Retirement tax questions

How much extra you need to remove will depend on your earnings. You can calculate the earnings for you and you spouse with this worksheet and then enter it in TurboTax to check if you still get a new excess contribution. To be safe remove a few extra dollars, just in case it takes time to process the return of excess contribution.

 You will enter the recharacterization when you enter the contribution to the Roth IRA for 2024 on your 2024 return:

1. Login to your TurboTax Account 
2. Click on "Search" on the top right and type “IRA contributions” 
3. Click on “Jump to IRA contributions"
4. Select “Roth IRA”
5. Answer ‘Yes” on the “Roth IRA Contribution” screen
6. Answer “No” to “Is This a Repayment of a Retirement Distribution
7. Enter the Roth contribution amount 
8. Answer “Yes” to the recharacterized question on the “Switch from a Roth To a Traditional IRA?” screen and enter the contribution amount (no earnings or losses) on the next screen.
9. TurboTax will ask for an explanation statement where it should be stated that the original $xxx.xx plus $xxx.xx earnings (or loss) were recharacterized.
10. On the screen "Choose Not to Deduct IRA Contributions" answer "Yes" if you are thinking about doing a backdoor Roth. Otherwise select "No". (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)

You will get a 2025 Form 1099-R  for the recharacterization with code R-Recharacterized IRA contribution made for 2024 and this belongs on the 2024 return. But a Form 1099-R with code R will change nothing on your return. You can only report it as mentioned above. Therefore, you can ignore the Form 1099-R with code R when you get it in 2026.