Here is my dilemma. Back in the 1990s when I was working, I made contributions to a Roth IRA for my then 19 year old daughter. I made these with Fidelity and put in $2,000 yearly for at least 8 years, I don't have any records to verify this. She took out some $27,000 this year to pay off creditors and other bills. The 1099 does not show how much is taxable so I have to figure that out so she does not pay taxes on the full $27,000, only the gains, Can I put my best guess in for prior contributions when completing whatever form I need to do it on? I have no records of any checking accounts from back then,
Enter the total of contributions in the followup to entering the 1099-R (CONTINUE)
TurboTax will do the tax on the taxable amount.
There is an additional penalty for taking out earnings before age 59 1/2.
There is no way to reconstruct the contributions other than from your own records, or the records of the Roth trustee. The IRS maintains electronic records going back 10 years. Your daughter could use the “get transcript“ function on the IRS website to look for electronic transcripts of form 5498 from the IRA custodian. (Form 5498 is how the custodian documents IRA contributions.) But since the IRS records only go back 10 years, we can’t help you reconstruct further if you did not save the records, and if Fidelity can’t help you.
If audited, the IRS will only allow your daughter a contribution basis equal to what she can prove with reliable records.