I just recharacterized a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA for my 2019 taxes. Do I now need to to amend my 2019 taxes or can I fix on my 2020 forms?

[rjs]

Changing a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA is a conversion, not a recharacterization. What you did in 2020 does not affect your 2019 tax return. There is no change to 2019, so there is no reason to amend your 2019 tax return.

In January you will get a Form 1099-R for the withdrawal from the traditional IRA. After you enter the 1099-R in TurboTax, proceed through the questions that follow. One of them will ask you what you did with the money, and one of the choices will be that you converted it to a Roth IRA. You will pay tax on the amount that you converted on your 2020 tax return.

[usertice-rebekah]

That makes sense. Thank you for your help.

[dmertz]

It's possible to recharacterize a 2019 contribution to a traditional IRA to be a contribution to a Roth IRA instead, so check with the financial institution to be sure of what type of transaction was actually done and to make sure that what was done was what you intended; there are different reasons for doing one or the other.  A recharacterization of a 2019 traditional IRA contribution would require amending a 2019 tax return that reported a traditional IRA contribution, but if what you actually did was a Roth conversion in 2020, that would be reportable on your 2020 tax return.

[Annie94538]

After amended my 2019 taxes, do I still need to report it on 2020 tax return? Do I need to pay penalty ?Thanks  

[ThomasM125]

You would only need to report it on your 2020 tax return if you received a form 1099-R for 2020 or made a contribution to a retirement plan in 2020.