Basically I want the conversion to be accounted for my in 2017 return (I was planning to make another contribution to my IRA followed by a conversion in after April 15th 2018 to get back on the same annual cycle). Since the contribution and conversion were made after December 31st (but before April 15th), I thought I could file them with my 2017 return. I could not however obtain a 1099 R for the conversion from Schwab because they told me they are released at the end of the calendar year.
You don't account for it on a 2017 tax return. You enter your non-deductible Traditional IRA contribution which will establish a basis in the IRA that will offset (or help offset) the taxable amount of the conversion when reported next year on your 2018 tax return.
2017 IRA *contributions* can be made before the April due date. Any 2017 *conversion* must have been completed before December, 31, 2017. A conversion in March of 2018 is 2018 conversion and will be reported next year you your 2018 tax return.
Thank you - do I need to report anything for the IRA contribution in 2017 or can I just claim both the IRA contribution and the conversion on my 2018 taxes together? Thank you!
Yes - you must report a 2017 contribution on the 2017 tax return. For doing a backdoor Roth you want that to be a non-deductible contribution that will be reported to the IRS on line 1 of a 8606 form. Any other prior year non-deducible contribution (if any) on line 2 and the the total on lines 3 & 14. In 2018 you will use that line 14 amount to offset the tax on the conversation. TurboTax will attach the 8606 automatically when you enter a non-deductible Traditional IRA contribution.
Enter IRA contributions here:
Federal Taxes,
Deductions & Credits,
I’ll choose what I work on (if that screen comes up),
Retirement & Investments,
Traditional & Roth IRA contribution.
OR Use the "Tools" menu (if online version under My Account) and then "Search Topics" for "ira contributions" which will take you to the same place.
Continue with questioner's situation: What if in 2018 he did another non deduction contribution to Trad IRA and turned around and did a backdoor conversion again, but this time the conversion is by 12/31/2018. How should this be handled for 2018 return?
@tq_mtr - same way. Enter the contribution and the distribution/conversion on the 2018 tax return.