Thank you for the reply. I sorta figured out the first part with the EITC and that's good to know for the future.
On the second part I think I messed up. My contributions towards my (traditional) IRA were post taxed money. I was confused when doing my taxes and I believe the Turbo Tax recommended making it deductible so I did however it had no affect on my tax return. I'm guessing this was the wrong decision. I do keep all forms from each tax return but since I made this deductible, if I understand correctly, I will now be taxed on money I've already paid tax on. That is really disappointing considering I maxed my traditional IRA contribution this year at $5500.
I shouldn't run into this again as I've decided not to contribute to the IRA anymore and instead increase my 401k contribution to help out with the EITC. With my income and two children that is a huge tax break and I would be stupid not to try to maximize it.
I would consider converting the IRA but since I'm not going to contribute (unless an unexpected windfall comes my way) then I suppose it doesn't matter at this point.
Thank you for replying. If I've got any of this wrong please let me know. I appreciate you taking your personal time to try to sort me out here.
