Help me before I have to pay someone!

[meandmyfamily]

We don't pay taxes due to having 4 kids, HSA and other deductions.  We still have a $5,000 adoption tax credit that we haven't been able to use and it expires after 2018.  We want to roll over money from an IRA to a Roth IRA to use up the credit.  I haven't been able to figure out how to do this.  Any calculators out there or ideas?  I am thinking of paying a EA who specializes in adoption but I would love to do it myself.

[MDM]

We want to roll over money from an IRA to a Roth IRA to use up the credit.  I haven't been able to figure out how to do this.

Where are you getting stuck?  Is it doing the IRA conversion itself, or calculating the taxes, or...?

[meandmyfamily]

How do I determine how much I can roll over to just use up the $5,000?  Also if I do it now it can only be for 2017 taxes, correct?  Is there a limit to the amount I can rollover to my ROTH for the year?  I think $151,900 is the next tax bracket.  We pay slightly negative taxes and I don't want to accidentally create a big tax bill just one that is around $5,000.  Does that make sense?  Our effective federal tax rate was -1.49% last year.

[2Birds1Stone]

Wowza!

The tax code in the good ol' U S of A boggles my mind.

This is a nice problem to have :)

[MDM]

1) How do I determine how much I can roll over to just use up the $5,000? 
2) Also if I do it now it can only be for 2017 taxes, correct? 
3) Is there a limit to the amount I can rollover to my ROTH for the year? 
4) I think $151,900 is the next tax bracket.  We pay slightly negative taxes and I don't want to accidentally create a big tax bill just one that is around $5,000.  Does that make sense?

4) Yes
3) No
2) Yes
1) Using tax software is likely the easiest way.  Enter everything except the rollover amount, then adjust the rollover amount until you are satisfied.  Any of TaxAct, H&R Block, TurboTax, etc. should work.  If you know a little about Excel, the case study spreadsheet can show you an estimated graph of your tax rate (and tax) vs. the rollover amount.

[meandmyfamily]

MDM-thanks!  I will play around with last years Turbo Tax!