In Plan Roth Rollover v Transfer

[Lou S.]

I'm a bit confused on the difference between "In Plan Rollover to Roth" and "In Plan Conversion/Transfer to Roth"

Anyone have a quick cheat sheet or link that explains the difference between the two and whether you would want to add one, the other or both to a plan when adding ROTH contributions to an existing 401(k)?

[SearchLight]

Here's a link to an IRS forum on this topic:

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/forum13_roth_conv_opps.pdf

The nutshell version is that "rollover" is for amounts that would otherwise be eligible for distribution from the plan, while "conversion/transfer" is for amounts that are not eligible for distribution.

[Lou S.]

thank you! very helpful.

[mbozek]

IRS has an obsession with semantical terms which create distinctions without a difference. Same problem exists with roth conversions from a qualified plan which the IRS considers to be both a rollover and a conversion.