Should I do Roth conversions before RMDs start?

Usually yes, if you hold pre-tax retirement money and the years between retiring and your first required minimum distribution are lower-income years. Every dollar converted before 73 is a dollar that never becomes an RMD, and it is converted at the rates of your emptiest years. Once RMDs begin, the forced withdrawal fills the low brackets before you convert anything.

At what age do RMDs start?

Age 73 if you were born from 1951 through 1959, and age 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. The first year's percentage is about 3.8% of the prior year-end balance, and it rises every year. A $1,000,000 IRA produces a first RMD of about $37,736.

How much should I convert each year before RMDs?

Enough to use the room in your current bracket without spilling into the next one, while staying under the Medicare IRMAA line that applies two years out. For a married couple in 2026 the 12% bracket ends at $100,800 of taxable income and the first IRMAA line is $218,000 of modified adjusted gross income. The right amount is different every year, which is why it is a yearly calculation and not a one-time decision.

Roth conversions · timing

Should you do Roth conversions before RMDs start?

By Jim Swiech, CPA · Updated September 5, 2026

Quick answer

Usually, yes. If you hold pre-tax retirement money and the years between retiring and your first required minimum distribution are lower-income years, they are the cheapest years you will ever have to convert. Every dollar converted before RMDs is a dollar that never becomes an RMD.

Once RMDs begin, the forced withdrawal fills your low brackets before you convert anything, and the same conversion costs more.

Why the window exists

Most retirees have a stretch of years with unusually low taxable income: the paycheck has stopped, Social Security has not started or is small, and nothing is forcing money out of the IRA. In 2026 a married couple can have $100,800 of taxable income and never leave the 12% bracket. A conversion that fills that room is taxed at 10% and 12%. Later, the same dollars come out as RMDs stacked on Social Security and a pension, often at 22% or more, with a share of the Social Security dragged into tax on the way.

In the example household on the Roth conversion page, a $100,000 conversion costs $12,360 at 63 with no Social Security and $18,017 at 76 with a $60,000 RMD. That gap is the value of the window.

How RMDs close it

Required minimum distributions begin at 73 if you were born from 1951 through 1959, and at 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. The amount is your prior year-end balance divided by an IRS life-expectancy factor, and the factor shrinks every year, so the percentage rises.

IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. Percentage of the prior year-end balance that must be withdrawn.
Age	Divisor	Percent of balance	RMD on $1,000,000
73	26.5	3.77%	$37,736
75	24.6	4.07%	$40,650
80	20.2	4.95%	$49,505
85	16.0	6.25%	$62,500
90	12.2	8.20%	$81,967

At 73 a $1,000,000 IRA forces out about $37,736. That withdrawal lands on the return before you decide anything, and it is what uses up the low brackets. Every dollar you converted earlier is a dollar that is not in that balance and not in that calculation.

How much to convert each year

Fill the bracket, stay under the line. Take the top of the bracket you want to stay in, subtract everything else that will be on the return, and that is this year's conversion. Then check the result against the Medicare IRMAA line that applies two years out ($218,000 of modified adjusted gross income for a couple in 2026, $109,000 single). Repeat every year the window is open.

The 2026 bracket tops for a married couple: 12% ends at $100,800 of taxable income, 22% at $211,400. For a single filer: $50,400 and $105,700. Taxable income is after the standard deduction ($32,200 for a couple, $16,100 single), the 65-and-over addition ($1,650 per spouse, $2,050 single), and the $6,000 per-person senior deduction available through 2028 for those 65 and older, which phases out above $150,000 of income for a couple and $75,000 single.

When you should not

If retirement income will be low enough that RMDs would fall in the 10% or 12% brackets anyway, converting at 12% now buys little. If the IRA is headed to charity, it is already tax-free at the end. If a conversion would push you over an IRMAA line you would otherwise clear, the premium hit two years later can erase the benefit. And if you are still working at peak earnings, wait for the window to open.

Two rules to know before you start

A conversion cannot be undone; the ability to recharacterize ended in 2018. And the five-year clock on each conversion only matters if you are under 59½; past that age the 10% penalty on converted principal no longer applies. The five-year rule that does still matter for retirees is on Roth earnings: they are tax-free once five tax years have passed since you first funded any Roth IRA. If you have never had one, opening and funding one now starts that clock.

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Quick answers

Should I do Roth conversions before RMDs start?: Usually yes, if you hold pre-tax retirement money and the years between retiring and your first required minimum distribution are lower-income years. Every dollar converted before 73 is a dollar that never becomes an RMD, and it is converted at the rates of your emptiest years. Once RMDs begin, the forced withdrawal fills the low brackets before you convert anything.
At what age do RMDs start?: Age 73 if you were born from 1951 through 1959, and age 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. The first year's percentage is about 3.8% of the prior year-end balance, and it rises every year. A $1,000,000 IRA produces a first RMD of about $37,736.
How much should I convert each year before RMDs?: Enough to use the room in your current bracket without spilling into the next one, while staying under the Medicare IRMAA line that applies two years out. For a married couple in 2026 the 12% bracket ends at $100,800 of taxable income and the first IRMAA line is $218,000 of modified adjusted gross income. The right amount is different every year, which is why it is a yearly calculation and not a one-time decision.

Updated September 5, 2026. Reviewed by Jim Swiech, CPA.

Educational and general in nature. Not tax, legal or investment advice, and not a recommendation to convert. Figures are 2026 federal amounts under the assumptions stated on this page; your return has more lines than any example. Go Beyond Tax is a brand of Swiech Consulting LLC.