Disclaimer
This is not tax advice.
It is an educational model. Real dollars are at stake in these decisions, so please read what the tool does and does not do.
What this site is
A calculator that models the mechanics of a Roth conversion ladder under published statutory rules for a single tax year. It is a teaching and planning aid — useful for understanding how the pieces interact and for narrowing down which questions to ask a professional.
What it is not
It is not tax advice, legal advice, financial advice, or a recommendation to convert any amount. No part of it is personalized to your situation, and using it creates no professional relationship of any kind. Nobody here has reviewed your return, your account statements, or your circumstances.
Why the output will differ from your actual return
The model simplifies deliberately. The most consequential omissions:
- State income tax is excluded entirely. Depending on where you live, this can be the single largest missing number.
- The 0% long-term capital gains interaction is priced only for the gains you enter. Conversion income stacks underneath long-term gains and can push them out of the 0% bracket. The calculators include that cost for the qualified dividends and gains you enter, but do not model gains realized later by selling assets to fund spending, or optimize the two together.
- Benchmark Silver premiums are placeholders unless you enter your own. They are estimated from age alone, with no adjustment for where you live or which plans are actually offered there.
- Cost-sharing reductions are not valued in dollars, though they materially change what a Silver plan is worth below 250% of the poverty level.
- Medicare IRMAA surcharges are excluded from the conversion ladder. They matter from age 63 because of a two-year lookback on income, and are modelled by the IRMAA calculator instead.
- Social Security taxability, tax-exempt interest, and the foreign earned income exclusion are not modeled in the MAGI approximation.
Rules change
Tax brackets, poverty guidelines, and premium tax credit rules are all revised on their own schedules, and legislation can change any of them. Figures reflect published rules for the stated tax year and nothing more. Verify current rules before acting.
Before you convert
Talk to a CPA or a fee-only financial planner who can see your whole return. A conversion is irreversible — recharacterization of Roth conversions was eliminated by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — so an error cannot be undone the following April.
No warranty
The calculations are provided as-is, without warranty of any kind. The author accepts no liability for decisions made using this tool. If you find a defect in the math, that is worth knowing about — themethodology page documents every formula so results can be checked rather than trusted.
Advertising disclaimer
Advertisements displayed on this site are served by third-party advertising networks (such as Google AdSense). The appearance of advertisements does not constitute an endorsement, guarantee, recommendation, or professional financial advice by The Roth Ladder for any product, service, or business advertised.
Privacy
Every calculation happens in your browser. Nothing you type is transmitted, stored, or logged on our servers. Scenario links encode your inputs in the URL fragment itself — which means anyone you send a link to can see those numbers, so treat a share link as you would a screenshot of the figures. For full details on third-party cookies, advertising, and analytics, see theprivacy policy.