In 2017 emptied my trad tax deferred IRA by rolling the full amount into my employer's 401k. Planning on BD Roth for 2018. Anything I need to do or report this year?

[fszaba1]

Married filing jointly. AGI is $200,000 so we don't qualify for traditional tax deferred IRA. Want to do Roth, but only way is to do it Backdoor style. Thus needed IRA account to be free of tax-deferred funds, in preparation for the backdoor conversion from non-deferred IRA to Roth IRA in 2018. But my main question is regarding what must be done this year.

[dmertz · Accepted solution]

In 2018, you'll make your nondeductible traditional IRA contributions, then convert your traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs.  Be sure to tell the Roth IRA custodian NOT to withhold any amount for taxes.

Be sure not to make any distribution from your 401(k) in 2018 that you intend to roll back into a traditional IRA.  Your 2018 year-end balance in traditional IRAs, adjusted for any outstanding rollovers of distributions made in late 2018 but rolled over into a traditional IRA in early 2019, must be zero for the backdoor method to work.  (Presumably you'll be leaving the money in the 401(k) anyway so that you can use the backdoor method in future years as well.)

The traditional IRA contribution and the Roth conversion are to separate transactions that you'll report independently your 2018 tax return.  The traditional IRA contribution is reported under Deductions & Credits -> Retirement and Investments -> Traditional and Roth IRA Contributions.  Do NOT indicate that you switched it to be a Roth contribution; you are not doing a recharacterization.  The Roth conversion is reported by entering the Form 1099-R for the distribution from the traditional IRA under Wages & Income -> Retirement Plans and Social Security -> IRA, 401(k), Pension Plan Withdrawals (1099-R).  In the follow-up you'll indicate that you converted the money to Roth.