I'm 51 my 1099 R is for $16,025.88. $8,000 was a backdoor Roth contribution for 2025. Part was a $8,025.88 conversion. In TT I have an excess contribution? Not right.

[lbbrill]

The $8.025.88 was previously contributed and univested. There's no limit on money converted per Fidelity just contributions.

[baldietax]

the 1099-R only handles the conversion not the contribution.  what did you input for the contribution?  and do you have "earned" income in excess of that contribution?

[lbbrill]

Per Fidelity my contribution for 2025 was $8,000 but I converted $16,025.88. I believe the additional $8,025.88 was previously contributed money which had not been invested. There was $25.88 of interest on the money that was previously contributed by not invested.  My understanding is there's no limit on the amount you can convert to a Roth, just a limit on your contributions which is $8,000 for me. The software is saying I have an excess contribution and I need to invest the excess from my traditional IRA or I will receive a tax penalty.  I don't have any money in my traditional IRA.  It was all rolled over from the Traditional IRA and then converted to the Roth so I'm confused and I think this is wrong. Do you agree?  For purposes of the backdoor conversion, I'm only answering that I contributed to a traditional IRA for 2025, not a Roth IRA on the "Tell us about your IRAs" screen.  I hope that's correct. 

[lbbrill]

I forgot to say I imported my 1099-R which enters the $16,025.88.  The software doesn't have a place to distinguish between which part was  contributed and which part was converted.  At least I can't find it. 

Thanks for your help!

[baldietax]

Backdoor Roth and any associated conversions for previous contributions or earnings are entered in 2 steps - (1) the contribution under deductions & credits; (2) the conversion from the 1099-R.  Both of these pieces come together on Form 8606 to connect the conversion with the basis you have in the IRA from non-deduction contributions to determine how much is taxable.  For reference here are the steps for backdoor Roth

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/retirement-benefits/enter-backdoor-roth-...

You are correct that only contributions are limited; conversions are obviously limited only by how much you have to convert (and how much tax you want to pay if your IRA has pre-tax money).  IRA contributions have a limit set by the IRS ($8000) but you also cannot contribute more than you have earned income (W2 etc) so if you just have passive income you may get the message that you have an excess contribution.  Hopefully it's just some sort of input error tho.

When you go through the Trad IRA section under Deductions & Credits, ignore any questions about moving it to Roth - you should be telling it you have a $8000 non-deductible contribution for 2025 which goes to Form 8606 Line 1; you are correct not to answer anything about Roth contributions here, and answer NO to any questions about recharacterizing it to Roth - the Roth conversion step is handled by the 1099-R; you will be asked whether you previously tracked a basis in the IRA - refer to your last filed Form 8606 Line 14 for this which should be carrying over to Form 8606 Line 2.

The fact that you have a conversion for 16025.88 makes me think you had another $8000 non-deductible contribution in 2024?  or where did the extra $8025.88 come from - $25.88 sounds like earnings and you had another $8000 contribution that hadn't been moved to Roth yet.  It's important you identify that and if it was a non-deductible contribution you need to have recorded the basis on Form 8606 which is the carryover referred to in the questions above.  Check your return from 2024 and also your 2024 Form 5498s from last May to see if you can find out, failing that your brokerage statements.  Without this basis recorded you will be taxed on the $8025.88 but I am guessing you should only be taxed on the $25.88.

Back on the 1099-R section, after you've input or imported (doesn't matter which) the 1099-R you still need to answer supplemental questions, after the 1099-R input screens there is a summary and you need to click forward with Done/Continue (not sure language) to get those questions where you then identity that this distribution was entirely a Roth conversion.  You will also be asked the market value of your Trad IRAs as of 12/31/25 which sounds like $0.

So two things:

(1) identify why the excess contribution - it's either input error or issue with earned income limit

(2) find the details on the additional $8025.88 so you can ensure correct basis and tax outcome on Form 8606.

Keep eye on Form 8606 that should bring all this together.  You can also review the IRA Contribution Worksheet to see what is going on.  On TT Desktop you can view all these in Forms mode, for TT Online you will have to use the PDF with all forms and worksheets.

Hope that helps - try working through the above and then post more info if it resolves or where you are still stuck

[lbbrill]

Thanks so much, this is very helpful! I confirmed with Fidelty that I did not have any excess contributions for 2025.  The $8, 025.88 was a prior year contribution from 2024 that I converted from my rollover IRA along with the $8,000 for my 2025 backdoor Roth contribution.  That resulted in a $16,025.88 conversion to the Roth for 2025 reflected in my 1099-R.  For tax purposes for 2025, I needed to report the $8,000 contribution.  I was mistakeningly reporting the entire $16,025.88 conversion as my 2025 contribution.  Once I fixed that reporting error, the excess contribution/tax penalty screen went away.    Thanks again for your engagement and sharing your expertise. 

[baldietax]

ok good news glad it worked out.  be sure to check the basis carried over from 2024 if this was a non-deductible contribution and you have the right tax outcome on your form 8606 and 1040 Line 4b.

Note also if you didn't file Form 8606 in 2024 for a non-deductible contribution you would have to go back and do that also - see notes at the bottom of the Turbotax help page for backdoor Roth in previous comments.