Roth Conversions Before RMDs: How They Can Change Your First Required Distribution

The prior year-end balance supplies the numerator. An original owner normally uses the Uniform Lifetime Table. The Joint and Last Survivor Table may apply when the spouse is the sole beneficiary for the entire year and is more than ten years younger. The Single Life Table generally serves different beneficiary situations outside this article. [1] [2]

Each IRA generally receives its own calculation, although eligible Traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRA RMD amounts may generally be aggregated and withdrawn from one or more of those IRAs. Employer-plan RMDs can have separate withdrawal and aggregation rules. Inherited accounts are outside this worked example. [2] [6]

There is no single starting age for everyone. Under the final regulations, owners born before July 1, 1949 may fall under the age-70½ framework; later 1949 and 1950 births generally use age 72; 1951 through 1958 births generally use age 73; and people born in 1960 or later generally use age 75. [3]

Traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRA owners do not receive a still-working delay merely because they remain employed. A current employer plan may allow a later start until retirement, depending on plan terms, but the exception generally does not apply to a more-than-5% owner. Account type, employer, ownership, and birth year therefore belong in the same review. [2] [6]

The converted amount leaves the modeled pre-tax balance and enters the modeled Roth balance. If the pre-tax account reaches a future December 31 with less money than an otherwise identical no-conversion path, the next RMD may be lower because the same applicable factor is dividing a smaller balance.

The conversion generally creates current taxable income. Withholding from the retirement distribution reduces the amount reaching Roth; paying tax from outside funds preserves more of the conversion in Roth but gives up other uses and potential growth for that cash. Market performance can amplify or overwhelm the modeled difference. The transaction changes where assets sit—it does not “save” an RMD or prove tax savings. [5]

This fixed illustration calls the same tested production engine used by the Future RMD & Roth Conversion Impact Calculator. Both paths start in 2026 for an owner born in 1960, age 66, with $1,000,000 pre-tax and $100,000 Roth. Both assume a constant 5% annual return, no contributions, the Uniform Lifetime Table, a first RMD at age 75 in 2035, and an ending age of 95.

The conversion path moves $50,000 annually at ages 66 through 74, for nine modeled conversions totaling $450,000. The annual convention matches the calculator: identify beginning balances and age; calculate an RMD from the beginning balance when due; apply growth; add contributions; subtract the RMD; then subtract a capped conversion from pre-tax and add it to Roth. The first RMD is taken in its distribution year rather than delayed.

Recreate this example in the Future RMD & Roth Conversion Impact Calculator. Load the example or enter the assumptions to examine every annual row. The calculator requires no contact information and keeps entries in the browser.

Previously untaxed conversion amounts generally enter gross income. Additional income may occupy higher ordinary-income brackets, affect deductions or credits, and create a need for additional withholding or estimated payments. Withholding from the converted account means less reaches Roth; using outside cash carries its own opportunity cost. [4] [5]

This Brief deliberately does not calculate exact tax. Review How Roth Conversions Are Taxed, the 2026 conversion-tax payment deadlines, and the Roth Conversion Tax-Bracket & IRMAA Calculator as separate parts of the analysis.

Related reading: 2026 Roth conversion and IRMAA guide and Roth conversions and Social Security taxation.

Roth conversions may generally still be possible after RMDs begin. The required amount itself is not an eligible rollover distribution and cannot become the conversion. The applicable RMD must still be satisfied; an additional eligible amount may generally be converted afterward. Both amounts may increase income in the same year, and procedures should be confirmed with the custodian. [1] [4]

The separate Brief Does a Roth Conversion Count as an RMD? owns the detailed same-year sequence. Reaching RMD age does not by itself end every conversion opportunity.

A smaller modeled pre-tax balance may lead to smaller future RMDs than an otherwise identical no-conversion scenario. The difference changes every year as returns, withdrawals, contributions, conversion amounts, life-expectancy factors, and account depletion compound. Law changes can alter the rules entirely.

The fixed example shows smaller RMDs through age 85 under its assumptions. A real account will not earn exactly 5% every year, and future cash flows may differ between scenarios. It would be inaccurate to guarantee that every future RMD will be lower under every real-world outcome.

The first-year delay does not erase the first distribution. This example assumes it is taken in the first RMD year, simplifying the comparison without recommending either timing choice. [1] [2]

Do not combine accounts with different RMD start assumptions into one simplified balance without disclosure. An IRA and a current employer plan may not share the same beginning date or aggregation rules. [2] [3] [6]

1. What is the verified RMD start age for my birth year?
2. Which accounts are subject to RMDs?
3. Does a still-working employer-plan exception apply?
4. What are the current account balances?
5. What growth assumptions are being used?
6. How much is proposed for conversion each year?
7. What portion is expected to be taxable?
8. Is IRA basis present?
9. How will conversion taxes be paid?
10. Could Medicare IRMAA be affected?
11. Could Social Security taxation be affected?
12. Are RMDs expected to be needed for spending?
13. Are charitable distributions part of the plan?
14. What happens under lower and higher investment returns?
15. What happens after one spouse dies?
16. Are current tax brackets being compared with potential future brackets?
17. Has the projection been updated for current law?

• Future RMDs generally depend on prior year-end pre-tax balances.
• A pre-RMD Roth conversion moves assets out of the modeled pre-tax balance.
• A smaller future pre-tax balance may produce a smaller future RMD.
• The conversion generally creates taxable income earlier.
• Lower RMDs do not automatically mean lower lifetime taxes.
• Birth year, account type, tax effects, Medicare, Social Security, and cash flow all matter.