Converting traditional IRA money to Roth in your lower-income years can save a fortune in lifetime taxes and shrink future RMDs. This calculator builds a year-by-year conversion plan that fills your target bracket without tipping you into IRMAA surcharges.
It's a strategy of converting traditional IRA/401k money to a Roth IRA gradually over several years — usually in lower-income years between retirement and RMD age — to control the tax hit and reduce future required minimum distributions.
IRMAA is a hard cliff: cross a threshold by even $1 and your Medicare premiums jump. This calculator flags how close each conversion brings you to the next IRMAA bracket so you can size conversions to stay under.
Typically in the gap years after you retire but before RMDs and Social Security start, when your taxable income is temporarily low. The calculator helps you fill the lower brackets in exactly those years.