Turning 73 in 2026 and Still Want a Backdoor Roth? Here's the Order the IRS Actually Requires.

Why the Order of Operations Matters This Year

If you turned 73 in 2026 — or you're already taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) from a traditional IRA — and you're also considering a "backdoor Roth" conversion this year (contributing after-tax dollars to a traditional IRA, then converting that balance to Roth), there's a sequencing rule that trips up even experienced savers: you cannot convert your way around an RMD you already owe. This IRS ordering rule means the first dollars distributed from a traditional IRA in an RMD year are automatically treated as satisfying that RMD, whether or not that's what you intended.

With mid-year tax planning season underway and 2026 marking the first cost-of-living increase to key retirement contribution limits under SECURE 2.0 (the 2022 federal law that reshaped retirement-savings rules), now's a good time to walk through exactly how RMDs, backdoor Roth conversions, and the pro-rata rule interact — and where each one applies.

First: Do You Even Have an RMD This Year?

Required minimum distributions — the minimum amount the IRS requires you to withdraw annually from most tax-deferred retirement accounts — currently kick in at age 73 under SECURE 2.0. That age applies to anyone born between 1951 and 1959; the RMD age rises again to 75 starting in 2033 for people born in 1960 or later.

Your very first RMD can be delayed until April 1 of the year after you turn 73, but every RMD after that is due by December 31. Delaying that first one means owing two RMDs in the same calendar year — the delayed one plus the current year's — which can push you into a higher tax bracket if you're not careful.

Miss an RMD or come up short, and the penalty is steep: a 25% excise tax on the shortfall, reduced to 10% if you correct it within two years by filing Form 5329.

Roth IRAs are the exception — and the reason "Roth" and "RMD" tend to get tangled together in the first place. Roth IRAs carry no RMD requirement at all during the original owner's lifetime; the RMD rules only apply to the account after the owner's death. That's also why converting traditional dollars to Roth is so appealing to RMD-age savers: once money is in a Roth, RMDs stop applying to it.

The Rule That Catches People: RMD First, Conversion Second

Here's the mechanic that matters most for anyone 73 or older this year: if you're already required to take an RMD, the IRS treats the first dollars you withdraw from your traditional IRA that year as satisfying the RMD — automatically, whether you label the withdrawal an "RMD" or not. Only money withdrawn after the full RMD has been satisfied is eligible to be converted to a Roth IRA.

In practice, that means you cannot take a distribution, convert it directly to Roth, and count it toward your RMD at the same time. If you have multiple traditional IRAs, the rule aggregates across all of them. SEP and SIMPLE IRAs — IRA-based retirement plans used by small employers — count too: the combined RMD for every traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRA you own must be satisfied first, not just the RMD tied to whichever specific account you're planning to convert from.

Get the order wrong, and the consequence isn't just an inconvenience — dollars that should have counted as your RMD but instead got converted are treated as an excess Roth contribution, which comes with its own correction process and potential penalty.

One narrower carve-out: this ordering rule applies to IRA-to-IRA conversions. If you separately owe an RMD from an employer-sponsored plan like a 401(k), that RMD doesn't have to be satisfied before you convert a different traditional IRA balance.

Under 73? The RMD Problem Doesn't Exist — But the Pro-Rata Rule Still Might

If you're under 73, none of the above applies to you: no RMD, no ordering rule, no conflict. A backdoor Roth can happen at any point in the year without an RMD getting in the way.

But a separate rule can still complicate things: the pro-rata rule. The IRS treats all of your traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs as a single combined account when calculating how much of any conversion is taxable — you can't cherry-pick only the after-tax dollars for conversion if pre-tax IRA money exists anywhere else in your name. The nontaxable percentage of a conversion equals your total after-tax basis divided by the total year-end value of all your non-Roth IRAs combined, and that percentage applies no matter which specific account the conversion comes from.

For example: if you have $10,000 of after-tax (nondeductible) basis and $90,000 of pre-tax IRA money elsewhere, only 10% of any conversion is tax-free — the other 90% is taxable, even if you only nominally converted the nondeductible portion. Employer plan balances like a 401(k) or 403(b) don't count toward this calculation — only IRA-type accounts. That's why some savers roll pre-tax IRA money into an employer plan (if the plan accepts it) before doing a backdoor Roth, specifically to get pre-tax dollars out of the pro-rata calculation.

Filing Form 8606 is what reports your nondeductible contribution and calculates the taxable portion under the pro-rata rule — skip it, and the IRS has no record that any of your contribution was after-tax, so it may treat the entire conversion as taxable.

2026's New Contribution Numbers

Alongside all this, 2026 brought the first cost-of-living increase to a key SECURE 2.0 provision. The IRA contribution limit rose to $7,500 (from $7,000), and the IRA catch-up contribution for savers 50 and older rose to $1,100 (from a flat $1,000 that hadn't moved since it was introduced) — the first increase since SECURE 2.0 indexed that catch-up amount to inflation. Roth IRA income phase-out ranges also moved up for 2026: $153,000–$168,000 for single filers and $242,000–$252,000 for joint filers.

Putting It Together

For anyone 73 or older this year: calculate your full aggregated traditional IRA RMD first, take that amount out, and only then consider converting whatever remaining balance you'd like into Roth. For anyone under 73 doing a backdoor Roth: the RMD sequencing issue doesn't apply, but check whether pro-rata will make part of your backdoor conversion taxable before assuming the whole thing is tax-free. Either way, Form 8606 and Form 5329 are the paperwork that keeps a well-intentioned move from turning into a correction headache next April.

This article is educational commentary on public tax rules, not personalized tax or financial advice. Individual circumstances vary — consult a qualified tax professional about your specific situation.