- quote -

If his income is so high that he cannot contribute to a Roth, it already
exceeds the amount that allows him to convert to a Roth. So you are wrong.

- quote -

YES

Person wrote:
- quote -

Rich Carreiro wrote:
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I think he might have meant that his income will be too low to make a
Roth IRA contribution (meaning zero)?

If that's the case then yes it's an excellent year to convert the IRA to
a Roth. In the conversion year your income must be under $100k and you
can't be "married filing separately." (Exact rules are in the IRS
publication on IRAs.)

You might want to do it over a number of years if that's what's required
to keep your tax rate at zero. Regardless, Roth conversions are at the
top of my list of planning ideas during those schooling, sabbatical, and
start-up company years. You can end up contributing more to your
retirement savings by not-working than by working!

-Tad

I'd like to convert a standard IRA built during my low income
university years into a Roth IRA. understanding the tax liabilities
and whatnot, would i remain eligible to convert it even though I can
not contribute to it?

Thank you!

Person <laeskimo[at]mediaone.net> writes:

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No. The income level beyond which you become completely
ineligible to make a Roth contribution is higher than
the level after which you cannot do a conversion.

So if your income is too high to make a contribution,
it'll be too high to do a conversion.

--
Rich Carreiro rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us