I think the answer is, it depends mainly on the effective (not marginal) tax rate you are in. About 10 years ago I started to convert to Roth. My method was to use my prior years copy of turbotax, mock-up my current year in December, and decide what % of tax I was willing to pay on the conversion. I then converted that amount. Even if I was off either way, it was in my "acceptable" level.
And yes, the new tax law has eliminated the "recharacterization", thus once converted, it's over.
Final thought, I cannot image it would ever be advantageous to convert all in one tax year since it would probably greatly increase your marginal and effective tax rate.
FWIW,
Andy
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