1099-R

[t_peck]

My wife and I each received 1099-Rs for recharachterized IRA contributions.  The contributions were made in 2018 and recharacterized in 2019.  As I was entering the info for my 2019 taxes, TurboTax is telling me that I may need to amend my 2018 return.  How do I know if I need to amend it and if so, what do I amend?

[macuser_22]

A 2019 1099-R with a code R in box 7 (Recharacterized IRA contribution made for 2018 and recharactorized in 2019) will tell you that you must amend 2018.

A code R 1099-R does nothing whatsoever if entered into the 1099-R section of an amended 2018 return. It does not get sent to the IRS and nothing goes on the tax return at all. The only purpose of the 1099-R is to report the recharacterization to the IRS, but it still must be reported on your 2018 tax return.

The box 1 on the 1099-R will report the total recharacterized amount (contribution plus earnings) but it does not separately report the earnings and box 2a must be zero.

The proper way to report the recharacterization and earnings which is to enter the 2018 IRA contribution in the IRA contribution interview section and then say yes to "Did you switch from a Roth to a Traditional IRA - recharacterize".

The amount The amount of the original Roth contribution must be entered - not any earnings or losses.

Then TurboTax will ask for an explanation statement where it should be stated that the original $xxx.xx plus $xxx.xx earnings (or loss) were recharactorized.

There is no tax or penalty on the before-tax earnings since the earning were simply switched into the recharactorized account.

That is the only way to prepare and attach the proper  explanation statement for a code R 1099-R.

Enter IRA contributions here:
Federal Taxes,
Deductions & Credits,
I’ll choose what I work on (if that screen comes up),
Retirement & Investments,
Traditional & Roth IRA contribution.

OR Use the "Tools" menu (if online version under My Account) and then "Search Topics" for "ira contributions" which will take you to the same place.

Since the after-tax Roth contribution is now a Traditional IRA contribution it can be either a before-tax deduction if your MAGI allows a deduction which might result in an additional 2018 refund, or it will be an after-tax contribution reported on a 8606 form (line 1 & 14) as a "basis" in the Traditional IRA that will reduce the tax of future distributions.

[Chaulk]

You are saying to do all this when I amend the return?

[macuser_22]

Yes.  That can only be done on an amended 2018 tax retuAmended returns can only be mailed. It is suggested that it be mailed certified with return receipt (or other tracking service) to verify that the IRS receives it.

See this TurboTax FAQ for detailed amend instructions:
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894381-how-to-amend-change-or-correct-a-return-you-already-filed


You can check the status of the amended return here, but allow 3 weeks after mailing.

https://www.irs.gov/filing/wheres-my-amended-returnrn.

[Chaulk]

At first I did not understand why I needed to do this because I had already declared in 2018 that I did a traditional ira (this is because by mistake I had recharacterized the roth that I had done by mistake two days before. I see I have to do this amendment otherwise the IRS could think I did a Roth and a Traditional in 2018. We have to send the entire tax documents by mail for this simple change? Also do we need to amend state?

[macuser_22]

---

@Chaulk wrote:

... I had already declared in 2018 that I did a traditional ira (this is because by mistake I had recharacterized the roth that I had done by mistake two days before.

---

It is not clear what you did in 2018.   The topic of this thread and the original question by a different poster was a 2018 contribution recharactorized in *2019*.  Your situation appears to be very different.

[Chaulk]

 While I was filing my 2019 taxes  a 1099 R it says I have to amend my 2018 return because I recharacterized an ira in 2019 for a 2018 contribution (even though it was just a couple of days I had it). Been trying to amend my 2018 return but my computer constantly updates all my turbo tax  documents .tax to the 2019 version so I cannot amend the 2018 return. I tried for hours but the 2018.app keeps getting turned into the 2019 version any tips. I file with cd version

[macuser_22]

---

@Chaulk wrote:

 While I was filing my 2019 taxes  a 1099 R it says I have to amend my 2018 return because I recharacterized an ira in 2019 for a 2018 contribution (even though it was just a couple of days I had it). Been trying to amend my 2018 return but my computer constantly updates all my turbo tax  documents .tax to the 2019 version so I cannot amend the 2018 return. I tried for hours but the 2018.app keeps getting turned into the 2019 version any tips. I file with cd version

---

If you are using a Mac (I don't know if Windows works the same way) if you just click on the .tax2018 data file then  the Mac OS will search for the latest version  of the application to open the file which is 2019, not 2018.

You must first start the TurboTax2018.app in the Applications Folder first.  Once TurboTax 2018 is up and running then you can use the File menu in the top menu bar to "Open Tax Return" and locate and select the .tax2018 data file.