Backdoor IRA to ROTH conversion, reporting in Turbotax

[rparasur]

I contributed $6,000 to a traditional IRA in 2020 for the year 2019 - non deductible due to income limits. And then in 2020 I converted all $6,000 from the traditional IRA to a ROTH IRA, for the year 2019. Could you please advise on where/how I could report the IRA contribution (non-deductible) and ROTH conversion in Turbotax? I reviewed some of the existing queries/solutions about this but they don't seem to be complete.

Thanks in advance!

[dmertz]

The traditional IRA contribution for 2019 is to be reported in 2019 TurboTax under Deductions & Credits -> Retirement and Investments -> Traditional and Roth IRA Contributions.  TurboTax will automatically prepare Form 8606 to report your nondeductible traditional IRA contribution.

The Roth conversion performed in 2020 is reportable on your 2020 tax return, not on your 2019 tax return.  2020 TurboTax will take the amount from line 14 of your 2019 Form 8606 and include it on line 2 of your 2020 Form 8606 to be used in calculating the nontaxable and taxable amounts of your Roth conversion performed in 2020.

[rparasur]

Thanks for the update. So to reconfirm what I've understood from your update: Even though I converted IRA to ROTH in 2020 (for 2019), the conversion is not reportable in the 2019 tax return (and is only reportable in the 2020 tax return), right?

[dmertz]

Conversions are made in a taxable year, not for a taxable year.  The Roth conversion is independent from the traditional IRA contribution (except for the fact that the basis in nondeductible traditional IRA contributions gained from making the contribution for 2019 affects the calculation of the taxable amount of any subsequent distribution from your traditional IRAs); the association of the contribution with the conversion exists only in your mind.  The Roth conversion has nothing to do with your 2019 tax return.