07 Apr Bad Decision on Converting Roth IRA in 2015? It’s Not Too Late to Undo
Many Americans probably converted to a Roth IRA to take advantage of the tax-free growth without the requirement of minimum distributions after one reaches 70 ½ years of age.
Of course, one of the requirements is to take income taxes on the amount converted. So, for example, if a taxpayer in the 25% tax bracket had an IRA of $100,000 that was converted into a Roth IRA, then the taxpayer would have to pay $25,000 of income taxes.
However, there was a significant downturn in the stock market in the last half of 2015.
So let’s say the value of your Roth IRA that you converted in 2015 went down from $100,000 to $80,000 and you would like to undo the fact that you would have to pay $25,000 of income taxes on an asset worth $100,000 that has gone down in value to $80,000. The good news is that if you transfer the Roth IRA assets back to your traditional IRA by October 17, 2016, then you can in affect nullify your original conversion. Then, after the assets have been in your IRA for 30 days, you can re-convert your IRA into a Roth. Thus, if the IRA had gone down to $80,000 as set forth in the example, then the tax would only be $20,000 ($80,000 x 25%) instead of $25,000 (as indicated above).
If you have already filed your 2015 tax return, you can file an amended return so that you save on income taxes as set forth above.