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Technical
- ✓ They thought they were clever making $230,000 as a married couple, funding a traditional IRA, and assuming they could just sweep it into a Roth.
- ✓ I pulled the client ledger across my desk at 4:45 PM on a Friday.
- ✓ Another high earner staring at a tax penalty because they tripped over IRS modified adjusted gross income thresholds.
- ✓ They thought they were clever making $230,000 as a married couple, funding a traditional IRA, and assuming they could just sweep it into a Roth.
I pulled the client ledger across my desk at 4:45 PM on a Friday. Another high earner staring at a tax penalty because they tripped over IRS modified adjusted gross income thresholds. They thought they were clever making $230,000 as a married couple, funding a traditional IRA, and assuming they could just sweep it into a Roth. Big mistake. The IRS caught the contribution mismatch, and now we are unravelling a mess of excess contributions, corrective distributions, and penalty filings.
Let us look at the cold math. If your modified adjusted gross income crosses the phase-out threshold—$230,000 to $240,000 for married filing jointly in tax year 2024—direct Roth contributions are dead on arrival. But high earners do not have to settle for taxable brokerage accounts. We use the backdoor Roth conversion strategy. It is not a loophole; it is a legally sanctioned mechanism built into the tax code, provided you navigate the mechanics without triggering the pro-rata rule.
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