Advisor Use Only

Roth Make-Sense

Does a conversion make sense? Compare today’s conversion cost with the future tax hurdle and any bonus offset.

How to use this tool

Use this as a make-sense screen, not a product pitch. The core question is whether the effective cost of converting today is lower than the estimated future tax benchmark if the client does nothing.

Enter the client’s current-year income, tax, and conversion facts.
Use the retirement benchmark assumptions to estimate future RMD-driven tax pressure.
Read the make-sense comparison first: today’s effective conversion cost versus the estimated future tax rate.
Only then use bonus or product assumptions to show how the economics may improve.

The future benchmark engine stays intact. This card is only the guide rail for using it cleanly.

Roth Make-Sense scope

Use this as a planning screen, not a tax recommendation. Verify state tax, Medicare premium effects, and client-specific facts before presenting.

Tax year2026 federal basisIRMAA2026 bracketsStatesimplified modelOutputscreening only

Inputs

Enter the real tax and asset facts. Optional details stay tucked away; the first answer shows the future hurdle, today’s starting cost, and the suggested range.

1Tax profileCurrent-year cost 2BenchmarkFuture hurdle 3AssetsCapacity check 4FundingBonus offset

Complete the real required inputs.0%

Tax profile

Prices this year’s conversion.

Filing status

Retired or not retired?

Changes which benchmark inputs are needed.

State

State precision: modeled screen only. Verify deductions, exclusions, credits, local tax, and Social Security treatment before client use.

Age

AGI before conversion

Estimated account growth rate

Use an annual percentage, such as 6%.

Detailed income allocations

Optional. Use when state rules depend on AGI composition.

Itemized deductions

Optional. Leave blank to use the standard deduction.

Taxable Social Security in AGI

Optional. Leave blank if unknown.

Current retirement income in AGI

Optional. Pension, IRA or qualified-plan income already in AGI.

Tax-exempt interest

Optional. Used for IRMAA MAGI.

Retirement benchmark

Builds the future tax hurdle.

Benchmark target

The app compares projected RMD pressure with retirement cashflow pressure and uses the higher future tax hurdle. If the client is already retired, the benchmark starts from current age.

Planned retirement age

Required if the client is not retired.

Annual Social Security

Household gross benefit at Social Security start age.

Other retirement income

Pension, rental, interest, wages, etc.

Spending target

Annual after-tax target in today’s dollars. Blank uses projected RMD only.

Benchmark lens

Exposes the future-tax lens instead of hiding it.

Future tax law mode

Default keeps 2026 brackets/IRMAA as the base stack but turns off the temporary enhanced senior deduction after 2028.

Advanced retirement assumptions

Optional. The defaults keep the main input set clean; open this when timing, COLA, inflation, retirement state, or tax-exempt interest materially changes the hurdle.

Social Security start age

Blank or 0 uses current age if retired, otherwise planned retirement age. If already collecting, leave blank and enter today’s annual benefit.

Social Security COLA rate

Blank uses 2.5%. Enter 0% to model no COLA.

Spending inflation rate

Blank uses 3%. Enter 0% to model no inflation.

Retirement state

State precision: defaults to current state; modeled screen only.

Tax-exempt interest

Optional. Used for Social Security and IRMAA calculations.

Tax realism

Use these when they materially change the answer.

Widow penalty

Stress-tests the later tax stack as a single survivor with narrower brackets.

Current asset mix

Taxable assets fund taxes. Deferred assets cap the conversion.

Taxable assets

Tax-deferred assets

Tax funding and offset

Choose tax funding, then optionally apply a bonus.

Tax source

Bonus type

Enter the basics, then get answer.

Answer

Future hurdle, starting cost, and suggested range.

Future tax hurdle 0.00% Estimated future tax rate on IRA dollars if the client does nothing.

Starting cost today 0.00% Modeled cost on the first conversion dollars.

Suggested range — Amount that stays inside the screen.

Screening modelUses 2026 federal brackets and 2026 IRMAA as the base stack. This is not tax software.

State estimateState tax remains a modeled screen. Confirm actual treatment, deductions, credits, and local tax.

Future hurdleFuture tax rates depend on law, income, spending, RMDs, filing status, and IRMAA assumptions entered above.

Next toolsUse Bracket Analyzer for this-year capacity or Roadmap for multi-year scheduling.Check Bracket Room Build Roadmap

Math basis: 2026 federal · 2026 IRMAA · simplified state · screening only

Conversation frame. Tax now versus tax later. Keep the receipts one click away.

Client answer

Plain-English answer

Future tax hurdle —

The future tax cost this conversion must beat.

Modeled planning range —

Upper end of the modeled planning range under the assumptions entered above.

Bonus impact —

Bonus assumptions do not reduce the tax bill.

1. TaxConfirm the final number.

2. LiquidityMake sure the tax bill is fundable.

3. ProductMatch the bonus story to the client’s goal.

Next move: Review the amount, tax-funding source, and whether the bonus changes the planning range.

Advisor receipts stay one click away when the client asks, “show me the math.”

Open chartsUse after the three-number answer is clear.

1. This year: where income lands

Start with the current tax year. This shows taxable income before conversion and the bracket space the conversion has to work with.

Where income lands

Current year

Taxable income after deductions

Taxable after deduction

Federal bracket axis

2. Future hurdle

This estimates the future tax cost the conversion needs to beat.

Future hurdle

Future benchmark

Federal, state, and IRMAA drag on the benchmark distribution

Where the future IRA draw lands

Future benchmark

Projected distribution path

Social Security

Other retirement income

IRA distribution

Base taxable

After distribution

3. Planning range

This shows how much room the client has before today’s cost reaches the hurdle.

Put it together

Capacity

Roth conversion range against the future hurdle

Bonus offset

The hurdle stays fixed. What changes is the effective cost per dollar converted and therefore how large the supported conversion can be.

Cost

Cost compared with the future hurdle

Extra numbers

Open these only when the advisor wants the exact numbers behind the screen.

Base conversion$0

Bonus-aided conversion$0

Conversion lift$0

Tax sourceWithhold

Benchmark age—

Auto benchmark—

IRA distribution—

SS taxable drag—

Detailed comparison

Base case

Base conversion

Screen

Bonus offset

Bonus scenario

Screen

Tax math details

Assumptions and limitations

2026 ordinary-income estimate using federal brackets, modeled state rules, Social Security taxation, IRMAA when applicable, and optional widow-penalty compression. It is a screening model, not tax-prep software.
Use this as an annual screen before the CPA/tax-software pass. The output guides the one-year conversion conversation, not the final conversion instruction by itself.
The future hurdle is one representative benchmark year selected by the Benchmark lens. Auto uses the higher hurdle between retirement cashflow pressure and projected RMD pressure.
The tax model uses 2026 federal brackets/IRMAA as the base tax stack. Future benchmark years exclude the temporary enhanced senior deduction after 2028.
Detailed income inputs are optional. If blank, AGI and retirement income use default general-income treatment; if entered, the model uses taxable Social Security, current retirement income, retirement state, and tax-exempt interest where relevant.
If a retirement spending need is entered, the app solves for the pre-tax IRA distribution needed to hit that after-tax cashflow target, then compares it with projected RMD pressure once RMD age applies.
The federal bracket graphs are taxable-income graphs. AGI is shown only as the starting point before deductions.
Roth conversion five-year seasoning and distribution rules still need to be checked before execution, especially for clients under 59½.
A bonus does not reduce the tax bill. It changes the value credited or measured against the conversion. Cash bonus and legacy bonus economics are kept separate on purpose.

Disclosures and important information

Educational use only.

These tools are intended for advisor education and planning conversations. They are not a recommendation or client-specific advice.

Not tax, legal, investment, or product advice.

Tax, legal, investment, and insurance decisions should be reviewed with the client’s qualified professionals and the advisor’s compliance process.

Illustrative assumptions.

Outputs depend entirely on user-entered assumptions and simplified formulas. Actual results may differ materially.

Tax estimates are simplified.

Tax calculations use 2026 federal brackets and 2026 IRMAA as the base stack. Future benchmark years exclude the temporary enhanced senior deduction after 2028, but may not fully reflect deductions, credits, state taxation, Social Security taxation, AMT, NIIT, filing-status changes, or future law changes unless explicitly modeled.

Product and rate assumptions.

Any annuity bonus, cap, participation, fee, income, or legacy value shown is hypothetical unless supported by current carrier-approved materials.

No guarantees.

Projections do not guarantee future performance, income, tax treatment, product availability, or client outcomes.

Compliance review required.

Client-facing use, screenshots, exports, and presentations should be reviewed under the advisor’s firm, broker-dealer, RIA, IMO, carrier, and state requirements.

Client-specific review required.

Before implementation, verify account values, cost basis, beneficiary designations, liquidity needs, surrender schedules, fees, riders, tax forms, and client objectives.