For high-income earners

High earners hand the IRS 40%+ when withdrawing from IRA and 401(k)s.
Pay Zero,
with the right strategy.

Enter your balance and see what the conversion tax really costs you — then the strategies that erase it.

$
$50K$3M+
Same money, same return — the only difference is whether the conversion tax was offset
Convert with offset
No strategy — pay the tax

By keeping the tax invested instead of paying it, the offset path pulls ahead by$0over your horizon.

Adjust assumptions8% return · 10 yrs · 37% fed + 5% state
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Free · Compare all four paths and your monthly income across retirement

The two paths

Two ways to convert. Only one keeps your money.

The same conversion, side by side — what you pay, what you keep, and what the IRS walks away with.

Convert with offset

Offset strategy

Deductions absorb the conversion income
Conversion tax$0
Capital still working$500,000
To the IRS$0
You keep100%
100% keeps working
No strategy

Pay the tax

Federal + state due on conversion day
Conversion tax−$210,000
Capital still working$290,000
To the IRS$210,000
You keep58%
58%
42% to IRS

How hard is it to catch up after paying the tax?

8.0%an offset conversion earns
to catch up over 5 years, a taxable investor would need to earn
17.0%every year — on their smaller, after-tax balance

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Level the playing field

The wealthy don't pay less because they earn more.
They pay less because they use the whole tax code.

Family offices and high-net-worth investors have used these provisions for decades. They aren't loopholes — they're incentives Congress wrote into the code to reward energy production, real estate, and capital investment. The only barrier has ever been knowing they exist.

01

The incentives are public law

Every strategy here traces to a specific section of the Internal Revenue Code — not aggressive interpretation, but deductions written to be used.

02

Access, not eligibility

You qualify for the same treatment a family office does. What they have is advisors who know how to apply it to a Roth conversion.

03

Timing is the lever

Pairing a deduction-generating investment with the year you convert is what turns a six-figure tax bill into something close to zero.

How the offset works

Two strategies that absorb the conversion tax

Each generates deductions in the same year you convert, offsetting the income the conversion creates.

Strategy 01

Strategic Energy Deductions

Intangible Drilling Costs · Depletion · Working Interests

Investing in an oil & gas working interest the same year you convert generates large first-year deductions. Intangible drilling costs are treated as ordinary losses that net directly against the conversion income on your return.

  • IDCs deductible in year one under IRC §263(c)
  • Depletion allowance shelters ongoing production income
  • Working-interest income treated as active, not passive
Primary authority: IRC §263(c), §611–613. Involves real investment risk including loss of principal.
Strategy 02

Leveraged Real Estate Conversion

Self-Directed IRA · Depreciation · Basis Strategy

Holding leveraged real estate inside a self-directed IRA lets you convert when the IRA's equity is at its lowest — so the taxable amount is small — then let future appreciation grow permanently tax-free inside the Roth.

  • Convert at a suppressed fair-market value
  • Depreciation and leverage compress taxable equity
  • All future appreciation grows tax-free in the Roth
Involves self-directed IRA rules and prohibited-transaction limits. Requires qualified custodian and counsel.
The process

What it actually looks like

A defined path with a clear beginning and end. Most of the work happens in a single tax year — then it's done.

1

Consult your CPA

Confirm that a Roth conversion and an offset strategy fit your income, goals, and timeline.

Before you start
2

Set up the structure

Open the self-directed IRA or working interest that will generate the offsetting deductions.

Setup
3

Time the conversion

Convert in the same tax year, with your CPA coordinating the deduction against the conversion income.

Conversion year
4

File — and you're done

After that tax year the strategic work is complete. Your Roth grows tax-free for life, with no ongoing maintenance.

After the year
The Big Beautiful Bill · 2025

New tax law just changed the math on conversions.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act reshaped the landscape for high-income converters — locking in rate brackets and strengthening the first-year deductions these offset strategies rely on. The window to act on it is now.

Rates locked in

The bracket structure converters plan around was made permanent, removing the guesswork from rate-timing decisions.

First-year expensing strengthened

Enhanced expensing makes the same-year deductions behind the offset strategies more powerful than before.

The window is open now

Acting in a year you can pair with deductions is what unlocks the strategy — and the planning year matters.

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