@dmertz Oh no! Can you please clarify? I'm sorry, I'm so confused now.
Why would they include the information about "Applying Excess contributions" in this link if I would have to pay the penalty anyway? https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590a#en_US_2019_publink[phone number removed]
I have already contacted my brokerage and requested that they switch over the money to tax year 2020. I'm not sure if I can reverse this. Does this mean I will have to pay the penalty still? Even if I can reverse it, I would be withdrawing the money from 2019, then re-contributing the same money into my same Roth IRA account except for 2020. It seems like the same exact process but with more steps than necessary.
I don't understand. When I made the contribution in April 2020 after filing my taxes, I mistakenly put 2019 but could've easily put 2020 and avoid paying any penalty (because I *do* have eligible earned $6000 to contribute in 2020). Why would they penalize me for catching my mistake?
EDIT: Nevermind, thank you for bringing this to my attention. I did some further reading and I definitely acted too hastily. I was able to get my brokerage to reverse the request to carry over the funds to 2020, and withdraw them instead. Thanks!
