26 Apr Can I put IRA withdrawal in a Roth IRA?

Q. Can I take my required minimum distribution (RMD) from my IRA and deposit it in my Roth after paying taxes on it? I believe only earned income can be deposited.
— Investor

A. In a nutshell, no, you can’t.

There are specific rules for contributions to Roth IRAs and, as you suspected, having “earned income” is one of them.

If you also have earned income, you may be eligible for a Roth but there are other limits having to do with your current year’s income and filing status, but if you don’t have earned income, those rules are moot in your case, said Michael Karu, a certified public accountant with Levine, Jacobs & Co. in Livingston.

He said there are rules dealing with direct rollovers from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, but those must be done without withdrawing the funds from the traditional IRA first.

“It is handled as a trustee-to-trustee transfer, but has tax consequences on the transfer,” he said.

Read more about a Roth conversion here.

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This story was originally published on April 26, 2019.

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