or a smaller-than-average one) may make sense around large one-time income events (capital gain realization, NQDC distribution, large bonus year).