It depends on why you need it. The form is automatic in most situations when required.
Did you make a non-deductible Traditional IRA contribution and fail to report it?
My wife made a contribution and i don't remember filing the form separately when i did the return on turbotax. I just looked through the tax return and did not see that form included. Would like to report it now to set the basis since it was non-deductible. Thanks for the help.
If you deducted it, then it would be on line 32 on your 1040 form (line 17 on 1040A). If not there then you did not deduct it.
The 8606 is automatically created when a Traditional IRA contribution is entered in the IRA contribution interview section and is either non-deductible because of high income phase out or manually made non-deductible by answering the interview questions.
It is not necessary to amend to report a non-deductible Traditional IRA contribution since the 8606 can be filed by itself if it was not part of your tax return.
Enter the 2016 contribution on line 1.
If you had any other carry-over nondeductible basis from previous years enter that on line 2.
Put the total of lines 1 & 2 on line 3 & 14.
You can download the form and instructions from the IRS.
Form: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8606.pdf
Instructions: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8606.pdf
Where to mail: https://www.irs.gov/uac/where-to-file-paper-tax-returns-with-or-without-a-payment
"can be filed by itself if it was not part of your tax return."
It can be filed by itself if you are not required to file a return.
but it was , or should have been , part of the tax return.
That means Form 1040X should be filed.
I disagree - the 1040X is required to report a *change* on a tax return. 1040X would be required to change from a deductible to non-deductible contribution which would be entered in part III on the 1040X and a 8606 would be required. Simply reporting the basis in a non-deductible contribution is not a change to the filed tax return and no 104X is required.
Thank you all for your help. It is not a change though because i did not include as deductible on my 1040 i did not report it at all and it was post tax non deductible so i think i can just mail it in to record the basis for that ira account.