Rollover IRA conversion

[Guest nipa]

I have a client who currently funds his Defined Benefit Pension Plan. The client also has a rollover IRA wich he wishes to convert to a Roth IRA in 2010 to be exempt from the AGI level. The accountant is advising the client that the Defined Benefit Pension Plan would have to be terminated for the conversion to take place. I cannot imagine this to be true, yet I cannot find any back-up to support my thoughts. Any help is greatly appreciated Thanks

[Belgarath]

Why not just say that you are unaware of any guidance that would reach that conclusion, (particularly based upon the TIPRA 512 amendment to IRC 408A to eliminate the AGI limit)and ask the accountant to provide citations to support the position that the DB plan must be terminated? It's difficult to provide citations when you don't know the accountant's basis for the statement.

Also, possibly the client is misunderstanding what the CPA really said?