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401(k) Rollover Calculator

U.S. only tools

Rolling an old 401(k) into an IRA is usually presented as a paperwork question. It is really two money questions. The first is a fee question that compounds: a plan charges an expense ratio on the balance and often a flat account fee, an IRA charges its own pair, and over twenty-five years the gap between them can be worth tens of thousands of dollars. The second is a trap that costs money within sixty days: if the plan pays the money to you rather than to the new account, it must withhold twenty percent, and that fifth has to be replaced out of your own savings.

401(k) Rollover Calculator - Danfio

https://danfio.com/tools/401k-rollover-calculator/ - printed from this page

Currency: USD ($) - display only, nothing was converted

$

The vested balance you would be moving.

How long the difference in fees has to compound.

Before fees. Nothing here predicts the market - it is the same rate applied to both paths.

On the plan’s fee disclosure, and on each fund’s prospectus.

$

Record-keeping and administration, where the plan charges it.

$

Many brokers charge nothing when the account is opened online.

Federal plus state, used only to price the withholding mistake.

Under 59½ the 10 percent additional tax is in play; separation at 55 or later changes what a plan can pay.

Results update as you type. Nothing leaves your device.

Currency symbol

Symbol only - nothing is converted and no exchange rate is used. Figures quoted in the explanation text stay as the sources publish them.

Rolling into the IRA ends ahead

$31,392

After 25 years the IRA holds $356,302 and the plan holds $324,910: $21,074 of fees on the plan side against $4,598 on the IRA side, on a 6% return before fees.

Fees in the plan
$21,074
Fees in the IRA
$4,598
The plan, net of fees
5.55%
The IRA, net of fees
5.9%

Year by year

YearIn the planIn the IRAIRA ahead by
Year 1$89,658$90,015$358
Year 2$94,573$95,326$752
Year 3$99,762$100,950$1,188
Year 4$105,239$106,906$1,667
Year 5$111,020$113,214$2,194
Year 6$117,122$119,893$2,772
Year 7$123,562$126,967$3,405
Year 8$130,359$134,458$4,099
Year 9$137,534$142,391$4,857
Year 10$145,108$150,792$5,685
Year 11$153,101$159,689$6,588
Year 12$161,538$169,110$7,572
Year 13$170,443$179,088$8,644
Year 14$179,843$189,654$9,811
Year 15$189,764$200,844$11,079
Year 16$200,236$212,694$12,457
Year 17$211,289$225,242$13,953
Year 18$222,956$238,532$15,576
Year 19$235,270$252,605$17,335
Year 20$248,268$267,509$19,241
Year 21$261,986$283,292$21,305
Year 22$276,467$300,006$23,539
Year 23$291,751$317,706$25,956
Year 24$307,883$336,451$28,568
Year 25$324,910$356,302$31,392

Both columns start from the same balance and grow at the same rate; the only thing that differs is what each side charges, and the gap widens every year.

If the money is paid to you instead of moved for you

Withheld by the plan (20 percent)
$17,000 mandatory, not the plan being difficult
Time to put the whole distribution back
60 days including the fifth that was withheld
Income tax on the withheld fifth at 22%
$3,740
Additional tax before 59.5
$1,700 10 percent, because the account holder is 45
Miss the 60 days and the withheld amount becomes a distribution: $5,440 of tax and additional tax here, and $71,260 that the same amount would have grown to by retirement.
Ask the old plan to pay the new account directly — a direct rollover — and nothing is withheld at all. A check made out to you instead is the version that costs money: the plan must withhold 20 percent, and the only way to keep the whole balance rolling over is to put that fifth back out of your own savings inside 60 days. Two things also argue for staying: a plan can pay a separated employee from age 55 without the 10 percent additional tax, which an IRA cannot do, and a plan can delay required distributions past 73 (75 for those born in 1960 or later) while the account holder is still working, which an IRA cannot.
What this page cannot compare: employer stock with a low cost basis and the net unrealized appreciation (NUA) election, after-tax contributions inside the plan, an outstanding plan loan that a rollover would offset (a distribution of its own), the difference in creditor protection between an ERISA plan and an IRA under your state’s law, and whether the new plan is allowed to accept a rollover at all — a plan is not required to. It also ignores the one-rollover-per-twelve-months limit, which applies to IRA-to-IRA moves and not to a plan paying an IRA. It is an arithmetic page under the published rules, not tax advice.

This page runs both accounts year by year from the same balance at the same return, so the difference you see is only what each side charges. Then it prices the withholding, because that mistake is the one an ordinary person can make between two phone calls.

About this 401(k) rollover calculator

Moving an old 401(k) into an IRA looks like paperwork and behaves like a fee negotiation, because two expense ratios compounding across a twenty-five-year horizon pull apart into money that was never spent on anything. It is also two traps at once: a slow drag, and a fast rule about a fifth of the balance.

Both paths are grown year by year from the same balance and the same return, so the gap you see is only what each side charges, and the withholding arithmetic sits beside it as its own line. The comparison never leaves your machine - nothing you type is uploaded, and no account is required to run it.

It leaves out net unrealized appreciation, after-tax basis inside the plan, an outstanding plan loan and the difference between ERISA and state-law creditor protection. Knock it around as an estimate built from the figures you look up, not a recommendation to move. Confirm the check is payable to the receiving institution before the sixty days run, and read your own plan document first.

How this 401(k) rollover calculator works

The fee drag, compounded

Both paths start with the same balance and grow at the same rate before fees. Each year, the plan charges its expense ratio on the balance plus any flat account fee, and the IRA charges its own pair. The balance that is left compounds again next year, so a fee difference of a third of a percentage point is small in year one and large in year twenty-five — the gap is not a fee, it is the growth those fees never earned.

On the sample starting point on this page — $85,000 with 25 years to grow at 6 percent — a plan charging 0.45 percent and $60 a year against an IRA charging 0.10 percent and nothing ends about $31,000 apart. The plan pays roughly $16,500 more in fees over those years, and the growth those fees never earned makes up the rest of the gap.

The flat fee matters more than people expect on a small balance: $60 a year on $5,000 is 1.2 percent before any expense ratio, which is why a small old 401(k) is often the one most worth moving.

Direct rollover, indirect rollover, and the 20 percent

A direct rollover — also called a trustee-to-trustee transfer — is the plan paying the new account or IRA directly. Nothing is withheld, nothing is taxable, and no deadline is running. The second way is for the plan to pay you: that is an indirect rollover, and the plan is required to withhold 20 percent of the distribution for federal income tax.

You then have 60 days to deposit the whole distribution — the amount you received plus the 20 percent that was withheld — into the new account. The withheld fifth can only be replaced from other savings. If it is not replaced, that fifth is a taxable distribution: ordinary income tax at your marginal rate, plus the 10 percent additional tax on early distributions if you are under 59 1/2. The tax withheld was only a payment towards the tax; it does not undo the distribution.

That is why the same rollover is free one way and expensive the other, and why the only instruction that matters is that the check be made out to the receiving institution, for the benefit of the account holder, rather than to the account holder.

What staying in the plan keeps

Leaving the money where it is can be the better answer, and not only on fees. A qualified plan can pay a separated employee who is 55 or older without the 10 percent additional tax; an IRA cannot, because the exception belongs to the plan. A plan can also delay required minimum distributions past 73 (75 for those born in 1960 or later) while the account holder is still working and is not a 5 percent owner; an IRA has no such rule and must begin at the same age.

Creditor protection differs too: an ERISA plan is protected by federal law, while an IRA is protected under state law, and the state limits vary. Three more things can make a plan worth keeping, and none of them is on this page: employer stock with a low cost basis, after-tax contributions inside the plan, and a plan loan that is still outstanding.

Where the four numbers come from

The page needs four figures from you: the plan expense ratio and flat fee, both on the plan annual disclosure, and the IRA expense ratio and flat fee, from the fund prospectus and the broker fee schedule. All four are figures you can look up rather than guess, and this page adds no average fund fee and no assumed market return of its own.

Both sides start from the same balance and grow at the expected return, with the plan charges on one side and the IRA charges on the other. Because the charge difference compounds, the gap between the two columns widens every year, and the IRA-ahead column shows exactly when the cheaper account takes the lead.

Worked examples

Each example below was run through the calculator on this page when the site was built, so the numbers match what you see when you enter the same inputs.

The sample rollover: $85,000, 25 years

Balance in the old plan: $85,000.00 · Years until the money is needed: 25 years · Expected return a year: 6% · The plan’s expense ratio: 0.45% · The plan’s flat account fee, a year: $60.00 · The IRA’s expense ratio: 0.1% · The IRA’s flat account fee, a year: $0.00 · Your marginal tax rate: 22% · Your age now: 45 years

Rolling into the IRA ends ahead

$31,392

After 25 years the IRA holds $356,302 and the plan holds $324,910: $21,074 of fees on the plan side against $4,598 on the IRA side, on a 6% return before fees.

Fees in the plan: $21,074 · Fees in the IRA: $4,598 · The plan, net of fees: 5.55% · The IRA, net of fees: 5.9%

The plan is the expensive side in every year, so the whole gap is the fee difference compounding.

An expensive plan: 1.10 percent and $100 a year

Balance in the old plan: $85,000.00 · Years until the money is needed: 25 years · Expected return a year: 6% · The plan’s expense ratio: 1.1% · The plan’s flat account fee, a year: $100.00 · The IRA’s expense ratio: 0.1% · The IRA’s flat account fee, a year: $0.00 · Your marginal tax rate: 22% · Your age now: 45 years

Rolling into the IRA ends ahead

$79,945

After 25 years the IRA holds $356,302 and the plan holds $276,357: $46,019 of fees on the plan side against $4,598 on the IRA side, on a 6% return before fees.

Fees in the plan: $46,019 · Fees in the IRA: $4,598 · The plan, net of fees: 4.9% · The IRA, net of fees: 5.9%

The same rollover, worth far more: this is the shape of plan that makes the decision easy.

A small old 401(k) where the flat fee dominates

Balance in the old plan: $8,000.00 · Years until the money is needed: 25 years · Expected return a year: 6% · The plan’s expense ratio: 0.5% · The plan’s flat account fee, a year: $75.00 · The IRA’s expense ratio: 0.05% · The IRA’s flat account fee, a year: $0.00 · Your marginal tax rate: 22% · Your age now: 32 years

Rolling into the IRA ends ahead

$7,262

After 25 years the IRA holds $33,932 and the plan holds $26,671: $3,743 of fees on the plan side against $218 on the IRA side, on a 6% return before fees.

Fees in the plan: $3,743 · Fees in the IRA: $218 · The plan, net of fees: 5.5% · The IRA, net of fees: 5.95%

Seventy-five dollars a year on $8,000 is nearly a percentage point before the expense ratio is added.

When the IRA is the expensive side

Balance in the old plan: $85,000.00 · Years until the money is needed: 25 years · Expected return a year: 6% · The plan’s expense ratio: 0.05% · The plan’s flat account fee, a year: $0.00 · The IRA’s expense ratio: 0.45% · The IRA’s flat account fee, a year: $60.00 · Your marginal tax rate: 22% · Your age now: 45 years

Staying in the plan ends ahead

$35,621

After 25 years the IRA holds $324,910 and the plan holds $360,531: $2,315 of fees on the plan side against $21,074 on the IRA side, on a 6% return before fees.

Fees in the plan: $2,315 · Fees in the IRA: $21,074 · The plan, net of fees: 5.95% · The IRA, net of fees: 5.55%

The same $85,000 over the same 25 years with the sides swapped: keeping the money in the plan ends $35,621 ahead, because the plan charges $2,315 against $21,074 in the IRA. The answer follows the fees, not the account type.

Frequently asked questions

Does rolling a 401(k) into an IRA cost anything?

A direct rollover should cost nothing: the plan pays the receiving institution, no tax is withheld and no deadline starts. What has a cost is the fee you pay afterwards. Whether the IRA is cheaper depends on four numbers you can look up today — the plan’s expense ratio and flat account fee (both on the plan’s annual fee disclosure) and the IRA’s pair (on the fund prospectus and the broker’s fee schedule). The calculator above turns those four numbers into money.

What happens if the check is made out to me?

The plan must withhold 20 percent for federal income tax, so a $17,000 balance arrives as a $13,600 check. You then have 60 days to put the whole $17,000 into the new account, which means finding the other $3,400 yourself. If you do, you are made whole and the rollover is tax-free. If you do not, the withheld amount is a taxable distribution: income tax at your rate, plus the 10 percent additional tax if you are under 59 1/2. The withholding was a payment towards that tax, not a way of avoiding it.

Can I do more than one rollover a year?

Rollovers from a plan to an IRA are not limited by the one-rollover-per-twelve-months rule; that rule applies to money moved between IRAs. An IRA-to-IRA 60-day rollover is limited to one per twelve months, while a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer between IRAs is not affected by the limit at all. So an unlimited number of direct rollovers out of plans is allowed — another reason to ask for them by name.

Is it ever better to leave the money in the 401(k)?

Yes, in situations that have nothing to do with fees. If you separate from service in or after the year you turn 55, the plan can pay you without the 10 percent additional tax and an IRA cannot. If you are still working at 73 for the plan’s sponsor and are not a 5 percent owner, the plan can delay required distributions and an IRA cannot. ERISA creditor protection is also generally stronger than the state-law protection an IRA gets, which is worth checking in your state. Employer stock and after-tax contributions are two more reasons to ask before moving anything.

What if my old balance is very small?

Small balances are where a flat fee does the most damage, because a fixed charge is a bigger share of a smaller balance — $60 a year on $5,000 is 1.2 percent before any expense ratio is added. If a balance is between $1,000 and $5,000 and you make no election, the plan may move it into an IRA for you; under $1,000 it may simply be paid out, usually less the 20 percent withholding. You can still roll that amount over within 60 days, so keep the address on file current.

Should I roll a traditional 401(k) into a Roth IRA?

That is a conversion rather than a rollover, and it is taxable: the converted amount is added to your income for the year, and the tax is best paid from money outside the account. This page models a like-for-like rollover, so use the Roth vs Traditional calculator for the conversion question before moving anything.

Does this page decide for me?

No. It prices two things — the fee difference over the years, and the cost of missing the 60-day window — and it names the rules that can point the other way. Which account is right also depends on your state’s creditor protection, any employer stock, and what you want to invest in, and no arithmetic page can weigh those for you.

Do you keep the salary and account balances I enter?

No. The balance, the fees and the rate are read by the calculation running on your own computer and are never uploaded, so no salary figure or account detail is held anywhere and no upload endpoint sits behind the form. A calculator page that ever called out to the network would be blocked by an automated release check, which is how the site proves the data stays put.

Assumptions and sources

  • IRS, Rollovers of retirement plan and IRA distributions: a payment can be rolled over by depositing it in another plan or IRA within 60 days, or by having the institution or the plan transfer it directly. A direct rollover has no withholding; a distribution from a retirement plan paid to the participant does have taxes withheld. The IRS page works the example the FAQ above repeats: a $10,000 distribution, $2,000 withheld, and the need to contribute $2,000 from other sources to roll the full amount over.
  • IRS, Rollovers of retirement plan and IRA distributions: no more than one rollover from an IRA to another IRA in any twelve-month period, applied by aggregating all of an individual’s IRAs; a plan is not required to accept rollover contributions; and a plan may move an account of between $1,000 and $5,000 into an IRA when the participant makes no election, or pay out $1,000 or less with withholding.
  • IRS, Exceptions to tax on early distributions: the 10 percent additional tax applies to distributions before age 59 1/2 unless an exception applies, and one exception is separation from service during or after the year the employee reaches 55 — marked in the IRS table as applying to qualified plans and not to IRAs. The same table lists rollovers, death, disability and the $1,000 emergency personal expense exception.
  • IRS, Retirement plan and IRA required minimum distributions FAQs: withdrawals generally begin at 73 for those born 1951 through 1959 and at 75 for those born in 1960 or later; a workplace plan participant who is still working and is not a 5 percent owner can delay them until retirement; Roth IRAs have no lifetime requirement.
  • The expected return, both expense ratios and both flat fees are the visitor’s own inputs. This page prints no average fund fee and no assumed market return.
  • Not modelled here: net unrealized appreciation (NUA) of employer stock, after-tax basis inside the plan, an outstanding plan loan and the offset its rollover triggers, the difference between ERISA and state-law creditor protection, conversion to a Roth account, and state income tax.

Last reviewed 2026-09-20. Not investment or insurance advice; quotes come from a licensed provider. Read the full disclaimer.

Where a figure on this page comes from an official agency — HUD, IRS, FICO or a state body — the site keeps a dated snapshot of the source page in its sources library, and a scheduled job re-checks that snapshot, so the number can be traced back to the document it came from.

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