Clear Money Guide
What this state guide covers
A quick view of the questions, practical details and source notes below.
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Updated July 28, 2026. Quick answer: Yes. District of Columbia taxes IRA and plan distributions in full with no general retirement exclusion, so a Roth conversion is taxed as ordinary income at the state rate on top of your federal bill.
Why a conversion is a different question from a withdrawal
Almost every state summary answers “how does District of Columbia tax retirement income?” That is a question about distributions. A Roth conversion is not a distribution in the ordinary sense — it is a voluntary election to recognise income now in exchange for tax-free growth later. Whether a state’s retirement exclusion reaches that election is a separate question, and it is the one that decides your bill.
There is no exclusion to argue about here, which at least makes the maths clean: the converted amount is added to District of Columbia taxable income in the conversion year.
Because the state cost is certain, the lever that matters in District of Columbia is when and how much — splitting a conversion across tax years, or converting in a year of unusually low income, changes the bill in a way that arguing about the exclusion cannot.
What District of Columbia does with the converted amount
State income tax: graduated to 10.75% (7 brackets, 4%-10.75%)
How District of Columbia treats IRA and plan income: Pensions, 401(k), and IRA distributions fully taxable — no retirement income exclusion. The former $3,000 exclusion for DC/federal government pensions (62+) was repealed for tax years beginning on/after 1/1/2015 (D.C. Law 20-155); a restoration bill (B24-0071) was not enacted.
| Conversion | State tax at 10.75% |
|---|---|
| $50,000 | $5,375 |
| $100,000 | $10,750 |
| $250,000 | $26,875 |
Straight arithmetic at the stated rate. It ignores deductions, credits, and any graduated bracket effects, so treat it as the ceiling rather than a filing figure.
What to ask a preparer about District of Columbia
None on eligibility — it is taxable. Ask instead how splitting the conversion across two tax years changes the bracket outcome.
The state bill is only half the decision
What a conversion costs depends on the federal bracket it fills as well as the state you are resident in when you make it, and an adviser can price both together before you decide how much to convert.
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Converting around a move
Converting in the year you move into District of Columbia is the case that catches people. Residency at the moment of conversion is what generally determines which state gets to tax it, so a conversion executed a week before a move and one executed a week after can produce different bills.
Four separate taxes change when you move, not one: income tax on withdrawals, treatment of Social Security, estate tax, and inheritance tax. A state that looks good on conversions can be worse on the other three.
The state bill is the smaller half
Whatever District of Columbia does, the conversion is federal ordinary income first. The federal bracket you land in, and whether the conversion pushes you over an IRMAA threshold two years later, will usually move more money than the state line does. The state answer tells you whether to convert here; the federal answer tells you how much to convert at once.
Paying the tax from outside the account matters more than either. Using converted dollars to pay the bill shrinks the balance that was the entire point of converting.
Sources
Authority: D.C. Code § 47-1803.02(a)(2); D.C. Law 20-155 (FY2015 Budget Support Act); D.C. Code sec. 47-3701(14); D.C. Code sec. 47-3702.
Compiled from state statutes, session laws and revenue-department publications and adversarially verified in July 2026. Dataset confidence for District of Columbia: high.
This page states what the cited authority says. It is not tax advice, and a conversion large enough to matter is worth putting in front of a preparer who can see your whole return.