contributory ira basis? I have never used this since the basis is 8000 and occurred in the 1980's. What do I do to claim this offset to the contributory withdrawn 2025

[heinzeb47]

no longer have tax returns back in the 1980's and the IRS only has the last 10 yrs returns. Schwab nor my financial institution has records older than 10 yrs

[AnnetteB6]

If you ever made a non-deductible contributions to your Traditional IRA, then that is the amount that you would report as the basis in the IRA.  Non-deductible contributions do need to be tracked in your own records over the years in order to accurately show how much of the account should not be taxed when it is withdrawn.  

If you do not have those records and cannot access them from another source, then your best course of action may be to report that the basis is zero and all of the distribution will be taxable.  Be aware that it is possible that the IRS could request those records in the event that your return is audited.

[dmertz]

Nondeductible traditional IRA contributions became permissible beginning in 1987.  The maximum permissible annual contribution in 1987 through 2001 was $2,000, so $8,000 would represent at least 4 years of contributions, perhaps 1987 through 1991.  Nondeductible traditional IRA contributions have always been required to have been reported on Form 8606, so unless you have specific recollection of having filed those forms, you would probably have difficulty substantiating that you have such basis.   If you now claim the basis on Form 8606 and you get audited by the IRS, the IRS might disallow the use of the basis.

Any contributions made before 1987 could only have been deductible contributions which did not add and basis in nondeductible contributions and would not reduce the taxable amount of any distribution.