Current tax rules are clear that you cannot convert the Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) from an IRA into a Roth IRA; however, with that being said, you can convert any remaining funds in your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA after you have taken the RMD amount for the year. As an example, if your RMD for 2025 is $5,000, then you must take a distribution of at least $5,000, and you cannot convert any portion of that $5,000 to a Roth IRA. But, you can choose to take a distribution of more than $5,000, and the amount that exceeds $5,000 can be converted to a Roth IRA.
Based on your age and the fact that you have had a Roth IRA for over 5 years, there is no need to keep track of your basis in the Roth IRA, as any distributions from your Roth IRA will be tax free to you - both return of contributions as well as all the earnings. If you were taking Roth distributions before age 59 1/2, OR if you were taking Roth distributions and you did not have a Roth account for at least 5 years, then your basis in the Roth would be important, as any portion of a distribution that represented earnings would be considered taxable to you under either of those 2 situations. As such, the short answer for your situation is that you do not need to report your Roth basis in TurboTax for 2025.
I do want you to double check the 2023 return and make sure the basis number reported on it was the basis in your Roth IRA, and NOT the basis in your Traditional IRA. If this $12,485 represents your basis in your Traditional IRA, that number represents your after-tax contributions to your Traditional IRA, and yes, you would want to make sure you report that on your tax returns (I would recommend you amend your 2024 return if this is the situation). When you have after-tax contributions in your Traditional IRA ("basis"), then that means every time you take a distribution from the Traditional IRA, a part of the distribution is a return of your basis and would be tax free. In my example above, if you had basis in the Traditional IRA, then when you took the $5,000 RMD distribution, an amount less than $5,000 would be the taxable portion of that distribution, instead of the entire amount. The calculation of the taxable portion of Traditional IRA distributions when you have basis in the account is calcuated on IRS Form 8606, and is determined by the amount of your basis remaining in the account, and the value of all your Traditional IRA accounts as of the last day of the year.
I hope the above answers all your questions - have a great rest of your day!
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