A 457 (City job) was rolled over to a Roth IRA. Do we need to pay taxes on this $, even though it was rollover? Now we owe after I entered 1099-R.

[jenlefler76]

A 457 (City job) was rolled over to a Roth IRA when employment ended (over $30,000). Entered as rollover, distribution code G. We did not put this as IRA contribution in the section for IRA contributions. Now we owe a lot of money. We need to pay taxes on this $, even though it was rollover? Is this because it did not go into an employer sponsored plan (pre-tax)? I want to make sure I'm not missing something to help with what we owe.

Even if this is correct, this will not count as a contribution, correct? Because it's a rollover? I want to make sure we aren't charged a penalty for being over the contribution limit.

[DanaB · Accepted solution]

Correct, it will not count as a contribution and affect your contribution limit since it was a rollover. You owe taxes because you converted from a pre-tax retirement plan to an after-tax plan like the Roth IRA. 

A pre-tax plan lowers your taxable income when you make contributions but when you start withdrawing money you are required to pay taxes on those distributions. An after-tax plan won't give you the benefit of lowering your taxable income when you make contributions but when you withdraw money these distributions won't be taxable.  

Because of this difference, a conversion to a Roth IRA  will result in taxation of any untaxed amounts in the pre-taxed retirement plan.

[jenlefler76]

Thank you! I wanted to make sure I had this correct.