I'm 61 years old, why does turbotax need to know my cumulative contributions to my roth IRA?

[KrisD15 · Accepted solution]

TurboTax is asking in order to have the numbers needed  "in case" you were to over-contribute in the future.

The amount of your contributions would then be needed to calculate the amount of earnings that would need to be claimed when a correction was made.

[jeffschmitz]

Thanks.

I've held this roth for close to 30 years, I don't think there's anyway I could come up with that number.  Do contributions include conversions?

[MonikaK1]

No, Roth contributions do not include conversions. Roth contributions and conversions are treated as distinct, separate transactions with different rules. Contributions are limited by annual income/amount caps, while conversions involve moving pre-tax money to a Roth account, which is not subject to annual contribution limits. 

TurboTax requires your cumulative Roth IRA contributions to track your "basis" (the total amount of after-tax money put in) to determine if any current-year, non-qualified withdrawals are subject to taxes or penalties. It also helps identify excess contributions, which can incur a 6% penalty if not corrected. 

See this TurboTax blog article for more information about Roth IRA withdrawal rules and penalties.