If I converted $300k from regular IRA to a Roth, does that raise my MAGI up to where I can't contribute an additional $8,000 to my Roth IRA from my earned wages?

[spider459]

We are married filing jointly. The rule says that you can't contribute earned wages into the Roth IRA if you have a MAGI of $240k or above. My MAGI is above that limit, but most of that number is due to the large amount from the conversion. Do the converted funds contribute to the amount of the MAGI that is considered to determine the income limit for Roth contribution of earned wages?

[MaryK4 · Accepted solution]

No, for the Roth Contribution MAGI, any amounts converted from a traditional IRA are not included.  See Worksheet 2-1.

[spider459]

How can I enter information into TurboTax so that it accepts my $8,000 Roth IRA contribution?  Quoting from the program after I entered my data:    "Your modified adjusted gross income is $376,341, which puts you over the current Roth limit of $240,000. That means the $8000 you put into a Roth is considered an excess contribution." 

Have I missed telling the program that the high MAGI is due to the amount that I converted?

[dmertz]

It seems that when entering the Form 1099-R that reports the distribution from the traditional IRA that you did not tell TurboTax the amount that was converted to Roth.  You must indicate that you moved the funds to another retirement account, that you did a combination of rolling over, converting and cashing out, then indicate the amount converted to Roth.

(Note that if what you did instead is an in-plan Roth rollover in a 401(k), 403(b), 457(b) or the federal TSP, which are not IRAs, the taxable amount of such rollovers is not excluded from this MAGI.  An in-plan Roth rollover would be reported with code G in box 7 of the Form 1099-R while the payer would use code 1, 2 or 7 for a Roth conversion from a traditional IRA.)