My accountant reported my backdoor Roth conversion of my ND IRA to my Roth IRA on lines 5a of my 1040s for the last 3 years instead of line 4a how do I do this in TT app

[bosox5555]

When I enter my 1099-R, TurboTax app asks if I made and kept track of any nondeductible contributions to your traditional IRA from 2023 or prior years. All of my contributions were non-deductible (after tax). But I do not have an prior year Form 8606s. Presumably because my accountant reported it on line 5a (pensions and annuities) instead of line 4a (IRA distributions). Reading online that 5a is for mega backdoor Roth conversions not requiring Form 8606 and 4a is for regular backdoor Roth conversions requiring Form 8606. Also reading online that you can't use the same account for both though I'm not sure if that is true? If true, does this mean I have to continue to report it on line 5a like the accountant did? If so, how to I go about doing that in the TT app? Right now after I enter the 1099-R it just forces me to answer the above question and asks for information regarding Form 8606, and the result is to tax my entire conversion which is obviously not the intended result. Please help!

[bosox5555]

Additional information: there is no $ amount list in box 5 of my 1099-R.

[dmertz · Accepted solution]

Your accountant filed incorrect tax returns for you if your distributions were truly from an IRA rather than an employer plan (401(k), 403(b), 457(b) or the federal TSP).  Roth conversions from an IRA are required to be reported on Form 8606 Part II and on Form 1040 lines 4a/4b.  The aforementioned employer plans are not IRAs.

Check your prior year Forms 1099-R.  If they do not have the IRA/SEP/SIMPLE box marked, the distributions were apparently from an after-tax account in an employer plan (a so-called mega-backdoor Roth), not from an IRA.  However, it seems like the 2024 Form 1099-R that you are dealing with does have the IRA/SEP/SIMPLE box marked if TurboTax is involving Form 8606.

[bosox5555]

All of the returns including 2014 have the IRA/SEP/SIMPLE box checked in box 7 (with a distribution code of 2).  If you could explain why that matter, I would greatly appreciate it!

[bosox5555]

typo *2024

[dmertz]

In that case, the accountant indeed filed incorrect tax returns that will need to be amended to move the Roth conversions from lines 5a/5b to 4a/5b and to add Forms 8606 Parts I and II.