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: No. Tennessee has no state income tax, so converting to a Roth costs you nothing at the state level. Only the federal bill applies.
The same question for annuity payments: does Tennessee tax annuity income.
The same question for military retired pay: does Tennessee tax military retirement.
The same question for gains from selling investments: does Tennessee tax capital gains.
The same question for ordinary 401(k) and IRA withdrawals: does Tennessee tax 401(k) and IRA withdrawals.
Related state retirement tax guides: Does Tennessee Tax Pensions?, Does Tennessee Tax Social Security? and Colorado to Tennessee Retirement Taxes.
Why a conversion is a different question from a withdrawal
Almost every state summary answers “how does Tennessee 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.
This is the simplest case on the map. Tennessee levies no tax on ordinary income, so the entire question of whether a retirement exclusion covers a conversion never arises. Your conversion is a federal-only event here.
The planning consequence is the opposite of what people expect: because the state adds nothing, the timing question in Tennessee is purely federal — bracket, IRMAA, and the tax you pay from outside the account.
What Tennessee does with the converted amount
State income tax: none (Hall tax on interest/dividends fully repealed as of TY2021)
How Tennessee treats IRA and plan income: Not taxed (no state income tax).
| Conversion | State tax in Tennessee |
|---|---|
| $50,000 | $0 |
| $100,000 | $0 |
| $250,000 | $0 |
Tennessee has taxed no investment income since the Hall tax was repealed.
There is no state income tax and no interest and dividends tax, so a conversion costs $0 at the state level. The whole question is federal: which bracket the conversion fills, what it does to Medicare premiums two years out, and how long the money has to grow.
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What to ask a preparer about Tennessee
Nothing to ask at the state level. Spend the question on federal timing.
Converting around a move
Converting after establishing residency in Tennessee is the whole play. People moving here from a taxing state sometimes convert before the move and pay a state bill they could have avoided entirely by waiting.
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 Tennessee 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.
Figures verified against the Tennessee Department of Revenue Hall income tax page on September 30, 2026; the Tenn. Code Ann. section citation was not re-checked.
Sources
Authority: former Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-2-102 (Hall tax, repealed).
Compiled from state statutes, session laws and revenue-department publications and adversarially verified in July 2026. Dataset confidence for Tennessee: 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.
Nearby states
With no state line to add, what is left to decide is how much to convert and where the tax money comes from. Enter a state rate of zero in the Roth conversion state tax calculator and it returns the federal bill alone and how much of the conversion actually lands in the Roth — and it will price the conversion against another state if you are weighing a move away.