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What is a backdoor Roth IRA?

Quick answer

A backdoor Roth lets high earners (above the $161K single / $240K MFJ Roth income limit) contribute to a Roth IRA via two steps: contribute to a Traditional IRA (no income limit), then immediately convert it to Roth. Watch out for the pro-rata rule if you have other pre-tax IRAs.

More context

A backdoor Roth lets high earners (above the $161K single / $240K MFJ Roth income limit) contribute to a Roth IRA via two steps: contribute to a Traditional IRA (no income limit), then immediately convert it to Roth. Watch out for the pro-rata rule if you have other pre-tax IRAs. The exact answer depends on your specific situation — the numbers above are a strong starting point, but the right next step is to plug in your actual figures.

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