Updated October 16, 2026. Quick answer: A Roth conversion for 2026 has to happen in 2026, so the last day is December 31, 2026. Publication 590-A says conversion income is normally included on the return for the year that you converted, and a Roth IRA contribution, by contrast, can be made until the return due date of April 15, 2027 without extensions. A conversion made after 2017 cannot be recharacterized back.
Form 8606 and Form 8889 for 2025, read line by line: Form 8606 line 6, Form 8606 lines 9 to 14 and Form 8606 lines 24 and 25a.
Quick reference
| Item | Figure printed in Publication 590-B |
|---|---|
| Rollover window | 60 days |
| Penalty clock on a converted amount | 5 years, counted from January 1 of the conversion year |
| Additional tax on an early distribution | 10% |
December 31, 2026: the year you convert is the year it counts
Publication 590-A defines the transaction: “You can withdraw all or part of the assets from a traditional IRA and reinvest them (within 60 days) in a Roth IRA.” “The amount that you withdraw and timely contribute (convert) to the Roth IRA is called a conversion contribution.”
The year it counts follows the year it is done: “These amounts are normally included in income on your return for the year that you converted them from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.” For a conversion meant for tax year 2026, the move has to be made by December 31, 2026 (a Thursday, computed here, not published by the IRS). Unlike a contribution, there is no extra season after year end in which to pick the earlier year.
Contribution deadline versus conversion deadline
The two transactions get confused because both end with money in a Roth IRA. The contribution rule: “You can make contributions to a Roth IRA for a year at any time during the year or by the due date of your return for that year (not including extensions).” Applied to 2026, the contribution date is April 15, 2027, a Thursday (computed here, not published by the IRS), covered further on the IRA contribution deadline page.
| Roth IRA contribution | Roth conversion | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Money you contribute to a Roth IRA | Money moved from a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA |
| Deadline for tax year 2026 | April 15, 2027 (computed here, not published by the IRS) | December 31, 2026 |
| Source wording | “or by the due date of your return for that year (not including extensions).” | “These amounts are normally included in income on your return for the year that you converted them from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.” |
| Can it be undone? | Not covered on this page | “cannot be recharacterized as having been made to a traditional IRA.” |
A conversion cannot be undone
A conversion is hard to take back. “A conversion of a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, and a rollover from any other eligible retirement plan to a Roth IRA, made in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, cannot be recharacterized as having been made to a traditional IRA.” The Form 8606 instructions repeat it, under the heading “No recharacterizations of conversions made in 2018 or later.”
That is why the timing matters. A year-end conversion cannot be corrected the following April if the tax bill, the bracket or the portfolio turns out differently. The page on why a Roth conversion cannot be undone walks through what that means in practice.
Required minimum distributions cannot be converted
If you are old enough to owe a required distribution, take it first. The publication says: “You can’t convert amounts that must be distributed from your traditional IRA for a particular year (including the calendar year in which you reach age 73) under the required distribution rules (discussed in Pub. 590-B).”
The order of operations and the traps are on the page on converting an RMD.
The 60-day rollover window and the three methods
A conversion can be done in three ways, listed in the publication: “Rollover. You can receive a distribution from a traditional IRA and roll it over (contribute it) to a Roth IRA within 60 days after the distribution.” “Trustee-to-trustee transfer. You can direct the trustee of the traditional IRA to transfer an amount from the traditional IRA to the trustee of the Roth IRA.”
The 60-day limit has a consequence for a late-December distribution: “These amounts are taxable in the year distributed, even if the 60-day period expires in the next year.” A direct transfer avoids carrying a rollover across December 31, 2026. The publication also notes a limit that does not apply here: “However, the 1-year waiting period doesn’t apply.”
Missing the window turns the money into something else: “Unless there is a waiver or an extension of the 60-day rollover period, any contribution you make to your IRA more than 60 days after the distribution is a regular contribution, not a rollover contribution.”
Reporting a conversion on Form 8606
The Form 8606 instructions for the 2025 edition say: “Complete Part II if you converted part or all of your traditional IRAs to a Roth IRA in 2025.” “If, in 2025, you converted any amounts from traditional IRAs to a Roth IRA, enter on line 8 the net amount you converted.” For a 2026 conversion the 2026 edition of the form and instructions applies, and the line numbers can differ. The form is explained on the Form 8606 page.
Conversion income can also create a tax-payment issue: “If you must include any amount in your gross income, you may have to increase your withholding or make estimated tax payments.” See the Roth conversion estimated taxes page.
The 5-year rule, as printed
Publication 590-B ties a penalty clock to the year of the conversion: “If, within the 5-year period starting with the first day of your tax year in which you convert an amount from a traditional IRA” a Roth IRA distribution may bring the 10% additional tax on early distributions, generally on the part of the converted amount that you had to include in income. The same publication adds “A separate 5-year period applies to each conversion and rollover.”
For a calendar-year taxpayer converting in 2026, the period starts on the first day of the tax year, January 1, 2026, and runs through December 31, 2030 (computed here, not published by the IRS). A December 31, 2026 conversion therefore starts its clock as of January 1, 2026, not as of the date of the move. The full rules on the 10% additional tax are in Publication 590-B and are not repeated here.
The editions read for this page are IRS Publication 590-A (2025) and Publication 590-B (2025), written for use in preparing 2025 returns, and the 2025 Instructions for Form 8606, which are the revisions irs.gov served when they were read on 2026-10-16. Their examples speak of 2025, so the 2026 dates on this page are the same wording moved forward one year, computed here. Check the revision of the instructions for the form you are filing.
Common mistakes
- Waiting until April to convert for 2026. The publication says conversion income is included on the return for the year you converted, so a conversion done after December 31, 2026 counts for 2027, unlike a Roth contribution, which has the extra months to the return due date.
- Planning to undo a conversion. The publication and the Form 8606 instructions both say a conversion made in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017 cannot be recharacterized as having been made to a traditional IRA.
- Trying to convert a required distribution. The publication says amounts that must be distributed from the traditional IRA for the year can’t be converted, so the required amount comes out first.
Related: why a Roth conversion cannot be undone, converting an RMD, Form 8606 instructions, Roth conversion estimated taxes, and IRA contribution deadline for 2026.
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Answer againSources
- IRS Publication 590-A, Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), for 2025 returns: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590a.pdf
- IRS Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), for 2025 returns: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590b.pdf
- 2025 Instructions for Form 8606, Nondeductible IRAs: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8606.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 16, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.