• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

CMR Associates - Tax | Accounting

  • Home
  • Services
    • Tax Accounting
    • Business Accounting
    • Remote CPA Staffing
  • Industries
    • Real Estate
    • Doctors
    • Restaurants and Hospitality
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Book Appointment
  • Publications
You are here: Home / Individual Tax Advice / Louisiana CPA- The CARES Act liberalizes net operating losses

Tax Accounting and Business Consulting

Louisiana CPA- The CARES Act liberalizes net operating losses

Louisiana CPA- IRA account value down. It might be a good time for a Roth conversion

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused the value of some retirement accounts to decrease because of the stock market downturn. But if you have a traditional IRA, this downturn may provide a valuable opportunity: It may allow you to convert your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA at a lower tax cost.

The key differences

Here’s what makes a traditional IRA different from a Roth IRA:

Traditional IRA. Contributions to a traditional IRA may be deductible, depending on your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) and whether you (or your spouse) participate in a qualified retirement plan, such as a 401(k). Funds in the account can grow tax deferred.

On the downside, you generally must pay income tax on withdrawals. In addition, you’ll face a penalty if you withdraw funds before age 59½ — unless you qualify for a handful of exceptions — and you’ll face an even larger penalty if you don’t take your required minimum distributions (RMDs) after age 72.

Roth IRA. Roth IRA contributions are never deductible. But withdrawals — including earnings — are tax-free as long as you’re age 59½ or older and the account has been open at least five years. In addition, you’re allowed to withdraw contributions at any time tax- and penalty-free. You also don’t have to begin taking RMDs after you reach age 72.

However, the ability to contribute to a Roth IRA is subject to limits based on your MAGI. Fortunately, no matter how high your income, you’re eligible to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth. The catch? You’ll have to pay income tax on the amount converted.

Saving tax

This is where the “benefit” of a stock market downturn comes in. If your traditional IRA has lost value, converting to a Roth now rather than later will minimize your tax hit. Plus, you’ll avoid tax on future appreciation when the market goes back up.

It’s important to think through the details before you convert. Some of the questions to ask when deciding whether to make a conversion include:

Do you have money to pay the tax bill? If you don’t have enough cash on hand to cover the taxes owed on the conversion, you may have to dip into your retirement funds. This will erode your nest egg. The more money you convert and the higher your tax bracket, the bigger the tax hit.

What’s your retirement horizon? Your stage of life may also affect your decision. Typically, you wouldn’t convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA if you expect to retire soon and start drawing down on the account right away. Usually, the goal is to allow the funds to grow and compound over time without any tax erosion.

Keep in mind that converting a traditional IRA to a Roth isn’t an all-or-nothing deal. You can convert as much or as little of the money from your traditional IRA account as you like. So, you might decide to gradually convert your account to spread out the tax hit over several years.

Of course, there are more issues that need to be considered before executing a Roth IRA conversion. If this sounds like something you’re interested in, contact us to discuss with us whether a conversion is right for you.

Filed Under: Individual Tax Advice

Primary Sidebar

About Us

Covington CPA and Tax Accountants Team

Tax Accounting and Business Consulting: We provide tax accounting, payroll, 401(k), business

Outsourced Staffing

CRAF.IO Accounting Outsourcing

CRAF.IO provides direct hire remote accounting staffing services. For more information, visit https://craf.io/

TAX NEWS AND ADVICE

  • Individual Tax Advice
  • Personal Finance
  • Small Business Tax Advice

Footer

Company Profile

CMR Associates provides tax accounting, payroll, 401(k), business valuation, consulting, and financial planning services.

Serving clients throughout the country, we embrace distributed work environments.

Terms and Conditions
Outsourced Accountant CPA
All the Presidents’ Taxes

Accounting News and Updates

  • What Silicon Valley Bank’s Failure Can Teach Us about Personal Financial Planning
  • How to Maximize Your Tax Refund for 2022
  • Want to Save Taxes? Maximize Deductions and Use the S-Corp Structure
  • IRA account value down? It might be a good time for a Roth conversion
  • Understanding and controlling the unemployment tax costs of your business
  • Watch out for tax-related scams
  • Setting up a Health Savings Account for your small business

Write or Call Today

CMR Associates, LLC
207 E Gibson St
Covington, LA 70433

(888) 530-5630
office@cmrtax.com

© 2023 · Sitemap·