How The ‘Backdoor Roth IRA’ Can Benefit Some High-Income Clients

Say you started with $40,000 in before-tax contributions to non-Roth IRAs and another $10,000 in after-tax contributions to other non-Roth IRAs. That means 80% of your total non-Roth IRA accounts were made with pre-tax dollars. So 80% of whatever amount you convert to a Roth IRA will be taxed (at normal income tax rates), no matter which IRA it came from.