今天华尔街日报的文章提到backdoor Roth IRA conversion，以前投坛也有关于这个话题的讨论，因为1986年的pro-rata rule, 所有税前的IRA账号和税后的钱需要按比例分配，这样转税后的钱去Roth IRA就很麻烦，大家都是怎么样操作的？能不能一次性把Rollover IRA里面的钱转入Roth IRA, 然后当年交税？下面是摘选自WSJ “I WILL be cautious when doing backdoor Roth IRAs
Backdoor Roth IRAs are a clever way for savers to make indirect contributions to Roth IRAs if they earn too much to make direct contributions. IRA contributions can be either $7,000 or $8,000 for 2024, depending on age, and they can be made until April 15, 2025.
But savers doing backdoor Roths should be aware of a potential pitfall: There could be surprise tax bills and complex record-keeping if the saver also has traditional IRAs holding pretax dollars that were deducted going in—as many do.
Say that someone has $100,000 of pretax funds in a traditional IRA and adds $7,000 of after-tax dollars to another IRA this year in order to do a backdoor conversion of it. He can’t, because the rules force him to allocate the $7,000 proportionately between all his pretax and after-tax IRA funds.
As a result, only about $455 of the after-tax funds will go to the Roth IRA. The other $6,545 will be a taxable IRA withdrawal—not what this saver wanted.
In addition, future withdrawals from this saver’s traditional IRAs must also be prorated between pretax and after-tax funds to avoid overpaying taxes.
Backdoor Roth IRA conversions work best for savers who don’t have IRAs holding after-tax funds. In that case, an after-tax contribution can often be rolled into the Roth IRA with little or no tax due.“
Rules for After-Tax Contributions: Contribution Limit: In 2024, the maximum contribution is $6,500 (or $7,500 if age 50 or older), or your earned income, whichever is less. No Income Limit: Regardless of how high your income is, you can make nondeductible contributions to a Traditional IRA.
今天华尔街日报的文章提到backdoor Roth IRA conversion，以前投坛也有关于这个话题的讨论，因为1986年的pro-rata rule, 所有税前的IRA账号和税后的钱需要按比例分配，这样转税后的钱去Roth IRA就很麻烦，大家都是怎么样操作的？能不能一次性把Rollover IRA里面的钱转入Roth IRA, 然后当年交税？下面是摘选自WSJ “I WILL be cautious when doing backdoor Roth IRAs
Backdoor Roth IRAs are a clever way for savers to make indirect contributions to Roth IRAs if they earn too much to make direct contributions. IRA contributions can be either $7,000 or $8,000 for 2024, depending on age, and they can be made until April 15, 2025.
But savers doing backdoor Roths should be aware of a potential pitfall: There could be surprise tax bills and complex record-keeping if the saver also has traditional IRAs holding pretax dollars that were deducted going in—as many do.
Say that someone has $100,000 of pretax funds in a traditional IRA and adds $7,000 of after-tax dollars to another IRA this year in order to do a backdoor conversion of it. He can’t, because the rules force him to allocate the $7,000 proportionately between all his pretax and after-tax IRA funds.
As a result, only about $455 of the after-tax funds will go to the Roth IRA. The other $6,545 will be a taxable IRA withdrawal—not what this saver wanted.
In addition, future withdrawals from this saver’s traditional IRAs must also be prorated between pretax and after-tax funds to avoid overpaying taxes.
Backdoor Roth IRA conversions work best for savers who don’t have IRAs holding after-tax funds. In that case, an after-tax contribution can often be rolled into the Roth IRA with little or no tax due.“
rollover的时候就分了是从401k还是Roth 401k来的。我的理解是，要是Roth 401k的rollover到Roth IRA account，以后convert traditional IRA就不存在prorata的问题。
W-2很少或没有的人如果直接用after tax money存了IRA，就会有prorata的问题。
一条是IRS的每年7000-8000；
一条是公司提供after tax 401k， 可以convert to after tax 401k。
第一条受收入限制， 收入不高， 可以直接存 roth， 收入高， 走后门转Roth。
这个坦里讨论了好几次了
当然我是看自己，坛里和周边朋友的情况，我自己从没存过一分钱after tax IRA。一上班就有401k不能搞IRA了。
开一对儿：一个traditional IRA， 一个Roth IRA；7k/8k存如traditional IRA，当天转去Roth IRA。并保持traditional IRA一直为零就可以啊。
而且很多都有从之前401k rollover出来的IRA。没法干净地干这事。
所以只能从娃娃抓起，大家还有未成年子女的都该开始巧立收入名目给娃门存Roth IRA
一次转IRA到roth， 交一次税， 为今后的后门扫清道路。
不过， 每年7-8000， 是小数字.
Rules for After-Tax Contributions: Contribution Limit: In 2024, the maximum contribution is $6,500 (or $7,500 if age 50 or older), or your earned income, whichever is less. No Income Limit: Regardless of how high your income is, you can make nondeductible contributions to a Traditional IRA.
不想Pro-rate，只能 1）缴税全部转成Roth， 或者 2）roll back 到401K里。
Roth, 是不是就没有文章中说的问题？谢谢！