@Opus 17 Ah, thank you sooo much for the clarification! I guess my next question is, what would you do if you were me? Should I wait until the end of February to see my tax documents from my university? (unfortunately, I don't trust my school's adminstrators/ HR/ payroll department to simply just believe what they tell me via e-mail if I were to e-mail them requesting clarification on whether my take-home pay is considered "compensation")
What would be the most surefire way to see if my take-home pay from being a TA is considered "compensation"? I should wait for the tax documents available end of February, right? Even if I don't report my 2021 Roth IRA contributions to Turbotax (if they aren't able to understand or categorize my take-home pay as "compensation"), then it's just a matter of time of when the IRS decides to check their computer systems and send me a letter requesting that I send proof of "compensation", correct? And if it is the case where my take-home pay isn't considered to be "compensation" in their definition, then I will owe penalties for one year, and that's it, correct? It won't be something where I will owe penalties every year until I withdraw / distribute the Roth IRA monies that I've "erroneously" contributed in my 2021 tax year, correct?
Thank you so much for your help! I absolutely understand that this forum is used for general informational purposes and is not intended to be "advice" ...... I just wanted to say that I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions!
