@dmertz
I'm working on filing my taxes and have myself in a very confusing state with a backdoor roth conversion and recharacterization starting with contributions from 2019. This is similar to the "backdoor roth with rechar and conversion - multiple years" question you answered, except I believe I made an error with my 2019 tax year return and it's even a bit more convoluted.
Activity timeline:
- 12/31/19: $3,000 contribution to Roth for 2019
- 1/16/20: $3,000 contribution to Roth for 2019
- 4/3/20: Realized my 2019 income was in the middle of the Roth contribution phase-out, recharacterized $2,455.88 to Traditional IRA
- 4/7/20: Converted $2,624.33 back into the Roth (backdoor conversion)
The forms I got for this year are:
- 1099-R from traditional account, code 02, $2,624.33 distribution
- 1099-R from Roth, code R, $2,455.66 distribution
I then filed my 2019 taxes without a form 8606 as I believed all this would be handled on the 2020 tax year form (which I'm doing now).
So, by contributing that $3,000 on 12/31/19, does that mean I needed to file a form 8606 for tax year 2019 to represent that $3,000 contribution? I'm confused because at that time it was a Roth contribution, so it's still unclear to me how to properly handle it for the 2019 return. And it seems I could mark the $3,000 from 12/31/19 as money that was not recharacterized on 4/3, hence avoiding the need to declare it on form 8606 for 2019.
TurboTax is telling me I likely need to refile for 2019, though, and I'm not sure what the path forward is. Any help is much appreciated! Thank you!
