Can you roll a 401(k) into a Roth IRA?

Key points

• An eligible 401(k) distribution can go directly to a Roth IRA. Pretax money included in that rollover becomes taxable income.
• A designated Roth 401(k) balance and ordinary after-tax employee contributions are different sources of money. They do not receive the same treatment as pretax savings.
• A direct rollover avoids mandatory withholding, not the conversion tax. Money paid to you generally creates a 60-day deadline and withholding complications.
• The plan first needs to permit a distribution. Required minimum distributions and hardship distributions cannot be rolled over.

The word rollover describes the movement. It does not settle whether the movement is taxable. Moving pretax 401(k) savings into a traditional IRA generally preserves tax deferral. Moving those savings into a Roth IRA exchanges that deferral for current taxable income. The IRS distinguishes both routes in Topic 413.

This guide concerns money in your own account, not an inherited plan. The rollover hub covers the wider choice of destinations. Here, the practical question is which part of a payment would become taxable, and how to move it without accidentally taking cash out.

Which part of the 401(k) is going to the Roth IRA?

A single plan statement can contain several tax categories. A total balance is not enough to price a conversion.

Money leaving the plan	Treatment when properly rolled to a Roth IRA	Record to obtain
Pretax contributions and earnings	Included in income	Pretax distribution amount
Ordinary after-tax contributions	Previously taxed basis is not taxed again; associated earnings are pretax	Contribution basis and earnings separately
Designated Roth 401(k) account	A proper Roth-to-Roth rollover is not a pretax conversion	Contribution basis, earnings and whether the plan payment is qualified

The IRS rollover guidance and designated Roth account FAQ govern these distinctions. Designated Roth money cannot be rolled into a traditional IRA. Ordinary after-tax contributions are not automatically designated Roth contributions just because both were taxed when contributed.

For a plan with several sources, the useful instruction is an amount from an identified source to an identified destination. “Move the account to Roth” leaves the tax question unanswered.

Does the plan have to let you roll over now?

No. Rollover eligibility does not create a right to withdraw. The plan’s distribution provisions come first. Severance from employment and reaching age 59 and a half are familiar distribution events, but a plan need not offer every event the law permits. Its document controls the available options within those limits. The IRS distribution-events page makes that distinction explicit.

Someone still working for the sponsoring employer needs to establish whether an in-service distribution is available for the particular contribution source. The ability to convert money to a designated Roth account inside a plan does not establish permission to move it to an outside Roth IRA.

A required minimum distribution, or RMD, is not eligible for rollover. Neither is a hardship distribution. A conversion therefore cannot substitute for an RMD that is due. Other exclusions include certain long-term payment series and corrective distributions. The IRS rollover page lists the categories; the RMD guide explains the separate withdrawal obligation.

How much tax can a pretax conversion add?

The conversion’s taxable amount is added to the rest of the year’s income. It is not automatically taxed at one advertised “conversion rate.” Deductions, other income and the brackets the conversion crosses affect the result. A direct rollover changes the withholding mechanics, not this calculation. Publication 575 explains the income inclusion for a rollover to a Roth IRA.

Here is a hypothetical 2026 example. The owner is single, born in 1966, has $80,000 of other ordinary income and a $200,000 wholly pretax plan balance. The owner converts $40,000, uses the $16,100 standard deduction and pays the conversion tax from money outside retirement accounts. Assume no Social Security, credits, tax-exempt interest, other deductions or state tax.

Calculation	No conversion	With the conversion
Ordinary income	$80,000	$120,000
Taxable income after the deduction	$63,900	$103,900
Federal income tax under the rate schedule	$8,770	$17,570
Additional tax caused by the conversion	Not applicable	$8,800

In this example, all $40,000 falls in the 22% bracket. That is why $40,000 × 22% equals $8,800. It is a result of these inputs, not a universal rate. The pretax balance falls to $160,000 before investment changes, and $40,000 reaches the Roth IRA. The figures use Revenue Procedure 2025-32’s 2026 tax schedule. These are rate-schedule illustrations, not a completed tax-return calculation.

Run these inputs in the Roth conversion calculator. Its current-year tax result was checked on November 3, 2026; the link does not lock the tax year. Its later-year projections are illustrations, not a prediction of future tax law.

Can after-tax contributions go to Roth without a tax bill?

Previously taxed contributions can reach a Roth IRA without being taxed again. Earnings on those contributions remain pretax. Under IRS guidance implementing Notice 2014-54, a distribution can be directed to more than one destination: pretax amounts to a traditional IRA or eligible plan, and after-tax amounts to a Roth IRA.

But the rule does not let a participant select only basis from a mixed account and leave every pretax dollar behind. A partial distribution includes a proportional share of pretax money and basis from that account.

Suppose an eligible account contains $150,000: $120,000 pretax and $30,000 after-tax basis. A hypothetical $50,000 partial distribution contains $40,000 pretax and $10,000 basis. Directing the $40,000 to a traditional IRA and $10,000 to a Roth IRA produces no current taxable conversion income under those assumptions. Directing the entire $50,000 to Roth instead makes $40,000 taxable.

That calculation assumes one mixed account, accurate basis records and properly coordinated payments. It is not a rule for combining an unrelated traditional IRA’s basis with a plan distribution. The administrator’s source accounting matters. The separate IRA-to-401(k) guide explains the different rule when money moves in the other direction.

Direct rollover or a check payable to you?

A direct rollover is paid to the receiving account, even if you physically deliver a check made payable to its custodian for your benefit. No mandatory tax withholding applies to the direct rollover. A check payable to you is different: the taxable eligible rollover distribution generally has 20% withheld and must be rolled over within 60 days. IRS rollover instructions describe both methods.

On a $50,000 wholly pretax eligible payment to you, 20% withholding is $10,000, leaving $40,000 in hand. Replacing the $10,000 from outside funds permits a full $50,000 rollover. If only $40,000 reaches Roth, the other $10,000 is not converted. It remains a distribution, with a possible 10% early-distribution tax if no exception applies. The full pretax $50,000 still enters income: part as conversion, part as cash not rolled over.

Withholding is a tax prepayment. It is not a calculation of the final liability. A direct conversion with no withholding can still require other withholding or estimated tax payments. The taxes on 401(k) withdrawals guide separates those concepts.

Which Roth 5-year rule applies afterward?

Two clocks are easy to confuse. A Roth IRA’s qualified-distribution clock governs whether earnings can come out tax-free. A separate 5-year rule can apply to the taxable part of each conversion when withdrawn early. Meeting one test does not automatically satisfy the other. Publication 590-B explains the ordering rules and both tests. A qualified Roth IRA distribution needs both that 5-year period and a qualifying event: age 59 and a half, disability, death or a first-home distribution, which has a $10,000 lifetime limit.

For someone under 59 and a half, withdrawing taxable converted amounts within that conversion’s 5-tax-year period can trigger the 10% additional tax unless an exception applies. A completed rollover itself is not the same thing as taking that later withdrawal.

Rolling an existing Roth 401(k) into a Roth IRA raises a different clock issue. Time in the designated Roth plan does not carry over as time in the Roth IRA’s qualified-distribution period. An earlier qualifying Roth IRA contribution can already have started the IRA clock. Treasury Regulation 1.408A-10, Q&A-4 treats the two periods independently.

This does not mean every dollar becomes inaccessible for five years. Contribution basis, converted amounts and earnings have different ordering and tax rules. The Roth IRA withdrawal guide handles that next decision.

What belongs in the rollover file?

The working file connects the plan’s instructions to the eventual tax return:

1. Distribution eligibility and the amount available from each source.
2. Pretax, ordinary after-tax and designated Roth balances identified separately.
3. Receiving account title, payment instructions and requested allocation.
4. Confirmation that the funds arrived and were coded as a rollover, not a regular annual contribution.
5. Form 1099-R, the receiving IRA’s reporting and basis records retained together.

A rollover is reportable even when it creates no current tax. Publication 590-A also states that a rollover from another eligible retirement plan to a Roth IRA cannot be recharacterized as a traditional IRA contribution under the post-2017 rule. A later change of mind does not provide a general conversion undo button.

The useful comparison is therefore a documented tax calculation before the payment, not a tax surprise afterward. This guide shows the mechanics; it does not choose a conversion amount for an individual household.

About this guide

Written by the Diversify Guy editorial desk. Diversify Guy is a pen name. It is the byline of our editorial team, not a single individual. We do not publish personal trading records or claim to be your adviser. We tell you where every figure came from so you can check it yourself. How we work and how we get paid.

This guide explains federal tax rules, not state tax, and is educational information rather than personalized financial, tax or legal advice.

Sources and check dates

Primary sources fetched and checked November 3, 2026:

• IRS Topic 413: rollovers from retirement plans.
• IRS Publication 575: rollovers to Roth IRAs and withholding.
• IRS designated Roth account FAQ.
• IRS distribution events.
• IRS rollover rules.
• IRS after-tax rollover guidance.
• Revenue Procedure 2025-32, sections 4.01 and 4.14.
• IRS Publication 590-B: Roth distributions.
• Treasury Regulation 1.408A-10, Q&A-4.
• IRS Publication 590-A: reporting and recharacterizations.