Roth IRA 5-Year Rule Calculator

The Two 5-Year Rules

Because the clocks start on January 1, a contribution for 2025 made in April 2026 counts as 2025, and a conversion on December 31 gets credit for the whole year. Pub. 590-B’s example: a conversion and a prior-year contribution made on the same day, February 25, 2025, start clocks on January 1, 2025 and January 1, 2024.

The Ordering Rules, With the IRS Example

Every non-qualified withdrawal is treated as coming out in this order, across all your Roth IRAs combined:

1. Regular contributions (always tax- and penalty-free).
2. Conversions and rollovers, first-in first-out; within each, the part that was taxable when converted comes out first, then the nontaxable part.
3. Earnings (taxable unless the distribution is qualified, and penalized under 59 1/2 unless an exception applies).

Pub. 590-B’s Amelia converted $80,000 on October 15, 2021, of which $60,000 was taxable. She contributed $5,000 on February 23, 2025, and took $7,000 on November 8, 2025, at 60. Her first Roth year was 2021, so the 5-year period runs until January 1, 2026: the distribution is not qualified. The ordering rules assign the first $5,000 to her contribution and the next $2,000 to the taxable part of the 2021 conversion. She already paid tax on that when she converted, and at 60 the 10% penalty does not apply: taxable income $0, penalty $0. The calculator reproduces that split.

Withdrawals in Seven Situations

The three-conversion case shows why the clocks matter: in 2026 none of the three conversions is past five years (the 2022 clock runs to January 1, 2027), so the $35,000 drawn from conversions after the $15,000 of contributions costs $3,500. Waiting until 2027 frees the 2022 layer and cuts the penalty to $1,500. At 59 1/2 the conversion clocks stop mattering altogether.

Exceptions and Special Cases

• Age 59 1/2: no 10% penalty on anything; earnings are tax-free once rule 1’s five years are also met.
• Disability or death: the same as 59 1/2 for both rules. A beneficiary inherits the owner’s first-contribution year.
• First home: up to $10,000 over your lifetime avoids the penalty, and is a qualified distribution if the 5-year period is met.
• Other 10% exceptions (medical costs over 7.5% of AGI, higher education, birth or adoption, substantially equal payments) remove the penalty but do not make earnings tax-free.
• Backdoor Roth: a nondeductible contribution converted right away has a taxable part near zero, so its conversion clock rarely costs anything, but the earnings rule still applies.
• Roth 401(k): a designated Roth account has its own 5-year clock; rolling it into a Roth IRA brings it under the Roth IRA’s clock instead.

Common Mistakes

• Thinking one conversion clock covers them all. Each conversion year has its own.
• Counting from the deposit date. Both clocks start January 1 of the tax year.
• Believing contributions are locked. Regular contributions can come out any time without tax or penalty.
• Forgetting to aggregate. The ordering rules treat all your Roth IRAs as one; withdrawing from the “newer” account does not avoid older layers.
• Skipping Form 8606. Non-qualified Roth distributions are reported on Form 8606 Part III, and any 10% tax on Form 5329.

What the Calculator Does Not Cover

It handles up to three conversion years and assumes you know your remaining regular contributions (your basis) from past Forms 8606. Rollovers from designated Roth accounts, recharacterizations before 2018, partial first-home use in earlier years, state taxes and the full list of 10% exceptions other than those in the menu are not modeled. Your custodian’s Form 1099-R codes may differ from this result; a CPA or enrolled agent can reconcile them with Form 8606.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Use This Calculator

1. Enter your first Roth year — the first tax year you contributed to or converted into any Roth IRA (Form 5498 or your oldest Form 8606).
2. Enter the withdrawal year, your age and any special situation — disability, inheriting the account, or a first-time home purchase.
3. Enter your basis — regular contributions not yet withdrawn, and up to three conversions with the amount and the taxable part (Form 8606 line 18).
4. Enter the withdrawal — the total you will take from all your Roth IRAs this year.
5. Read the result — whether it is qualified, how the ordering rules split it, taxable income and the 10% additional tax.