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Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: the $35,000 lifetime 529-to-Roth rollover is real, but it is a multi-year project with four separate caps, and the one everybody misses is this: the annual rollover shares the beneficiary’s regular IRA limit — every dollar they contribute to their own IRA or Roth that year subtracts from what the 529 can send (IRC §408A(c)(3)(F), added by SECURE 2.0 §126). Max your own Roth, and this year’s rollover room is zero. The planner below applies all four caps to your numbers.
The planner
A five-year project deserves a five-year plan.
Sequencing rollovers against the kid’s own contributions, income and state rules is exactly the kind of multi-year coordination advisers do. The matching service below introduces you to advisers who pay to meet you.
Before you start, what actually happens. The form is run by Kapitalwise, our advisor-matching partner. Kapitalwise sends your details to advisers who pay for the introduction, so expect calls and texts. Clear Money Guide is paid when you submit the form, whether or not you ever hire anyone. This is free to you and there is no obligation to hire anyone.
The Kapitalwise form opens here — you stay on this page.
What happens when you press the button
It asks about nine questions — age, investable assets, location — then your name, email and phone number, and verifies the phone by text. Nothing loads and nothing reaches Kapitalwise until you press the button.
The rules in one paragraph
Account open 15+ years • contributions from the last 5 years (and their earnings) can’t move yet • the receiving Roth must belong to the 529’s beneficiary, not the account owner • the beneficiary needs earned income at least equal to the rollover • trustee-to-trustee transfer only • and — the good news — the Roth income limits do NOT apply, so a high-earning graduate locked out of normal Roth contributions can still receive 529 rollovers. Deeper on each: the shared-limit trap · the 15-year clock and its open question · the no-MAGI feature · the earned-income floor. Your state may not play along: state tax on 529-to-Roth rollovers.
For a child, the gate is earned income: a Roth IRA for kids is capped at the smaller of their earnings or the annual limit — an allowance does not count — and if you own the business paying them, the payroll exception applies only to a sole proprietorship or a parents-only partnership, never a corporation.
More Roth Strategy guides: see the full 99-page index.