Tools/Retirement withdrawals & early access/Roth Conversion Ladder Calculator✓ CHECKED AGAINST WORKED EXAMPLES · SEP 29, 2026

How much should I convert each year in a Roth ladder?

Fill a tax bracket each year and see how much to convert to Roth, what it costs in federal tax, when each conversion becomes penalty-free before 59½, and where the 2026 ACA line sits.

Edit on my map

Pre-tax balance to convert$Traditional IRA and pre-tax 401(k) money you plan to move to Roth.Age you start convertingyrsUsually the year your paycheck stops.Other taxable income, per year$Interest, non-qualified dividends, short-term gains, part-time pay, taxable pension. Leave out long-term gains and qualified dividends: they go in the box below. For the ACA line, tax-exempt interest and untaxed Social Security count too.Long-term gains and qualified dividends, per year$Gains you realize each year, for example from selling taxable investments to live on. They are taxed at 0%, 15% or 20% on top of your other income, and a conversion can push them out of the 0% band.People in your tax householdpeopleSets the ACA line. Married and head-of-household filers count as at least 2.Benchmark premium, per month$The second-lowest-cost Silver plan for everyone on your plan; window-shop at HealthCare.gov. The prefilled amount is an example, not a quote. Enter 0 to leave the credit unpriced.

Filing status

Fill the bracket up to

Converts up to the top of the 12% bracket after your other income. Income above that waits for another year.

Rate this money would face later

Only for the “tax saved” figure: the same dollars taxed at one flat rate. A yardstick, not a forecast.

Growth on money still in the IRA (after inflation)4%

Health coverage before 65

Compares each year’s income with the 2026 line where marketplace premium credits end (400% of the poverty line) and prices the credit you would give up.

CONVERT EACH YEAROVER THE ACA LINE

$66,500

As a single filer with no other income, filling the 12% bracket lets you convert $66,500 a year for $5,800 of federal tax (8.7% of the amount). Converting every year to age 59 moves $665,000 and leaves $269,078 pre-tax at 59½. The first conversion is penalty-free to withdraw from age 55. This puts your income at $66,500, $3,900 above the $62,600 line where marketplace premium credits end (400% of the poverty line for 1 person in 2026). At a $1,000 a month benchmark premium, crossing gives up $5,765 a year in credit, $57,650 over the 10 conversion years above the line. Stopping at the line would convert $62,600 a year instead.

Federal tax each year

$5,800

Premium credit lost

$5,765 a year

Penalty-free from

Age 55

Saved vs 22% later, net of credit

$30,650

UNDERSTAND YOUR RESULT

LIBRARY CHAPTERRoth Conversions: When Paying Tax Early Pays OffA conversion trades tax now for tax-free money later, and it pays only when today's rate is lower than tomorrow's or the tax comes from outside the account. How to size one to a bracket, and the Social Security, Medicare and subsidy costs it can trigger.LIBRARY CHAPTERTaxes and Reaching Your Money Before 59½The 10% additional tax and its exceptions, Roth contributions, the Roth conversion ladder, 72(t) payments and the rule of 55, plus the low-tax years early retirement creates for conversions and 0% capital gains.

Terms:Roth conversion ladder

What filling each bracket costs

Fill the 10% bracketconverts $28,500 · 4.4% average

$1k

Fill the 12% bracketconverts $66,500 · 8.7% average

$6k

Fill the 22% bracketconverts $121,800 · 14.8% average

$18k

Fill the 24% bracketconverts $217,875 · 18.8% average

$41k

Stop at the ACA lineconverts $62,600 · 8.5% average

$5k

For a single filer with no other income, filling the 12% bracket converts $66,500 for $5,800 of federal tax (8.7% on average). Filling the 22% bracket instead converts $121,800 for $17,966 (14.8%). Stopping at the ACA line converts $62,600 for $5,332 (8.5%) and keeps your income at or under $62,600.

Your income against the ACA line

Income in a conversion year$67k

ACA line

In a conversion year your income is $66,500: $3,900 above the $62,600 line where the whole marketplace premium credit ends for 1 person in 2026. The most that fits under the line is $62,600 of conversion.

Your ladder, year by year

Rung	Age	Convert	Income (MAGI)	Federal tax	Left in IRA	Penalty-free from
1	50	$66,500	$66,500 · over	$5,800	$683,500	Age 55
2	51	$66,500	$66,500 · over	$5,800	$644,340	Age 56
3	52	$66,500	$66,500 · over	$5,800	$603,614	Age 57
4	53	$66,500	$66,500 · over	$5,800	$561,259	Age 58
5	54	$66,500	$66,500 · over	$5,800	$517,209	Age 59
6	55	$66,500	$66,500 · over	$5,800	$471,397	Age 59½
7	56	$66,500	$66,500 · over	$5,800	$423,753	Age 59½
8	57	$66,500	$66,500 · over	$5,800	$374,203	Age 59½
9	58	$66,500	$66,500 · over	$5,800	$322,671	Age 59½
10	59	$66,500	$66,500 · over	$5,800	$269,078	Age 59½

Each conversion starts its own five-year clock on January 1 of the year you convert, so the first is penalty-free to withdraw from age 55; until then you need other money to live on. Of these conversions, $332,500 clears its clock before 59½ and can be withdrawn without the penalty. Rungs whose clock would end after 59½ show 59½, when the penalty ends for all pre-tax money. The balance left after each conversion grows 4% before the next one. 10 of the 10 rungs take income above the ACA line (marked “over”).

The rate on each dollar you convert

Of the $66,500 you convert in a year, the first $16,100 is not taxed (it falls inside the standard deduction), the next $12,400 is taxed at 10%, and the last $38,000 is taxed at 12%. Past that amount the next dollar is taxed at 22%.

What moves the needle

Each row re-runs the calculation with one change. Click to apply.

How it's computed

FORMULA

Room = standard deduction + top of the chosen bracket − other income

Tax = tax(other + conversion, gains) − tax(other, gains)

Balance(t+1) = (Balance(t) − conversion(t)) × (1 + real return)

Penalty-free from = the earlier of (age you convert + 5) and 59½

2026 federal rules for a single filer: a $16,100 standard deduction, and the 12% bracket ends at $50,400 of taxable income (Rev. Proc. 2025-32). Everything is in today’s dollars: the room stays flat while your balance grows 4% a year after inflation.
State income tax is not modeled. Most states tax a conversion as ordinary income, a few do not, and the rules differ by state. The 3.8% net investment income tax (which starts at $200,000 of income for a single filer and $250,000 for a joint return), IRMAA and Social Security taxation are not modeled either, and neither are credits other than the marketplace premium credit.
Long-term capital gains and qualified dividends you enter are taxed at 0%, 15% or 20% on top of your ordinary income (Rev. Proc. 2025-32), and the same amount is assumed every year. A conversion raises taxable income, so it can push those gains out of the 0% band; that extra tax is counted in the cost of the conversion. Enter the gains you realize each year to see it.
Five-year rule: each conversion has its own clock, starting January 1 of the year you convert. Once it ends, the converted amount (not its growth) comes out without the 10% penalty. The penalty ends at 59½ whatever the clock says, so “penalty-free from” is the earlier of the age you convert plus five and 59½. Roth withdrawals come out in a set order: contributions, then conversions oldest first, then growth.
The tax is paid from money outside the IRA. Tax withheld from a distribution counts as part of it, so before 59½ any withheld amount that is not converted is taxable and can carry the 10% penalty (Pub. 590-A). All of the balance is pre-tax, with no after-tax basis in any of your IRAs. A conversion cannot be undone once made.
“Saved” is the converted dollars taxed at a flat 22%, minus the tax the ladder pays. It goes negative when the ladder pays more than that flat rate would. It is a yardstick, not a forecast of your later bracket.
The ACA line is 400% of the 2025 HHS poverty guideline for 1 person ($62,600), the limit for 2026 marketplace premium credits now that the enhanced credit has expired (December 31, 2025); no extension had been enacted as of September 29, 2026. It is held flat in today’s dollars, like the brackets, and income is modified AGI: your other income, gains and the conversion. The $1,000 a month benchmark premium is an example, held flat for every year of the ladder although premiums rise with age (an insurer may charge a 64-year-old up to three times the rate for a 21-year-old), so the credit given up in the later years is likely larger. The credit given up is that plan’s credit at the line; below the line the credit still shrinks as income rises (the ACA calculator shows the schedule). Medicaid, immigration status and an offer of employer coverage are not modeled.

WORKED EXAMPLE · SAMPLE NUMBERS

Single, 2026: standard deduction $16,100 + top of the 12% bracket at $50,400 of taxable income − $0 of other income = $66,500 of room. Converting $66,500 makes taxable income $50,400, which costs $5,800 in federal tax, so the conversion adds $5,800: 8.7% of what you convert. Repeated for 10 years with the rest growing 4% a year, that is $665,000 converted for $58,000 of tax. Income of $66,500 is over the $62,600 line, which gives up the $5,765 credit at the line ($12,000 benchmark − 9.96% × $62,600) in each of the 10 years above it: $57,650.

SOURCES

[1]Rev. Proc. 2025-32: 2026 inflation-adjusted tax items (brackets, standard deduction, capital-gains amounts)Internal Revenue Service, 2025 [2]Publication 590-B: Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)Internal Revenue Service [3]Publication 590-A: Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), on rollovers, conversions and withholdingInternal Revenue Service [4]26 U.S.C. §408A: Roth IRAs (five-year rule for conversions, §408A(d)(3)(F)), with §72(t): 10% additional tax on early distributionsU.S. Code, Title 26 [5]Rev. Proc. 2025-25: premium tax credit applicable percentages for 2026, with the 2025 HHS poverty guidelines behind the 400% lineInternal Revenue Service, 2025

HSBuilt by Hussain Sehorewala · checked against worked examples · Sep 29, 2026

Keep this number honest as your life changes.

Put it on your Money Map and it re-runs as you change the seven numbers. It stays in this browser, and the calculator stays free.

Open your Money Map Tell me when bank sync opens

Questions about this result

You move money from a traditional IRA or 401(k) into a Roth IRA a slice at a time, paying ordinary income tax on each slice at low rates. Each conversion can be withdrawn without the 10% early-withdrawal penalty once five tax years have passed, so a new rung opens every year. It is a common way to reach pre-tax savings before 59½ without paying the penalty.

Every conversion starts its own five-year clock on January 1 of the year you convert. When it ends, the converted amount (not the growth on it) can come out without the 10% penalty. That amount was taxed when you converted, so it is never taxed again; the clock only decides the penalty, and reaching 59½ ends the penalty whatever the clock says. Growth is a separate matter: it is tax-free only in a “qualified distribution,” which needs five years since your first Roth IRA contribution or conversion plus a reason such as reaching 59½. Withdrawals also come out in a set order: regular contributions, then conversions oldest first, then growth. Because of the wait, you need about five years of living costs from cash, a taxable account or Roth contributions before the first rung opens.

The usual approach is to fill a tax bracket: convert up to its top and no further. With little other income, part of a conversion falls inside the standard deduction and the low 10% and 12% brackets. In 2026 a single filer with no other income can convert $66,500 and stay within the 12% bracket, for $5,800 in federal tax. That income is $3,900 over the $62,600 line where marketplace premium credits end, so if you buy marketplace coverage the cost is larger than the tax (see the ACA answer below). Long-term gains you realize the same year sit on top of the conversion, so it can cost more than its bracket rate: a conversion that pushes gains out of the 0% band is taxed at the bracket rate plus 15% on the gains it displaces. This page runs the numbers for your filing status, other income, gains and bracket.

No. This calculator models federal income tax only, so state tax is not included. Most states with an income tax treat a conversion as ordinary income, a few have no income tax, and some exempt part of retirement income. Your state’s rules decide how a conversion is taxed there.

No. Conversions made since 2018 cannot be recharacterized (undone). Tax is due on the value at the time you convert, even if the account falls afterward.

Yes, and in 2026 it can be a cliff. A Roth conversion counts as income when the marketplace decides your premium tax credit. The enhanced credit that removed the income limit expired on December 31, 2025, so the credit now ends completely once household income is more than 400% of the poverty line: $62,600 for one person and $84,600 for two, using the 2025 guidelines that apply to 2026 coverage. One dollar over the line gives up the whole credit, and below it the credit still shrinks as income rises. As of September 29, 2026 no extension had been enacted, and the law could change. This page compares your income with the line and prices the credit you would give up at the premium you enter; the ACA calculator shows the full schedule.

THE LEDGER · 10 min5 Retirement Mistakes That Cost $100K+ (Part 3 of 3)

THE LEDGER · 28 min5 Retirement Mistakes That Cost $100K+ (Part 2 of 3)

GUIDE · $39The Retire-Early Playbook

YOUR MAP · 0 of 7 doneNext: FIRE CalculatorContinue →