Your IRA comes with a tax bill. You still get to pick the year.
Every pre-tax dollar will be taxed eventually: when you convert, when required distributions start, or when your spouse or children inherit it. The 2026 window to convert at this year’s rates closes December 31. A 20-minute review shows what your window holds and what it will cost.
Your 2026 bracket room
Six numbers, about 60 seconds. Nothing is saved or sent from this calculator.
The full analysis compares three paths. Keep the IRA, convert a level amount, or fill a bracket each year. It covers taxes, Medicare IRMAA, the year one spouse is gone, and what your heirs keep.
Get my three-path analysisThree ways pre-tax money gets taxed on someone else’s schedule
Required distributions
A $900,000 IRA at 66, earning 6%, is about $1.52 million by 75. That year the IRS requires $61,810 out, taxable, and the amount grows each year after, whether you need the money or not.
The surviving spouse
After the first death, the survivor files single the following year. With $60,000 of pension and the larger Social Security check left, the bracket goes from 12% to 22%. There’s less income and more tax on it.
Medicare’s lookback
Medicare premiums are set on income from two years earlier. One large distribution in 2026 can raise Part B and D premiums for both spouses in 2028. Converting in planned steps keeps you under those thresholds.
The Roth Window Review
Twenty minutes by phone or video. No products are discussed on the first call.
Bring three numbers
Your pre-tax balances, your Social Security estimate, and last year’s return if it’s handy. Rough figures are fine.
See your window
We map your room in each bracket for 2026, where Medicare surcharges start, and what the next dollar really costs.
Leave with a number
You get a written three-path comparison and a conversion amount to take to your CPA before December 31, or a plan for January if 2026 is not the year.
I’ve spent 27 years on the question most retirement plans skip: after the saving is done, how much of it does the family keep? Roth conversions are one of the few tools that let you decide when the tax is paid, at what rate, and by whom.
I work with your CPA, not around them. My job is the math and the multi-year plan. Your CPA confirms it against your full return before anything is filed.
Book your Roth Window Review
Reviews booked by December 1 leave time to act in 2026. Later reviews build a January conversion plan.