Updated July 28, 2026. Quick answer: Most likely not, with one caveat worth checking. Kentucky broadly exempts retirement income including IRA distributions, and a conversion is ordinary income from an IRA — but the cited authority does not single conversions out.
Confidence note: high confidence on the exclusion itself, lower on whether it reaches a conversion, because the authority does not name conversions.
Why a conversion is a different question from a withdrawal
Almost every state summary answers “how does Kentucky 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.
The exemption here is written broadly enough that a conversion very likely falls inside it. We flag it rather than stating it flatly because the authority does not name conversions, and this page’s job is to be accurate about what the source actually says.
If the amount is large enough to matter, this is a one-question call to a Kentucky preparer, and the question is narrow.
What Kentucky does with the converted amount
State income tax: flat 3.5% for 2026 (cut from 4% by HB 1, signed Feb 2025, via 2022 trigger mechanism)
How Kentucky treats IRA and plan income: Retirement income exclusion up to $31,110 per person covering pensions, annuities, 401(k), and IRA distributions (Schedule P / KRS 141.019). Government pension income attributable to service before 1/1/1998 is fully exempt beyond the cap (Schedule P exempt-percentage calculation).
What to ask a preparer about Kentucky
The authority does not name conversions. Ask whether the exclusion is applied to conversion income in practice, and get it in writing if the amount is large.
Converting around a move
Converting in the year you move into Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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: KRS 141.019; KY DOR Schedule P (Pension Income Exclusion); KRS 140.070; KRS 140.080.
Compiled from state statutes, session laws and revenue-department publications and adversarially verified in July 2026. Dataset confidence for Kentucky: 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.