Discovered my IRA is not a Roth How to answer this year for contributions

[coinmime]

Hello,

While looking through tax and IRA statements, I noticed that I have had a traditional IRA for a long time and not a Roth like the one I had before which I rolled over into this one.  I have been making at least one contribution a year and telling TurboTax that it was a Roth Contribution. I'm wondering if it's okay to click traditional IRA, take the deduction. And for the question about whether I have made and tracked nondeductible contributions, click no.

[RaifH]

Since you opened a traditional IRA, you can start making deductible contributions to it as long as you are within the income limits to do so. 

If you have made nondeductible contributions for prior years, but classified the IRA as a Roth in TurboTax, the proper form was not being filled out. Nondeductible contributions to traditional IRAs are supposed to be tracked on Form 8606. That form is supposed to be filled out any year you make a non-deductible contribution. At this point, you can go back and change the last three years to include this form. You have three years from the original due date, which means if you choose to do this, you will need to complete your 2018 amended return within the next few days. The other option is to lose out on any nondeductible contributions you have made before 2021. That means the entire amount will be taxable when you begin to take withdrawals from this IRA. 

[coinmime]

Hello,

Thanks for the detailed answer. Just to be clear, right now I can check I didn't make and track nondeductible contributions. But I need to amend my returns back three years before the return I working on?

[ThomasM125]

Since the IRA contributions you made weren't designated as non-deductible, you could amend the last three years tax returns to report them as deductible and you may receive a refund  of taxes in those years. Then, you could treat the contribution made this year as deductible as well.

If you did that, you would indicate that you made no non-deductible contributions in prior years.