Can You Put Your IRA RMD Into a Roth IRA?

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The short answer is no, not directly. A required minimum distribution (RMD) from a traditional IRA cannot be rolled over or converted into a Roth IRA. You can still move the same dollars into a Roth in two ways. First, you can take the RMD as a normal taxable withdrawal and then use that cash for a regular Roth IRA contribution, provided you have enough earned income and your income is under the Roth limits. Second, once the year’s RMD has been fully withdrawn, you can convert additional traditional IRA money to a Roth. The RMD itself always has to come out first and be taxed as ordinary income.

Why an RMD can’t go straight into a Roth

A Roth conversion is a type of rollover: money leaves a pre-tax account and lands in a Roth, and the converted amount is taxed in the year of the conversion. The tax code excludes RMDs from rollover eligibility. If they were eligible, an owner could withdraw the required amount and put it back into a tax-advantaged account, and the minimum distribution would no longer force any money out of the tax shelter.

RMDs apply to traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs, as well as most workplace plans. Under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, the starting age is 73 for anyone who turns 72 after December 31, 2022. The same law raises the starting age to 75 beginning in 2033 for people born in 1960 or later. Your first RMD can be delayed until April 1 of the year after you reach the starting age. Every later RMD is due by December 31. If you use the April 1 deadline, you will take two RMDs in that calendar year, and both count as income that year.

Each year’s RMD is the prior December 31 account balance divided by a life expectancy factor from the IRS tables (most owners use the Uniform Lifetime Table). If you own several traditional IRAs, you calculate the RMD for each one separately. You can then add the amounts together and withdraw the total from any one or more of those IRAs. This aggregation applies only among IRAs. Employer plans such as 401(k)s generally require a separate RMD from each plan.

Missing an RMD triggers an excise tax of 25% of the amount not withdrawn. The tax drops to 10% if the shortfall is corrected within the window the law allows.

The workaround: use the RMD cash for a Roth contribution

Once an RMD is in your bank or brokerage account, it is just money, and IRA contributions can be funded from any cash you have. The IRS doesn’t trace whether a Roth contribution came from a paycheck, savings, or last month’s RMD. What it checks is whether you are eligible to contribute and how much.

You need earned income, and the RMD doesn’t count

An RMD is taxable as ordinary income, but it is not earned income. To contribute to a Roth IRA, you or your spouse need taxable compensation for the year, such as wages, salary, commissions, or net self-employment earnings. Pensions, Social Security, interest, dividends, and IRA distributions don’t qualify.

Your contribution can’t exceed your compensation for the year. A retiree who earns $3,000 from a part-time job can contribute at most $3,000, even though the annual limit is higher. If you file jointly, a working spouse’s compensation can support a spousal IRA contribution for a nonworking spouse, within the combined limits.

There is no maximum age for Roth contributions. Traditional IRA contributions used to stop at 70½, but the SECURE Act of 2019 removed that cap. A 75-year-old with earned income can contribute just like a 40-year-old.

The annual contribution limit

The limit is a single total shared by all of your traditional and Roth IRAs:

Anyone taking RMDs is past 50, so the catch-up amount always applies. If you already put money into a traditional IRA for the year, that contribution reduces the room left for a Roth. For example, a $4,000 traditional IRA contribution in 2025 would leave $4,000 of space for a Roth contribution.

The income limits

Roth eligibility also depends on modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) and filing status. Above the bottom of the phaseout range, the allowed contribution shrinks. Above the top of the range, it is zero.

The RMD itself is part of your income and raises MAGI. A large RMD can push someone into the phaseout range on its own. Income from a Roth conversion is excluded when calculating MAGI for Roth contribution eligibility, so converting doesn’t reduce how much you can contribute. Conversions have no income limit at all.

Example: funding a Roth from an RMD and converting in the same year

The figures below are hypothetical and only illustrate the mechanics.

Pat is single, 74, and works part time. In 2026 Pat has these assumed numbers:

• Traditional IRA balance on December 31, 2025: $500,000
• Uniform Lifetime Table factor at age 74: 25.5
• 2026 RMD: $500,000 ÷ 25.5 = about $19,608
• Part-time wages: $12,000
• MAGI including the RMD (before any conversion): $90,000

Step 1: Take the RMD. Pat withdraws $19,608 from the traditional IRA. All of it is taxable as ordinary income for 2026.

Step 2: Make a Roth contribution from the cash. Pat’s wages ($12,000) exceed the $8,600 limit for someone 50 or older, and $90,000 of MAGI is below the single-filer phaseout. Pat deposits $8,600 of the RMD cash into a Roth IRA as a regular contribution. The other $11,008 can stay in a bank account or go to a taxable brokerage account.

Step 3: Convert more, if it makes sense. With the RMD done, Pat converts $40,000 from the traditional IRA to the Roth. That $40,000 is also taxable in 2026, so total taxable IRA income for the year is about $59,608. It doesn’t affect the $8,600 contribution, because conversion income is left out of the MAGI test.

Now reverse the order. Suppose Pat had converted $40,000 in February and taken no RMD yet. The first $19,608 out of the IRA would have counted as the RMD. Because an RMD can’t be rolled over, that $19,608 would have landed in the Roth as an excess contribution.

Converting in an RMD year: why order matters

The rule behind the example is simple: in a year when an RMD is due, every distribution counts toward the RMD until the RMD is fully satisfied. A conversion is a distribution, so converting first means part of the converted amount is really an RMD sitting in a Roth.

That excess amount is subject to a 6% excise tax for every year it remains in the Roth. The usual fix is to withdraw the excess plus the earnings on it before your tax filing deadline, including extensions. The withdrawn earnings are taxable. You still need to have taken the full RMD for the year.

The rule also applies if you plan to convert the entire traditional IRA. You must take that year’s RMD from the account before converting the remainder, because the traditional IRA existed during the year and its RMD is still owed. After a full conversion, no future RMDs will be due on that money during your lifetime.

Some custodians allow an RMD to be paid in kind, moving shares instead of cash. An in-kind RMD can go to a taxable brokerage account, and it is taxed at the shares’ fair market value on the distribution date. It still can’t be treated as a conversion. Regular Roth contributions must be made in cash, so shares from an in-kind RMD would have to be sold before any of the value could be contributed.

Do Roth IRAs have RMDs?

Not during the original owner’s lifetime. No RMDs apply to a Roth IRA you opened or converted into, at any age. The money can stay invested for as long as you live, which is the main reason people convert before or during their RMD years. Each dollar moved to a Roth is a dollar that won’t count in future traditional IRA RMD calculations.

The rules change at death. Most non-spouse beneficiaries who inherit a Roth IRA must empty it on a schedule, often within 10 years under the SECURE Act. A surviving spouse can generally treat the inherited Roth as their own, which keeps the no-lifetime-RMD status. Distributions to beneficiaries are usually tax-free, but the account still can’t be left untouched indefinitely.

Since 2024, designated Roth accounts in workplace plans, such as Roth 401(k)s, no longer require lifetime RMDs either. Before then, rolling a Roth 401(k) into a Roth IRA was the main way to avoid them.

Tax-free withdrawal of earnings from a Roth IRA depends on being 59½ or older and meeting the five-year holding rule. Contributions can always come out tax-free. The Roth IRA withdrawal rules and the 5-year rule cover how those clocks apply to contributions and conversions.

Tax considerations before converting more than the RMD

A conversion adds the converted amount to your ordinary income for the year, on top of the RMD, Social Security, and any pension. The extra income can:

• Push part of your income into a higher marginal bracket for that year.
• Increase the share of your Social Security benefits that is taxable.
• Raise Medicare Part B and Part D premiums through income-related monthly adjustment amounts (IRMAA), which are based on income from two years earlier.

Many owners spread conversions over several years to keep each year’s income within a chosen bracket. Paying the conversion tax from a taxable account, instead of withholding it from the converted amount, leaves more money growing in the Roth. The case for converting depends on comparing today’s tax rate with the rate you or your heirs would pay on future withdrawals. That comparison often justifies an estimate from a tax professional before you convert a large amount.

Other uses for an RMD you don’t need

If you can’t make a Roth contribution, or you only need part of the RMD, these are the main options.

Qualified charitable distributions

A QCD is a transfer from your IRA directly to an eligible charity. It counts toward your RMD, and it isn’t included in taxable income. You must be at least 70½ on the date of the transfer. For 2026, the annual QCD limit is $111,000 per person, so a married couple can give up to $222,000 combined if each spouse uses their own IRA.

The conditions are strict:

• The check or transfer must go from the IRA custodian directly to the charity. If you withdraw the money and donate it afterward, the withdrawal is taxable, and you would need to itemize to deduct the gift.
• To count toward an RMD, the QCD must be made by the RMD deadline.
• Private foundations, donor-advised funds, and supporting organizations are not eligible recipients, and you can’t receive a benefit in return for the gift.
• A QCD larger than this year’s RMD doesn’t carry forward as credit toward future RMDs.

A QCD isn’t deductible, but keeping it out of adjusted gross income can be worth more than a deduction, especially if you take the standard deduction. A lower AGI can also keep MAGI under the Roth contribution phaseout or reduce IRMAA exposure.

A taxable brokerage account

An RMD invested in a regular brokerage account has no contribution limit and no earned income test. Qualified dividends and long-term capital gains are taxed at capital gains rates, which are often lower than ordinary income rates. Investments held until death generally receive a step-up in cost basis for heirs.

A 529 education savings plan

Grandparents sometimes put spare RMD money into a 529 plan for a grandchild. Earnings grow tax-deferred and come out tax-free when used for qualified education expenses. Those expenses can include K-12 tuition, college costs, registered apprenticeships, and limited student loan repayment. Contribution limits depend on the plan, and some states offer a deduction for contributions.

A traditional IRA contribution

With earned income, you can also contribute to a traditional IRA while taking RMDs. The contribution shares the same annual limit as a Roth contribution, and it may be deductible depending on income and workplace plan coverage. Putting RMD cash into a traditional IRA mostly delays tax that a future RMD will collect again, so the Roth route is usually the better use of limited contribution room.

FAQs

The Bottom Line

IRA owners who face RMDs but want more money in a Roth can still get there by taking the full RMD first and paying tax on it. With earned income and MAGI under the limits, the RMD cash can fund a regular Roth contribution, and any conversion should come only after the year's RMD is satisfied. Because conversions raise taxable income, Social Security taxation, and possibly IRMAA, larger amounts often call for a tax professional's estimate.