: Calculating tax on 401(k) to Roth IRA conversion I understand that doing a conversion from a 401(k) into a Roth IRA is a taxable event. I'm trying to understand the details of how this is taxed. Many resources, including

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Calculating tax on 401(k) to Roth IRA conversion
I understand that doing a conversion from a 401(k) into a Roth IRA is a taxable event. I'm trying to understand the details of how this is taxed.

Many resources, including this answer and this blog post mention the fact that long-term capital gains are not taxed when you're in the 15% income bracket.

My first question is: the entire 401(k) is not considered long-term capital gains, right? Presumably, your contributions will always be taxed as regular income, and any gains made in the last year would be taxed as short-term capital gains, correct?

To give a more elaborate scenario, consider the following:

An individual contributes k to their 401(k) in January, 2016
Between January and June of that same year, it gains +k
The individual contributes another k to the 401(k) in July 2016
Between July and December of that same year, the 401(k) grows another k

If they do the conversion in the following March while in the 15% tax bracket, and no other change occurs to their balance, would it be taxed like so:

First k conversion taxed as ordinary income, due to it representing the January contribution
Second k conversion tax-free due to long-term gains
Third k conversion taxed as ordinary income, due to it representing the July contribution
Fourth k taxed as short-term gains

Or would the entire thing be taxed at 0%? Or something else entirely?

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