I need help determining the Prior Year Roth IRA Contributions. My Roth IRA is over 30 years old, had roll-overs and contributions over years, but don't have 30 yr records

[oliver10]

I rolled over an IRA to my ROTH, then contributed a bit. Then I earned too much and contributed to a regular IRA Stopped working 13 years ago, and made sporadic contributions. I don't have 30 years of tax or other records

[dmertz · Accepted solution]

Your Roth IRA can't be 30 years old since Roth IRAs were not available before 1998.  Still, I'll assume that your first Roth IRA contribution was made before 2020.

If you were over age 59½ in 2024, there is no real need to know your basis in Roth IRA contributions and conversions because any distribution from your  Roth IRAs would be qualified distributions and Part III of Form 8606 should not be prepared.

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

If you are under age 59-1/2, no one has those records but you, or maybe your broker (the IRA custodian).  The IRS does not keep those records more than 10 years.  The tax law says that you are not entitled to any tax break you can't prove, such as tax-free Roth withdrawals.  If you are audited and can't prove your contributions, the IRS gets to decide what is taxable.

However, if over age 59-1/2, you should not need to know your contributions, since all your withdrawals are tax-free at this point. 

[AnneTheJammer1980]

How are you supposed to answer the TurboTax (desktop) questions about the amounts of past contributions? I took a Roth distribution in 2024 at age 66, so a qualified distribution.  I don't need to qualify for the Savers Credit, just want to record the distribution and move on.

[DanaB27]

If you took a Qualified Distribution your Form 1099-R should have code T or Q. You can skip the question about the net contributions prior to 2024.

@AnneTheJammer1980