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Roth IRA Conversion and taking money out

Personal Finance & Money Asked on April 27, 2021

A person who is over 59.5 years of age has an traditional IRA worth 1 million dollars and no Roth IRAs.
On Monday, he converts the traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. On Tuesday, due to an unexpected expense, he takes 1 million dollars out of his Roth IRA. I claim that there is no tax consequence for taking out the 1 million dollars because he is taking back is own money. That is, earnings are taken last. Do I have this right?

I live in the United States.

One Answer

There would be a 10% early withdrawal penalty on the amount withdrawn from the Roth IRA. You are correct that earnings are taken out last, and in this case there are no earnings, but no contributions either. There is only conversions, and taxable conversions withdrawn in the first 5 years are subject to the 10% early withdrawal penalty (but no tax).

This would not meet the requirements for a qualified distribution because although the owner is over 59.5 years old, they have not had a Roth IRA for 5 years. So it's a non-qualified distribution and the tax and penalty is determined by the ordering rules. If they wait 5 years after converting before withdrawing, then it would be completely tax- and penalty-free.

Also worth pointing out that converting 1 million dollars in one year is probably a terrible idea unless they are extremely wealthy. It's better to convert a smaller amount each year to keep the marginal tax rate down.

Answered by Craig W on April 27, 2021

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