There’s a lot lining up in favor of IRA conversions right now but watch out for unintended consequences.

If you’re just skimming financial headlines, you might be inclined to order up a Roth IRA conversion–stat! “Now Is the Best Time in History to Do a Roth Conversion,” read the headline in one publication. “Now Is the Perfect Time to Convert Your IRA to Roth,” answered another.

It’s true that there’s a lot about the current environment that points to the advantages of converting traditional IRA assets to Roth–depressed balances (at least somewhat depressed; they’ve recovered a lot), temporarily low tax brackets for some investors, and tax rates that are low relative to historical norms.

But at the same time, investors barreling into conversions without doing some analysis may run into some nasty surprises. Unless you’re extremely conversant in tax matters, this is one area to get some tax advice before proceeding. For one thing, conversions will almost always result in a bigger tax bill, so you have to know how you’ll pay those taxes when they come due next year. (As Pimco’s Tim Steffen notes, it’s wise to pay the taxes with non-IRA.