This might work fine if you are in a lower tax bracket today and believe you'll
be in a higher tax bracket during retirement.
If the employee
is in a higher tax bracket during retirement than he is when he is putting money in the Roth 401 (k), the plan allows him to pay a lower tax rate than he would in a regular 401 (k)-- since withdrawals during retirement are tax free.
This is usually because of the investor getting the initial tax deduction while they're in a higher tax bracket during their earnings years.
Not exact matches
You don't pay income
tax on the money when you contribute it (
during your working life when your salary
is high and you
are in a
high percentage
tax «
bracket», i.e. Federal
tax is 25 - 33 % and state
tax is 0 - 12 %).
The upshot of all this
is that people who expect to
be in the 25 %
bracket or
higher during their retirement years should strongly consider a Roth conversion even if the rate of
tax on the conversion
is as many as ten percentage points
higher, provided they can pay the conversion
tax with money that would otherwise remain
in a taxable investment account and their investment time horizon
is a long one.
For some taxpayers, the immediate
tax deduction
is more important
during higher income earning years and less relevant
during retirement when they
are in a lower
tax bracket.
Assuming that
during your working years, you
are in a
higher tax bracket than you will
be in upon retirement, this will give you an overall
tax saving.
For those
in a
higher tax bracket who believe they may
be in a lower one
during retirement, this can
be an important consideration.