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Roth 5-year rule and conversion ladder calculator
When each Roth conversion can come out without the 10% early withdrawal tax, when your earnings turn tax-free, and the federal tax each yearly conversion adds.
First conversion you can spend without the 10%: January 2031.
First conversion you can spend without the 10%January 2031The 2026 conversion can come out with no 10% from January 2031, and each later one a year after that. Earnings come out tax-free from December 2034: five years after your first Roth year and past 59½. Converting $40,000 a year adds about $783 of federal tax each year at 2026 rates.
| Converted in | Amount | Federal tax | No 10% from | Your age then |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $40,000 | $783 | January 2031 | 55 |
| 2027 | $40,000 | $783 | January 2032 | 56 |
| 2028 | $40,000 | $783 | January 2033 | 57 |
| 2029 | $40,000 | $783 | January 2034 | 58 |
| 2030 | $40,000 | $783 | December 2034 (59½) | 59 |
Federal tax uses the 2026 brackets and standard deduction for every year, in today’s dollars, with your other income each year. State tax is not included.
Calculations, not tax, legal or investment advice.
The Roth 5-year rules
For earnings: five years from your first Roth year, and 59½
A Roth IRA withdrawal is a qualified distribution, with the earnings tax-free, once five years have passed since January 1 of the first tax year you put money into any Roth IRA and you are 59½. Death, disability and up to $10,000 for a first home also qualify. One clock covers all your Roth IRAs, and it never restarts.
For each conversion: five years, if you are under 59½
Every conversion starts its own five-year period on January 1 of the year you convert. Before 59½, taking the converted amount out inside that period owes the 10% additional tax on it, though no income tax, since you paid that when you converted. From 59½ the 10% no longer applies to any conversion.
For an inherited Roth IRA
The beneficiary never owes the 10%. Earnings are tax-free once the owner’s five years are up, counting the time before the death.
Withdrawals come out in a fixed order: your contributions first, which are never taxed or penalized, then conversions from the oldest, then earnings. A Roth 401(k) runs its own five-year clock; money rolled into a Roth IRA follows the IRA’s.
How a Roth conversion ladder works
Retire before 59½ with most of your savings in a traditional IRA or 401(k), and the ladder turns it into money you can spend without the 10%. Each year you convert about one year of future spending. Five years later that conversion can come out, and the next year’s after it, so from the sixth year on one rung frees up every year.
You need something to live on for the first five years, and each conversion counts as income in the year you make it. Kept small, a conversion can stay in the 10% or 12% bracket. If you buy health insurance on the marketplace, the same income also sets your premium tax credit.
Method and sources
Each conversion has its own five-year period, counted from January 1 of the year you convert, so a conversion made in December waits a little over four years. Before 59½, taking the converted amount out inside that period owes the 10% additional tax on it. From 59½ the 10% no longer applies to any conversion. Earnings are tax-free once five years have passed since January 1 of your first Roth year and you are 59½.
The tax on each conversion is the federal return worked out with and without it, on top of your other income, with the 2026 tables. Spending in the waiting years has to come from somewhere else: cash, a taxable account, or your Roth contributions, which always come out first and are never taxed.
Tables and sources
- IRS Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)Chapter 2, Roth IRAs: ordering rules for distributions; 5-year period for conversions and qualified distributions · 2025 · www.irs.gov
- Rev. Proc. 2025-32§4.01 Tables 1 and 3; §4.14(1) and (3); §4.03 · 2026 · www.irs.gov
- Schedule 1-A (Form 1040), Part V Enhanced Deduction for SeniorsSchedule 1-A Part V; IRC §151(d)(5)(C), effective 2025–2028 · 2026 · www.irs.gov
- IRS Publication 915, Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement BenefitsIRC §86 base amounts; Pub 915 Worksheet 1; not indexed · 2026 · www.irs.gov
- CMS fact sheet: 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles (2025-11-14)Part B and Part D income-related monthly adjustment amounts; set from MAGI two tax years earlier · 2026 · www.cms.gov
- HHS 2025 Poverty Guidelines (Federal Register 2025-01377); IRS Premium Tax Credit Q&A A72026 coverage uses the 2025 HHS poverty guidelines (48 states + DC); the enhanced credit lapsed after 2025, so eligibility stops above 400% FPL · www.federalregister.gov
Roth conversions and the ACA subsidyRetired before Medicare and buying marketplace insurance: how much a conversion costs in lost premium tax credit.
Read the guideRelated calculators and guides
- Roth conversion calculatorThe largest conversion that stays under the line you choose, and the federal tax it adds.
- 72(t) calculatorThe yearly payment under each IRS method that avoids the 10% early tax, and the rules that keep it.
- Roth conversion deadlineWhy a conversion has to be done by December 31, and what that means for this year’s number.
- Roth conversions and the ACA subsidyHow much you can convert before the 400% line, and how much credit each converted dollar costs.