Hello!
I am currently filling out the fields on Turbo Tax for it to track my cost basis for my Roth IRA. As I'm reading the information provided, however, I find that I'm a bit confused. I never knew there was a difference between the terms rollover and conversion. A few years ago, I converted a 401k from a previous employer to my Roth account. I can't remember well, but I think when I did my taxes, I counted it as a rollover rather than a conversion. I looked at my old tax form and it appears that I still paid taxes on the money, since it was going into a Roth and thus became taxable. But when I look at the 1099-R forms, it looks like perhaps I did count it as a rollover instead of a conversion. How do I tell if I did it correctly, and I guess more importantly, is this something that even matters? Does it make a difference on my taxes, or am I just letting myself be confused for no reason? 🙂
I'm also a bit confused by the difference between conversions and recharacterizations for non-Roth to Roth. As far as I can tell, it doesn't matter too much which one you choose; you end up paying either way. Again, I can't remember what I did, but I don't think I recharacterized anything.
Thank you for helping to clear up my tax illiteracy! 🙂
