Roth Conversion in Georgia

A Roth conversion Georgia residents complete in 2026 is taxed as ordinary income at the state’s single flat rate of 4.99%, though the Georgia retirement income exclusion can shelter part of the converted amount for filers age 62 and older.

Roth Conversion Georgia: Does the State Tax It, and at What Rate?

Yes. Georgia treats a traditional-IRA-to-Roth conversion as an IRA distribution, and that distribution flows through your federal adjusted gross income onto the Georgia return, where it is taxed at the flat 4.99% rate for 2026. Georgia conforms to the federal treatment of a conversion as ordinary income in the conversion year (Source: Georgia DOR “Retirees FAQ,” dor.georgia.gov).

The rate matters because Georgia moved fast. HB 463, signed by Gov. Brian Kemp on May 11, 2026, cut the flat individual rate from 5.19% (its 2025 level) to 4.99%, retroactive to January 1, 2026 (Source: Office of Gov. Brian Kemp press release, 2026-05-11; BDO, “Georgia Enacts Income Tax Reduction Bill,” 2026). The one relief mechanism for a conversion is the age-gated retirement income exclusion covered below. There is no separate Georgia Roth-conversion tax and no capital-gains surtax on the converted balance. For the mechanics of how a conversion is taxed across states generally, see our overview of Roth conversion state taxes and the parent Roth conversion service page.

Georgia Flat Income Tax Rate 2026

Georgia levies one flat income tax rate with no brackets. For 2026 that rate is 4.99% on Georgia taxable income, down from 5.19% in 2025 under HB 463 (Source: Office of Gov. Brian Kemp, 2026-05-11; Paylocity tax alert, 2026). The law also schedules further annual step-downs toward a 3.99% floor if state revenue targets are met, so a later-year conversion could carry a slightly lower Georgia rate.

Because the rate is flat, the first dollar and the last dollar of a taxable conversion carry the same 4.99% Georgia cost. That flatness makes the retirement income exclusion, not bracket management, the lever that changes your Georgia bill. The scheduled rate decline is also why some residents model converting a smaller slice now and more in a later, potentially lower-rate year; our Roth conversion break-even framework walks through that tradeoff.

Georgia Retirement Income Exclusion Age 65: Amounts by Age

Georgia’s retirement income exclusion is a central state rule for a conversion. It is age-tiered and applies per taxpayer. A resident 65 or older can exclude up to $65,000 of qualifying retirement income; ages 62 to 64 (or permanently and totally disabled while under 62) can exclude up to $35,000. A married couple who both qualify can each claim their own amount (Source: Georgia DOR “Retirement Income Exclusion,” dor.georgia.gov; 2025 IT-511 instruction booklet).

Qualifying income includes pensions, annuities, IRA and 401(k) distributions, a Roth conversion, interest, dividends, net rental income, capital gains, and royalties. No more than $4,000 of the cap may be earned income (wages); a conversion is unearned retirement income and counts fully toward the cap (Source: Georgia DOR; 2025 IT-511 booklet).

Georgia Retirement Income Exclusion 2026: One Shared Bucket, Not a Fresh Shelter

An important detail: the $65,000 (or $35,000) exclusion is a single shared bucket. Every dollar of other Georgia retirement income you already receive, a pension, an RMD, interest, dividends, capital gains, or net rental income, fills that bucket first. A conversion only gets sheltered by whatever headroom is left. Your remaining exclusion headroom equals the cap minus your other qualifying retirement income (Source: Georgia DOR “Retirement Income Exclusion,” dor.georgia.gov).

The table below shows how little of a $50,000 conversion is actually sheltered once existing income has filled the bucket. All figures are illustrative and use the flat 4.99% 2026 rate.

The 66-year-old with a $50,000 pension and $20,000 in dividends has already exhausted the $65,000 cap, so the next dollar converted is taxed at the full 4.99%. Knowing your headroom before you convert is the difference between a sheltered conversion and a fully taxed one. Sizing that annual slice is exactly what our how much to convert to Roth analysis addresses.

Illustrative: Georgia State Tax on a $100,000 Roth Conversion

This illustrative table shows Georgia state tax only, on a single $100,000 conversion, at the flat 4.99% 2026 rate, for a single filer at different ages. It assumes the exclusion is not already consumed by other retirement income (see the shared-bucket table above for the more common reality). It excludes federal tax.

The same conversion ranges from $0 to $4,990 in Georgia tax depending on age and existing income. This is illustrative only; your result depends on filing status, other income, and residency. It does not reflect the federal tax on the conversion, which is separate and larger.

Does Georgia Tax IRA Withdrawals and 401(k) Distributions?

Yes. Georgia includes traditional IRA and 401(k) distributions in taxable income through federal AGI and taxes them at 4.99% for 2026. Georgia is not a Pennsylvania, Illinois, or Mississippi style state that broadly exempts retirement-plan distributions; there is no blanket exemption. The only relief is the same age-gated retirement income exclusion, which these withdrawals share with a conversion (Source: Georgia DOR “Retirees FAQ,” dor.georgia.gov).

This is why RMDs matter for conversion timing. Once you reach RMD age (73, or 75 for those born in 1960 or later under federal rules), the required distribution counts as retirement income and eats exclusion headroom before any conversion does. Many residents front-load conversions in the lower-income years between retirement and RMD age, while more of the bucket is still open.

Does Georgia Tax Social Security?

No. Georgia fully exempts Social Security. Any Social Security or Railroad Retirement benefits taxed on your federal return are subtracted on the Georgia return, and they do not count against the retirement income exclusion cap (Source: Georgia DOR “Retirees FAQ,” dor.georgia.gov). Because Social Security sits outside the bucket, it does not reduce the headroom available to shelter a conversion.

The federal side is different. A conversion raises your federal provisional income, which can push more of your Social Security into the federally taxable range even though Georgia never taxes it. Our guide to the taxation of Social Security benefits in 2026 covers that interaction.

Does Georgia Tax Pensions? Plus the Military Retirement Exclusion

Georgia taxes pension income but treats it as retirement income eligible for the same $35,000 / $65,000 exclusion. There is no separate or better rule for public versus private pensions, so a public teacher’s pension and a private company pension are handled identically for Georgia purposes (Source: Georgia DOR “Retirement Income Exclusion,” dor.georgia.gov).

Military retirement income has its own exclusion that expanded for 2026: under HB 266, Georgia exempts up to $65,000 of military retired pay for retirees of any age, removing the prior $17,500 base plus $17,500 earned-income structure that had applied to those under 65 (Source: Georgia Department of Veterans Service; HB 266, effective tax year 2026).

For conversion planning, remember that a taxed pension is one of the biggest bucket-fillers. A $50,000 pension leaves a 66-year-old only $15,000 of headroom for a conversion before the 4.99% rate applies to the rest.

Georgia Estate Tax 2026 and Inheritance Tax

Georgia has no estate tax and no inheritance tax. There is no state exemption threshold or rate because neither tax exists; Georgia’s former pick-up estate tax ended when the federal state-death-tax credit was repealed (Source: Tax Foundation, taxfoundation.org/location/georgia, 2026). A Roth balance you build through conversions passes to heirs free of any Georgia death tax.

That absence is part of the conversion case for legacy-minded Georgia residents: heirs inherit a Roth income-tax-free at the federal level and face no Georgia estate or inheritance tax on the account. Federal estate tax can still apply to very large estates; see our 2026 estate tax exemption overview.

Roth Conversion State Tax by Age in Georgia: Before or After 62

Age is the pivot in Georgia. Under 62 and not disabled, you get no retirement income exclusion, so a conversion is fully taxable at 4.99%. At 62 the $35,000 exclusion opens; at 65 it rises to $65,000 per person. So a conversion done at 61 can cost hundreds or thousands more in Georgia tax than the identical conversion at 62 or 65, if exclusion headroom is available (Source: Georgia DOR “Retirement Income Exclusion,” dor.georgia.gov).

The counterweight is federal-rate arbitrage. Converting earlier, before Social Security and RMDs stack up, can keep you in a lower federal bracket even without the Georgia exclusion. A conversion also raises federal AGI and MAGI, which drives Medicare IRMAA surcharges, can affect ACA premium subsidies, and increases the taxable share of Social Security. Georgia’s exclusion does not fix any of those federal effects. Balancing the under-62 zero-exclusion trap against federal-rate timing is the core of a multi-year plan.

Georgia Residency and Timing a Roth Conversion

A conversion is taxed by your state of legal residence in the year you convert. Georgia taxes residents on all income, including a conversion, regardless of source. Nonresidents are taxed only on Georgia-source income. Part-year residents are taxed on income received while a Georgia resident and must prorate the retirement income exclusion for the resident portion of the year (Source: Georgia DOR “Filing Residents, Nonresidents, and Part-Year Residents FAQ,” dor.georgia.gov).

Federal law 4 U.S.C. 114 bars Georgia from taxing the retirement income, including IRA distributions and a conversion, of someone who is not a Georgia resident or domiciliary. So a person who has legally established residency in a no-income-tax state such as Florida before converting is generally outside Georgia’s reach for that conversion (Source: 4 U.S.C. 114; law.cornell.edu). Residency at the time the conversion is received governs. Anyone weighing a move should read our note on moving to a tax-friendly state in retirement before assuming a state line change is complete.

How Rothology Plans a Roth Conversion for Georgia Residents

Rothology Premier Roth Conversion is Q3 Advisors’ flat-fee, fiduciary planning service. For a Georgia resident, the work centers on the state facts on this page: the flat 4.99% 2026 rate, your available exclusion headroom after pensions, RMDs, interest, dividends, and rental income, and how a multi-year sequence of partial conversions interacts with federal AGI, IRMAA, and Social Security taxation. No products are sold.

A typical engagement builds a year-by-year projection: how much to convert each year to use exclusion headroom without triggering avoidable federal costs, how the scheduled Georgia rate decline changes later-year math, and how residency timing applies if a move is on the table. The conversation is educational first. Figures shown here are examples, not a recommendation or a promise of any outcome.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Georgia tax Roth IRA conversions?

Yes. Georgia taxes a Roth conversion as ordinary income at the flat 4.99% rate for 2026, because the conversion flows through federal AGI onto the Georgia return. A resident age 62 or older can shelter part of it with the retirement income exclusion ($35,000 at 62 to 64, $65,000 at 65+), but any amount above the exclusion is taxed at 4.99% (Source: Georgia DOR).

Can a Roth conversion use Georgia’s retirement income exclusion?

Yes. Georgia treats an IRA-to-Roth conversion as an IRA distribution, which is qualifying retirement income for the exclusion. A filer 65 or older can apply up to $65,000, and ages 62 to 64 up to $35,000. The exclusion is shared with pensions, RMDs, interest, dividends, and other retirement income, so only your remaining headroom shelters the conversion (Source: Georgia DOR “Retirement Income Exclusion”).

At what age does Georgia stop taxing retirement income?

Georgia never fully stops taxing retirement income, but relief grows with age. Under 62, there is no exclusion for IRA or conversion income. At 62 to 64 you can exclude up to $35,000 per person, and at 65 and older up to $65,000 per person. Amounts above the cap are taxed at 4.99% for 2026 (Source: Georgia DOR).

How much retirement income is tax-free in Georgia?

For 2026, each qualifying taxpayer can exclude up to $35,000 (ages 62 to 64) or $65,000 (age 65+) of retirement income, so a married couple both 65+ can exclude up to $130,000. Social Security is exempt separately and does not count against that cap (Source: Georgia DOR).

What is Georgia’s income tax rate for 2026?

Georgia has a single flat individual income tax rate of 4.99% for tax year 2026, cut from 5.19% by HB 463 and retroactive to January 1, 2026. The law schedules further annual reductions toward a 3.99% floor if revenue targets are met. A Roth conversion is taxed at this same flat rate (Source: Office of Gov. Brian Kemp, 2026-05-11; Paylocity, 2026).

Does Georgia have an estate or inheritance tax?

No. Georgia has neither an estate tax nor an inheritance tax, so there is no state exemption threshold or rate. A Roth balance built through conversions passes to heirs with no Georgia death tax. Federal estate tax can still apply to large estates, but that is separate from Georgia’s rules (Source: Tax Foundation, taxfoundation.org/location/georgia, 2026).

Is it better to do a Roth conversion before or after age 62 in Georgia?

Georgia gives no retirement income exclusion before 62, so a conversion at 61 is fully taxable at 4.99%, while at 62 up to $35,000 can be sheltered if headroom exists. That favors waiting for Georgia purposes, but converting earlier, before RMDs and Social Security stack up, may keep taxable income in a lower federal bracket in some years. This is a tradeoff, not a rule; individual facts decide it (Source: Georgia DOR).

Sources

• Georgia Department of Revenue, “Retirement Income Exclusion,” dor.georgia.gov/retirement-income-exclusion (exclusion amounts and qualifying income, 2026).
• Georgia Department of Revenue, “Retirees: FAQ,” dor.georgia.gov/retirees-faq (Social Security exemption; taxation of IRA/pension distributions).
• Georgia Department of Revenue, “Filing Residents, Nonresidents, and Part-Year Residents FAQ,” dor.georgia.gov (residency and proration).
• Georgia Form IT-511, Individual Income Tax Instruction Booklet (2025 edition), dor.georgia.gov.
• Office of Gov. Brian P. Kemp, press release, 2026-05-11, HB 463 lowering the flat rate from 5.19% to 4.99% effective January 1, 2026; corroborated by BDO, “Georgia Enacts Income Tax Reduction Bill” (2026) and Paylocity tax alert (2026).
• Georgia Department of Veterans Service, “Military Retirement Income Tax Exemption,” veterans.georgia.gov; HB 266 (2025 to 2026 session), $65,000 military retired pay exclusion regardless of age, effective tax year 2026.
• Tax Foundation, Georgia state page, taxfoundation.org/location/georgia (no estate or inheritance tax, 2026).
• 4 U.S.C. 114 (Pension Source Tax Act), law.cornell.edu (nonresident retirement income sourcing).