Project how your income, retirement accounts, Roth conversions, investments, Social Security, annuities, CDs and home equity may affect your taxes from today through retirement.
Updated July 2026 · 2026 federal assumptions · Educational estimate — not tax, legal, or financial advice
What it does: This tool builds a year-by-year projection of your accounts, income, RMDs, and taxes, then estimates your potential lifetime tax difference across Roth-conversion and withdrawal strategies. Start free to see your Retirement Tax Snapshot and risk score.
Sample scenario: age 55, $150k income, married filing jointly. Enter your own numbers on the left to personalize — these results update instantly.
Your projection shows a large portion of retirement wealth in pre-tax accounts (about 69%). This may create higher required withdrawals later, which can increase taxable income, make more of your Social Security taxable, and potentially trigger Medicare premium surcharges. Reviewing the timing of withdrawals and possible Roth conversions with a qualified professional could be a planning opportunity. Estimated lifetime taxes under this baseline are $1,263,519.
Projected total net worth across all buckets, by age.
How your wealth is split across account types over time.
Estimated taxable income sources each year in retirement.
Where your retirement cash flow comes from each year, including net rental income.
Estimated tax split by type each year — federal ordinary, capital gains, NIIT, and state.
Projected required minimum distributions once they begin (RMDs start at age 73 or 75).
If this line stays near zero, your pre-tax balance is projected to be small or drawn down before RMD age under these assumptions.
Potential planning ideas based on your projection — to review with a qualified advisor, not recommendations.
Your projection shows a large portion of retirement wealth in pre-tax accounts, which may create higher required withdrawals later — potentially raising taxable income, making more of your Social Security taxable, and possibly triggering Medicare premium surcharges. Under your assumptions, using lower-income years before RMDs for Roth conversions could reduce estimated lifetime taxes by about $281,308. This is a potential planning opportunity to review with an advisor — not a recommendation.
Educational estimate — not advice. TaxSaveIQ provides educational estimates based on the assumptions you enter. This calculator does not provide tax, legal, investment, retirement, or financial advice. Tax laws, investment returns, Medicare rules, Social Security rules, and state tax rules can change. Review your situation with a qualified tax professional, EA, CPA, or CFP® before making decisions. No result here is a guaranteed outcome.
A lifetime tax savings calculator estimates how your taxes may change as you move from your working years into retirement and later life. Instead of looking only at this year's tax bill, it projects your income, account balances, required withdrawals, and taxes year by year — so you can see how decisions made today, like whether to save in a Roth or a traditional account, may affect the total tax you pay over decades. Every number is an estimate based on the assumptions you enter.
Retirement introduces several moving parts that interact with each other in ways that can raise or lower your taxes:
For the most useful projection, include everything that produces income or will be drawn down:
A Roth conversion moves money from a pre-tax account into a Roth account and pays tax on the converted amount now. It usually increases taxes today but may reduce future taxable withdrawals and RMDs. The years after you stop working but before Social Security and RMDs begin are often lower-income years — a possible window to convert at a lower rate. This calculator estimates whether using that window could reduce your lifetime taxes, but whether it makes sense for you depends on your full situation and should be reviewed with a professional.
Large pre-tax balances can create sizable required minimum distributions once you reach your RMD starting age (73 or 75 under SECURE 2.0, depending on your birth year). Because RMDs are taxed as ordinary income and are not optional, they can push you into a higher bracket, make more of your Social Security taxable, and raise Medicare premiums. Planning ahead may soften this "RMD cliff."
The order in which you draw from taxable, tax-deferred, and Roth accounts can meaningfully change your lifetime tax. Spending taxable accounts first can preserve tax-deferred growth, while drawing down pre-tax accounts earlier can reduce future RMDs. A bracket-managed approach fills a target tax bracket each year and uses other buckets beyond it. The optimizer compares these sequences so you can see the trade-offs.
It estimates your taxes from today through retirement and into later life under the assumptions you enter. Rather than a single guaranteed number, it shows a potential lifetime tax difference between strategies — for example, using lower-income years for Roth conversions versus doing nothing. All figures are educational estimates, not promises of savings.
Yes. The Roth Conversion Window compares no conversion, annual bracket-fill conversions, a custom amount, and an aggressive conversion before RMDs begin. It estimates the tax cost today, the reduction in future required withdrawals, the lifetime tax difference, and a rough break-even age — so you can see whether converting in low-income years might reduce lifetime taxes under your assumptions.
Yes. It applies the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table and your SECURE 2.0 starting age (73 or 75 depending on your birth year) to your projected pre-tax balances, then treats required minimum distributions as taxable ordinary income each year. Roth IRAs are not subject to lifetime RMDs for the original owner, so they are excluded.
Yes. It uses the IRS combined-income (provisional income) method to estimate how much of your Social Security may be taxable each year — up to 85%. As your other income rises, more of your benefit can become taxable, which the projection accounts for.
It includes an IRMAA warning: the tool flags years where your projected income may cross the first Medicare Part B surcharge tier. It does not compute exact premiums, because IRMAA is based on income from two years prior and the thresholds change annually. Treat it as a heads-up to review with an advisor, not a precise figure.
Yes. You can enter your home value, mortgage balance, and expected appreciation, and optionally model downsizing at a chosen age with expected proceeds moving to cash. Home equity is included in net worth but, by default, is not used to fund retirement spending unless you model downsizing.
Yes. It tracks your taxable brokerage balance and cost basis, estimates qualified dividends, and applies long-term capital-gains tax (0%, 15%, or 20%, stacked on your ordinary income) when shares are sold to fund spending. CDs and cash interest are also modeled as ordinary income.
No. This is an educational planning tool that produces estimates based on the assumptions you enter. It is not tax, legal, investment, retirement, or financial advice. Tax laws and Medicare, Social Security, and state rules can change. Please review your situation with a qualified tax professional, EA, CPA, or CFP® before making decisions.
It depends on how your tax rate today compares with your expected rate later, your other income, and your goals for flexibility and heirs. This calculator can illustrate the potential lifetime tax effect of holding more in Roth versus pre-tax accounts, but it does not tell you what to do. Our Roth vs Traditional IRA calculator explores the contribution decision in more detail.
There is no single best order for everyone. The Withdrawal Strategy Optimizer compares proportional, taxable-first, traditional-first, Roth-last, bracket-managed, and Roth-bridge sequences and ranks them by estimated lifetime tax and ending wealth. The lowest-tax option is not always the best overall choice once liquidity, investment risk, estate goals, and healthcare needs are considered.
TaxSaveIQ provides educational estimates based on your assumptions. This calculator does not provide tax, legal, investment, retirement, or financial advice. Tax laws, investment returns, Medicare rules, Social Security rules, and state tax rules can change. Review your situation with a qualified tax or financial professional before making decisions.