"Tad Borek" <borekfm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote
> As JoeT suggested, you can put the income into TurboTax or
> something similar and see what comes out, though that
> won't factor in tax-law changes from year to year
> (including the bracket changes).
Not sure you're aware of this, but numerous online
calculators do have the 2008 tax brackets in them and also
reflect nuances of current tax law. E.g. the dinkytown one I
cited. Tax law for the current year could change, but it's
not likely to change much, if at all. Dinkytown has a
caution at the top of its calculator site about this.
You're right that, depending, self-employment income,
dividends etc. can affect the computation of the optimal
amount to convert in any given year. Using a good tax
estimator such as the free dinkytown one, along with
understanding the basics of tax law so entries may be made
correctly at such estimators, is the best bet. Remember that
conversions must be completed by December 31, so an estimate
is necessary if one is aiming to minimize the tax effects of
the conversion.
In the alternate, one can "simply" convert somewhat more
than they think is optimal, then recharacterize by Apr. 15.
Though personally, I have found recharacterizations
annoying. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
--------------------------------------
Misc.invest.financial-plan is a moderated newsgroup where Moderators
strive
to keep the conversations on-topic for financial planning. Other posting
guidelines include a request for brevity and another for trimming posts to
which we respond. For all of the other tips and suggestions, see "FROM
THE
MODERATORS: Posting to misc.invest.financial-plan", a weekly post now on
the
Newsgroup.
|
