Roth IRA conversion tax reporting. I am so confused!

[nmmi]

30. Absolutely. One advice that I keep reading consistently, is to never pay taxes from an IRA account, always pay the

taxes from a regular taxable account. If one pays the taxes from the IRA, the conversion NEVER works out economically from what they say. I'm not sure about that, but I do know that one is better off paying the taxes out of regular taxable money.

The OP said she is paying taxes from her checking account, which is probably a regular taxable account, in which case she is fine.

On reading another comment someone else made -- I believe that if one specifies say a 10% or 20% tax withholding to pay taxes on the conversion or withdrawal -- that it will, by default, be taken from a taxable account that one designates, at least at Fidelity and Vanguard where I've done this once or twice on conversions (at Vanguard), and on RMD withdrawals (at Fidelity). They will warn you if you try to do otherwise (if you try to pay taxes from an IRA account) No complicated instructions are needed to be made to the custodian. At least that's my experience at Vanguard and Fidelity.

As an aside, I usually don't do the 10% or 20% or whatever tax withholding (one can select their own percentage) when I do the conversion or take an RMD withdrawal, I just make sure I pay enough quarterly estimated taxes (from my bank's checking account -- a regular taxable account, via EFTPS - EFTPS is explained by question everything in posts #13 and #14). But sometimes doing the withholding during the conversion/withdrawal makes sense but that's getting into the weeds (the IRS considers that tax withholding to be spread out evenly through the year, even if one does the conversion/withdrawal in, say, December. And why that can be important is another trip to the weeds).