Calling All Business Owners: Convert Your IRA IMMEDIATELY But wait…

You have probably heard many people tell you that regardless of income in 2010, anyone can convert their traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. In fact, when speaking of tax free growth and income elements of the Roth IRA, some IRA experts have been known to blindly say that a zero tax rate is better than some tax rate for retirement assets when pulling money out for income purposes.

Now I am not a tax advisor, enrolled to argue before the IRS, or a CPA – though one does work for me. But the obvious is obvious. First, you have probably heard many an advisor say, “It depends.” Well, it depends if a conversion makes sense. It depends on the facts and circumstances surrounding the scenario. All these investment gurus are preaching that it is a “no brainer” to do the conversion in 2010. It actually seems as though these advisors are practicing the type of malpractice that a doctor would be conducting if a patient came into the office and the doc said, “you have the Swine Flu,” though the patient hadn’t opened their mouth to explain the symptoms.

In fact, there are many factors that must a small business owner or retiree should take into consideration. A few of the somewhat obvious ones are current age, age when taking income, tax bracket – both now and in retirement, projected rate of return, current IRA balance, etc.

What about the factors that few stars of the IRA world are noting? Some are: will the conversion affect the all-important Alternative Minimum Tax, are there state income taxes that could be a vital variable, or finally and probably most significantly, from where exactly is the money going to come to pay for the taxes owed basically now? Hmm. Not a bad question especially nobody seems to even have enough money to get their coffee fix anymore. In one example for an IRA balance of $500,000, a 55 year old would have to pony up $125,000. Again, hmm.

Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Small Business owner out there…hurry and do the conversion – that is after doing your research.

By R. Kenner French
Business and Financial Contributor, Palm Beach Times