Tax simulator
Roth conversion / bracket-filling planner
Stacking more income on top of your year, such as a Roth conversion, can push you across a bracket edge or a surtax line where the next dollar suddenly costs more. Enter your projected income and this shows the room you have before each ceiling: the top of your current tax bracket, the next brackets up, the investment-income surtax line, and the Medicare surtax line. Each line comes with the rate you pay below it and the rate just above, so you can see what crossing it would cost.
Background reading: Advanced contribution strategies
This shows how much room sits under each tax line, not an amount to convert. The right conversion for your full situation is a personalized decision.
- start of the 37% bracket37.0% aboveThreshold$640,600Headroom under this line$256,700Measured againsttaxable
taxable income above this is taxed at 37%
- NIIT MAGI thresholdThreshold$200,000Above this line by$200,000Measured againstmagi
investment income carries an extra 3.8% once MAGI is above this line
- Additional Medicare thresholdThreshold$200,000Above this line by$200,000Measured againstearned
earned income carries an extra 0.9% above this line (a conversion is not earned income, but it raises MAGI)
That decision is a conversation with a CFP.
Assumptions and simplifications
- Headroom is the room before your income crosses each line; a Roth conversion adds to taxable income and MAGI and would consume that room.
- Lines shown are each higher ordinary bracket, the NIIT MAGI threshold, and the Additional Medicare threshold. IRMAA, state brackets, and credit phaseouts are not modeled here.
- This shows the framework (the lines and the room under them); the amount to convert, if any, is a personalized decision.