Retirement tax questions

I apologize I misread that you received a Form 1099-R with code R. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Recharacterization of a traditional IRA to Roth IRA is treated as if the contribution was never made to the traditional IRA but only the Roth IRA. You have specifically to request it with your financial institute. With a conversion, you move funds from a traditional IR to Roth IRA and this is a taxable event unless you have nondeductible contributions in the traditional IRA.

It seems as if you made a conversion and got the right Form 1099-R.

Yes, if the value of all your Traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs on Dec. 31 2021 was $0 then you will enter 0. And it seems as if you didn’t have any outstanding rollovers or recharacterizations. Therefore, you can enter $0.

Please review the steps for backdoor Roth (traditional IRA to Roth conversion) below.

To enter the nondeductible contribution to the traditional IRA:

1. Open your return
2. Click “Deductions &Credits” on the top
3. Click "I'll choose what to work on"
4. Scroll down to “Traditional and Roth IRA Contributions” and click “Start”
5. Select “traditional IRA”
6. Answer “No” to “Is This a Repayment of a Retirement Distribution?”
7. Enter the amount you contributed
8. Answer “No” to the recharacterized question on the “Did You Change Your Mind?” screen
9. Answer the next questions until you get to “Any Nondeductible Contributions to Your IRA?” and select “Yes” if you had nondeductible contributions before this tax year
10. If you had a basis in the Traditional IRA before then enter the amount.
11. On the “Choose Not to Deduct IRA Contributions” screen choose “Yes, make part of my IRA contribution nondeductible” and enter the amount (if you have a retirement plan at work and are over the income limit it will be nondeductible automatically and you only get a warning and then a screen saying $0 is deductible).

To enter the 1099-R distribution/conversion: 

1. Click "Federal Taxes" on the top and select "Wages & Income"
2. Click "I'll choose what to work on"
3. Scroll down and click "Start" next to "IRA, 401(k), Pension Plan (1099-R)" 
4. Answer "Yes" to the question "Did You Have Any of These Types of Income?"
5. Click "I'll Type it Myself"
6. Choose "Form 1099-R, Withdrawal of Money from 401(k) Retirement Plans, Pensions, IRAs, etc."
7. Click "Continue" and enter the information from your 1099-R
8. Answer questions until you get to “What Did You Do With The Money” and choose “I moved it to another retirement account”
9. Then choose “I did a combination of rolling over, converting, or cashing out money.” and enter the amount next to "Amount converted to a Roth IRA account"
10. On the "Your 1099-R Entries" screen click "continue"
11. Answer "yes" to "Any nondeductible Contribution to your IRA?"
12. Answer the questions about the basis from line 14 of your 2020 Form 8606 and the value of all traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs