Starting Roth conversion ladder

[hankmoody]

Hey guys,

Quick question. I'm not going to have any income this year, so I wanted to start to transfer $24,400 from my traditional IRA to my Roth IRA, since it should be tax free (married filing jointly). It will be the first time I've done this. I have a Vanguard account.

So my question is, am I able to transfer the shares in my tIRA to rIRA that is equivalent to $24,400, or do I need to sell those shares into USD in the money market fund and then transfer the USD over, and then repurchase the shares? I'd love to just do the shares if possible.

Thanks.

[gocurrycracker]

You can just transfer the shares in kind.

This is a taxable event. With no other income, at the Federal level the tax rate will be zero with the full Roth conversion offset by the standard deduction.

You might have some State taxes to consider. If you are on an ACA health insurance policy (probably not with no other income) that may be impacted as well