Back door Roth IRA catch up

[jennn1217]

Hi! Just recently learned about back door Roth IRAs and looking to contribute to both FY 2020 and FY 2021? 

How and when would I report this for taxes if doubling up within the same calendar year, but they are allocated to separate FY? 

Planning to do same year moving forward to keep it simple. 

[dmertz]

A backdoor Roth is nothing more than a traditional IRA contribution (or contributions) followed by a Roth conversion.  Each of these transactions is entered separately into TurboTax.

A traditional IRA contribution for 2020 is reportable on your 2020 tax return.  If it's deductible it will appear on your 2020 Schedule 1 line 19.  If it's non-deductible it will appear on Part I of your 2020 Form 8606.   Nothing else regarding these transactions will appear on your 2020 tax return.

A traditional IRA contribution for 2021 is reportable on your 2021 tax return.  If it's deductible it will appear on your 2021 Schedule 1 line 19.  If it's non-deductible it will appear on Part I of your 2021 Form 8606 along with the amount carried forward from line 14 of your 2020 Form 8606.

A Roth conversion performed in 2021 will be reported on your 2021 tax return.  The taxable amount of the conversion will be calculated on Part I of 2021 Form 8606 (or using Worksheet 1-1 from IRS Pub 590-B) and the conversion itself will be reported on Part II of the 2021 Form 8606.

[jennn1217]

@dmertz Thanks! Would the Roth conversion for both 2020 and 2021 be reported in my 2021 taxes? Or would I need to later amend my 2020 taxes to account for the conversion?  

[dmertz]

Roth conversion are performed in a particular year, not for a particular year.  Any Roth conversion performed in 2021 is reportable on your 2021 tax return (2021 Form 8606).