# Backdoor Roth IRA

*Retirement & Benefits — Finicade finance glossary*

A backdoor Roth contributes to a traditional IRA without deducting it, then converts to a Roth — a legal route around the Roth income limits.

A backdoor Roth contributes to a traditional IRA without deducting it, then converts to a Roth — legal route around the Roth income limits, since conversions have no income cap. The trap is the pro-rata rule: if you hold any other pre-tax IRA money, the conversion is taxed proportionally across all of it, so the manoeuvre only stays clean when your traditional IRA balance is otherwise zero.

**Also known as:** backdoor Roth, back door Roth IRA

**Related terms:** [Roth IRA](https://finicade.com/glossary/roth-ira), [Traditional IRA](https://finicade.com/glossary/traditional-ira), [Roth Conversion](https://finicade.com/glossary/roth-conversion), [Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI)](https://finicade.com/glossary/modified-adjusted-gross-income), [Mega Backdoor Roth](https://finicade.com/glossary/mega-backdoor-roth)

Source: https://finicade.com/glossary/backdoor-roth-ira