By Steven Wightman, CFP, NAPFA Registered Financial Advisor

 With no income cap for 2011-2012, many people are thinking of converting their traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs. Pause before you leap.

 I think two important and often missed questions should be asked for all Roth conversions.

 How much should you convert and when should you do it?

 First, will the conversion push the tax payer into a higher tax bracket?

The higher bracket may be distasteful to the taxpayer. Ask yourself if it trigger a less obvious phase-out penalty of a tax favored behavior like paying for college or taking certain credits?

 Second, what percentages of your funds are in taxable accounts? If you have non-deductible IRAs, for example, and no other IRAs, you may convert them to Roth IRAs with no conversion tax whatsoever.

 Why convert to a Roth? Consider clients who have a substantial non taxable savings percentage can actually control years of their tax rate by electing tax-free as the primary income source and then the taxable second. Done right, taxpayers can take qualified retirement plan, QRP, distributions tax-free up to their tax capacity after considering the exemptions and deductions to income. The first dollar over the first threshold would be taxed at 15%, the first graduated step.

Think realistic future taxes after considering all sources including non taxable income like Social Security and non-deductible IRAs. When will you have ordinary income losses to offset extra income triggered by a Roth conversion? How much will that be?

 Should you elect to defer your Roth conversion taxes by taking a smaller partial conversion spread over several years?

 Answer these questions before you convert to a Roth. No worry, if you make a mistake, IRS lets you flip back to your original IRA. Do it before the annual deadline and the IRS treats the conversion like it never happened. For many, a Roth could be the road to low tax retirements and real financial security. See IRS Publication 590 for details; http://www.irs.gov/publications/p590/