If you’re old enough to take required minimum distributions, there’s a strict order you have to follow before you convert any money to a Roth IRA.
Once you reach the age when the IRS requires withdrawals from your traditional IRA, a new rule kicks in for anyone thinking about a Roth conversion. You cannot convert a single dollar to a Roth IRA until you’ve taken your full required minimum distribution, or RMD, for the year. This Roth conversion RMD rule confuses many retirees every year, and getting the order wrong can cost you real money. Here’s exactly how it works.
What is a required minimum distribution?
A required minimum distribution is the smallest amount you must withdraw each year from a traditional IRA, 401(k), or similar retirement account once you reach a certain age. Under current law, that age is 73 if you were born between 1951 and 1959, and 75 if you were born in 1960 or later.
Your RMD is calculated by taking your account balance as of December 31 of the prior year and dividing it by a life expectancy factor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. At age 75, for example, that factor is 24.6. So if your traditional IRA balance was $450,000 at the end of last year, your RMD for this year is $450,000 divided by 24.6, or about $18,293.
A Roth conversion is a different transaction entirely. It’s when you voluntarily move money from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA and pay income tax on the amount you convert. Unlike an RMD, a conversion is optional, and you can convert as much or as little as you like, as long as you follow the rule below.
The rule: your RMD must come out first
Here’s the core rule. If you’re required to take an RMD for the year, you must withdraw that full amount before you convert anything to a Roth IRA. This applies whether you plan to convert your entire IRA or just a slice of it.
The reason comes down to how the IRS treats your withdrawals. The first dollars that leave your traditional IRA in any given year are automatically treated as your RMD, not as a conversion. You cannot choose to skip your RMD and convert instead. And you cannot use RMD money to fund a Roth conversion, because RMD dollars are not eligible to be converted or rolled over in the first place.
This isn’t a new rule. Treasury’s July 2024 final regulations under SECURE 2.0 reinforced existing RMD requirements, although the rule that RMD dollars cannot be converted to a Roth IRA has been IRS policy for many years.
One important carve-out: this rule applies to IRAs. It does not apply to RMDs from an employer plan like a 401(k). Your 401(k) RMD is a separate obligation and does not need to be satisfied before you convert money in an unrelated IRA.
Say Linda wants to convert part of her IRA
Say Linda turns 75 this year. She owns one traditional IRA with a balance of $450,000 at the end of last year. Using the age 75 factor of 24.6, her RMD for this year is $18,293.
Linda wants to convert $50,000 of her IRA to a Roth IRA. Here’s the order she has to follow. First, she withdraws her full $18,293 RMD and reports it as taxable income. Only after that RMD is satisfied can she convert the $50,000. If she tried to convert the $50,000 before taking her RMD, part of that conversion would actually count as her unsatisfied RMD, and RMD money can’t sit in a Roth IRA.
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What if you own more than one IRA?
This is where a lot of people make mistakes. If you own multiple traditional IRAs, you calculate the RMD for each IRA separately, then add them together to get your total RMD for the year. You’re allowed to withdraw that combined total from any one IRA, or spread it across several, however you choose.
But here’s the detail that matters for Roth conversions. Before you convert money from any one of your IRAs, you must first satisfy your entire combined RMD across all of your IRAs, not just the RMD tied to the account you’re converting.
Here’s an example. Say Robert owns three traditional IRAs. His RMD calculations come out to $8,000 from the first, $6,000 from the second, and $4,000 from the third, for a combined total of $18,000. Robert wants to convert money from his first IRA to a Roth IRA. He cannot simply withdraw the $8,000 tied to that one account and then convert the rest of it. He has to withdraw the full $18,000 combined RMD, taken from any of his three IRAs in whatever combination he prefers, before he converts anything from any of them.
This aggregation rule applies only within IRAs. It does not pull in RMDs from a 401(k) or similar workplace plan.
What if you delay your first RMD?
The IRS gives you a one-time grace period for your very first RMD. You can delay it until April 1 of the year after you reach RMD age, instead of taking it by December 31 of the year you turn 73 or 75.
That grace period comes with a timing detail worth understanding before you convert. Even if you delay your first RMD into the following year, any Roth conversion still has to happen after that year’s RMD has been fully satisfied. Say Frank turns 73 this year and is weighing whether to delay his first RMD until April 1 of next year.
If Frank chooses to delay his first RMD and leaves it unsatisfied through year-end, he effectively postpones Roth conversions until after that RMD is taken. On the other hand, he can change course at any point during the year, take the RMD, and then complete a Roth conversion before year-end. The key is not the delay election itself. The key is whether the year’s RMD has been satisfied.
A charitable option worth knowing
If you’re charitably inclined, there’s a way to reduce the tax bite of your RMD while still freeing yourself up to convert. It’s called a qualified charitable distribution, or QCD.
A QCD lets you send money directly from your IRA to a qualified charity, and that amount is excluded from your taxable income. If you’re age 70½ or older, you can use a QCD to satisfy some or all of your RMD for the year. For 2026, the QCD limit is $111,000 per person, or $222,000 for a married couple where both spouses have IRAs and make their own QCDs.
Here’s how it fits with a conversion. Say your RMD is $20,000 and you want to convert $60,000 to a Roth IRA. You could direct $20,000 straight to charity as a QCD, which satisfies your entire RMD without adding a dime to your taxable income. Then you’re free to convert the $60,000, and only that amount shows up as taxable on your return. Compare that to taking the $20,000 RMD as cash, paying tax on it, and then converting $60,000 on top of that. The QCD route can mean a noticeably smaller tax bill for the year.
What happens if you get the order wrong
Converting before your RMD is satisfied isn’t just a paperwork problem. The amount improperly converted may need to be removed and corrected, and if left in the Roth IRA, it can trigger the 6% annual excise tax that applies to excess IRA contributions until the mistake is fixed.
Separately, if you miss your RMD altogether for the year, the penalty is steep: 25% of the amount you should have withdrawn, reduced to 10% if you correct it within two years. That penalty applies whether or not a Roth conversion is involved.
Both of these are avoidable. The fix is simple in concept, even if the math takes some care: know your full RMD, across every traditional IRA you own, and take it in full before you convert anything.
Putting the sequence together
If you’re of RMD age and considering a Roth conversion this year, here’s the order to follow:
- Add up your RMD across all your traditional IRAs, using the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table (or the joint table if your spouse is more than 10 years younger and your sole beneficiary).
- Withdraw that full combined amount from one IRA or several, in whatever mix you prefer.
- Consider whether a QCD makes sense for some or all of that RMD, if you’re 70½ or older and charitably inclined.
- Only after your RMD is fully satisfied, convert the additional amount you want to move to a Roth IRA.
- Keep 401(k) RMDs separate. They don’t factor into your IRA aggregate RMD or your conversion timing.
Because RMDs and conversions are both taxable events, doing a large amount of both in the same year can push you into a higher tax bracket or affect your Medicare premiums. Many people find it helpful to map out several years of RMDs and potential conversions at once, rather than deciding year by year, since the right amount to convert often depends on your full income picture, not just the current year’s numbers. A financial planner or retirement planning tool can help you see those trade-offs clearly before you act.
The bottom line
If you’re of RMD age, the sequence is not optional. Take your full RMD first, across every traditional IRA you own, and only then convert what you’d like to a Roth IRA. Get the order wrong, and the improperly converted amount can be treated as an excess Roth contribution, which comes with its own correction process and penalty until it’s fixed.
This article is for educational purposes and does not replace personalized tax or financial advice. RMD rules, contribution limits, and penalty amounts are adjusted periodically. Confirm your specific numbers with the IRS, your IRA custodian, or a qualified tax professional before acting.
Note Boldin is an affiliate relationship of Holy Schmidt!. This means if you purchase a product or use their service, we earn a small commission. This does not increase your cost.
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