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Roth IRA excess contributions for multiple years

I have been filing as married filing separate since I was married in 2022. Prior to the marriage I had been contributing to a Roth IRA and continued until now, as I have learned it is not efficient without the backdoor conversion as this filing status makes me ineligible. I am looking for confirmation that I am filing my taxes correctly for 2024.

 

  • 2022 I paid the 6% excise tax on $4500 in contributions on the Roth IRA. I was ok with this fee at the time not knowing the full extent of the tax code.
  • 2023 I paid the 6% excise tax on the $5625 contributions and $4500 (2022) contributions ($10,125) as prompted by Turbo Tax. 

As I am filing my taxes for 2024 I have decided to break this pattern and begin investing without penalty in a different retirement account. The steps I have taken or are planning on taking are:

  • I have recharacterized all 2024 Roth contributions and one January 2025 Roth contribution as a traditional IRA ($3550).
    • This should eliminate the penalty on my 2024 contributions.
  • I am withdrawing my excess contributions from 2022 and 2023 ($10,125 exactly). Speaking with a turbo tax professional today they believe that as long as this is done before filing my taxes by the April 15 deadline I will no longer need to report the excess contributions on my 2024 return. 
    • Is this correct? Or do I still need to pay the 6% on the $10,125 of excess contributions that were in my account as of 12/31/24 on my 2024 return?
  • Unfortunately my IRA custodian has no experience with this and I want to make sure I correct this moving forward. Thank you for any advice in advance.
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12 Replies

Roth IRA excess contributions for multiple years

I am withdrawing my excess contributions from 2022 and 2023 ($10,125 exactly). "

 

This resolves your 2022,2023 excess in 2025. You still have a penalty for those years on 2024 Form 5329.

Report the resolution on your 2025 tax return.

 

"I have recharacterized all 2024 "

 

Having recharacterized before Tax Day, there is no longer a 2024  Roth contribution 

Instead report a 2024 Traditional IRA contribution.

 

Having recharacterized Jan 2025 contribution. report this on your 2025 tax return.

 

@bmo742 

Roth IRA excess contributions for multiple years

See my corrected reply above since you are taking all action in 2025.

@bmo742 

Roth IRA excess contributions for multiple years

Stop.

 

Why do you think a backdoor Roth IRA is not allowed?  When filing married filing separately, you can't deduct traditional IRA contributions but you can still make contributions up to the annual limit, and making non-deductible IRA contributions is the whole point of a backdoor Roth.  (A conversion is not the same as a contribution.)

 

2022 and 2023, you made a mistake, because you could have recharacterized the contributions as contributions to a traditional IRA.  But it is too late now. 

 

"I have recharacterized all 2024 Roth contributions and one January 2025 Roth contribution as a traditional IRA ($3550). This should eliminate the penalty on my 2024 contributions."

 

Correct.

 

"I am withdrawing my excess contributions from 2022 and 2023 ($10,125 exactly). Speaking with a turbo tax professional today they believe that as long as this is done before filing my taxes by the April 15 deadline I will no longer need to report the excess contributions on my 2024 return. "

 

Wrong.  The deadline to remove excess contributions using the special procedure to remove excess was October 15, 2023 and October 15, 2024.  Since you missed those deadlines, and the excess is still in your account, you must pay a penalty, 6% on the remaining carry-forward from 2022 and 2023.  Your 2024 return should include a form 8606 that documents the 2024 contribution of nondeductible money to a traditional IRA, and a form 5329 calculating the 6% penalty.  Save a copy of form 8606 for as long as you live, or as long as you have any money in a traditional IRA, plus three years.  (This is an exception to the usual rule that tax forms can be discarded after 3 or 6 years.)  When you withdraw from the traditional IRA in the future, you will need the form 8606 to show that since part of the IRA is after-tax (non-deductible) money, part of the withdrawal should be tax-free. 

 

In short, the $10,215 withdrawal you want to make will be reported in 2025, since it happens in 2025.  It is not eligible for the special procedure to be treated as if it happened in 2024. 

 

To avoid a penalty in 2025, you must withdraw $10,125 before December 31, 2025.  You do not have to remove the attributable earnings.  You can leave the earnings in the account to grow (the 6% penalty is supposed to offset the earnings).   Because the $10,125 is your original contributions, and because withdrawal of contributions from a Roth IRA is never taxed, this withdrawal won't be taxed at all (no tax, no penalty) as long as you have not previously made other withdrawals.  If your account is gaining in value, there is no reason not to leave the money alone until December so it can earn more.  It won't change your tax or penalties to do it in a hurry.  

 

If you have no other money in traditional (pre-tax) IRAs, you can convert the money in your traditional IRA to a Roth tax-free, except for earnings.  If you have other pre-tax money in traditional IRA accounts, then the conversion will be partly taxable, but you can still think about doing it.  

 

Roth IRA excess contributions for multiple years

Thank you for your response as it does help clarify things.

 

It is not that I do not think the backdoor Roth is not allowed, more that I am intimidated by the process and do not want to make any more tax errors moving forward. If you have any advice on how to do this with the traditional IRA funds at some point this calendar year I would appreciate it as my IRA custodian is not familiar with it, which may be a larger problem.

 

I will plan on leaving the excess 10,125 that I failed to withdraw in time in my account until December to help offset the additional 6% penalty that I will pay for my 2024 excess contributions still in the account.

 

Thanks again

Roth IRA excess contributions for multiple years

Do I report the recharacterization to the traditional IRA on my 2024 or 2025 taxes since I recharacterized in February of 2025? 

 

 

Roth IRA excess contributions for multiple years


@bmo742 wrote:

Do I report the recharacterization to the traditional IRA on my 2024 or 2025 taxes since I recharacterized in February of 2025? 

 

 


You report the recharacterization for the year the original contribution was made.  So, if you recharacterized a 2024 contribution before April 15, 2025, you report it on your 2024 return.   If you waited until after April 15, recharacterization is not allowed.  

 

You say you made contributions in both 2024 and 2025 totaling $3550.  Were the 2025 contributions made retroactive to 2024?  In that case they are all considered 2024 contributions, and you report all the recharacterizations on your 2024 return.  But if the 2025 contribution was done for the 2025 tax year, you would report the recharacterization on your 2025 return. 

 

What a recharacterization does is to treat the 2024 contribution as if it was made to a traditional IRA all along, so a 2024 contribution must be recharacterized in a "timely manner" (before the April 15, 2025 deadline) and is reported on the 2024 return. 

Roth IRA excess contributions for multiple years


@bmo742 wrote:

Thank you for your response as it does help clarify things.

 

It is not that I do not think the backdoor Roth is not allowed, more that I am intimidated by the process and do not want to make any more tax errors moving forward. If you have any advice on how to do this with the traditional IRA funds at some point this calendar year I would appreciate it as my IRA custodian is not familiar with it, which may be a larger problem.

 

 


A backdoor Roth is relatively simple as long as you have no pre-tax funds (tax deductible) in any traditional IRA.  All IRAs that you own are added together for this purpose, but you don't include pre-tax workplace plans like 401(k), 403(B) or other qualified workplace plans.    If you have some tax-deductible money in traditional IRAs, it's trickier.

 

Do you have any pre-tax funds in traditional IRAs?  (After the characterizations, you will have $3350 of after-tax funds in a traditional IRA, but what about pre-tax or deductible money?)

Roth IRA excess contributions for multiple years

I do not have any pre-tax money in the traditional IRA and I am not planning on contributing pre-tax money to it in the future.

 

Do you have an example for the explanation statement where I describe the recharacterization?

Roth IRA excess contributions for multiple years


@bmo742 wrote:

 

 

Do you have an example for the explanation statement where I describe the recharacterization?


Just say ineligible for Roth contributions. 

Roth IRA excess contributions for multiple years


@bmo742 wrote:

I do not have any pre-tax money in the traditional IRA and I am not planning on contributing pre-tax money to it in the future.

 

If you have no pre-tax money in any traditional IRA, then a Backdoor Roth is easy.

 

Step 1. Make a contribution to a traditional IRA.

Step 2. Convert it to a Roth IRA (Roth IRA conversion).  

 

You will generally want to do the conversion fairly quickly, although it may take a couple of days for the contribution to settle before you can convert it.  And you may want to hold the contribution in cash or a money market fund so it does not earn too much interest.  And lastly, you want to do the conversion as a direct rollover, where the custodian of the traditional IRA transfers the money electronically to the custodian of the Roth IRA (it can be the same bank or different banks, as long as it is a direct transfer, you don't want to be getting a check that you have to forward yourself.)

 

Step 3. On your tax return, report the contribution but don't try to take a tax deduction.  This will create a form 8606 documenting the non-deductible basis in the traditional IRA.

Step 4. You will get a 1099-R for the conversion, because it was technically a withdrawal from the traditional IRA.  Report this on your tax return as well.

 

Suppose your non-deductible basis is $3550 and the conversions was $3600 because of a small amount of interest.  The $3550 is non-deductible and the $50 is taxable income but there is no penalty for early withdrawal.  This is all reconciled and worked out on form 8606.

 

 

Roth IRA excess contributions for multiple years

when you recharacterize, an explanation is not required.

You don't have a1099-R with code "R" and you don't need to make one up.

 

Report a 2024 Traditional IRA contribution of the original amount .

@bmo742 

Roth IRA excess contributions for multiple years

Since I recharacterized the Roth to a traditional IRA in February of 2025, should I wait to report this on my 2025 taxes or report it on my 2024 tax return, as I was planning to do as I contributed to the Roth throughout 2024. I also recharacterized one January 2025 payment which I was planning on counting towards my 2024 contributions.

 

Thanks for all your help.

 

 

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