What should we put for our net regular contributions if we closed out Roth IRA and never contributed anything, just rolled over a Roth 401K at the start?

[taylorfam1]

We rolled over a Roth 401K into a Roth IRA and never made any contributions, so the question asking for net regular contributions is confusing us.

[fanfare]

Net contributions is your total contributions to Roth over all time less what you may have taken out.

You can take those out without early withdrawal penalty.

contributions come out first then earnings.

TurboTax tries to track those numbers for you.

@taylorfam1 

[dmertz]

If your distribution from the Roth 401(k) would not have been a qualified distribution if not rolled over, your basis in Roth IRA contributions is the same as your basis in Roth 401(k) contributions.  If the distribution from the Roth 401(k) would have been a qualified distribution if not rolled over, the entire amount rolled over became your basis in Roth IRA contributions.  Box 5 of the Form 1099-R that reported the rollover from the Roth 401(k) should show the amount of contribution basis your Roth IRA received.

[GlenA1]

I agree that this is totally confusing. I think that this question should NOT be asked in many (or most) circumstances. That is, if you had the Roth IRA for over 5 years and you are 59 1/2 years or older, and none of the money in the account came from a CONVERSION, the distributions are NOT taxable. See IRS Publication 590-B. I have no idea what number to put in response to the TT prompt to "Enter Prior Year Roth IRA Contributions" ; "Roth IRA contributions prior to 2022".  Can someone from TT answer this please?

[dmertz]

"That is, if you had the Roth IRA for over 5 years and you are 59 1/2 years or older, and none of the money in the account came from a CONVERSION, the distributions are NOT taxable."

If you had a Roth IRA more than 5 years and you are under age 59½, it doesn't matter how much of the money came from conversions.  Distributions are not taxable anyway.

[GlenA1]

and that is EXACTLY the point! TurboTax knows my age, and already determined that there were no conversions (From a previous question). So, why in the world is the question even posed then? You HAVE to answer the question and put in a number. One is forced to make up some kind of number to satisfy TT and be allowed to continue. Also note, that if you switch to the forms view, TT calculates and provides a carryover amount for next year based on your made-up entry.  So, you will be revisiting this made-up number  I suppose ad infitum, until your run out of money in the Roth IRA, or Turbo Tax THINKS that you did if you did not enter a large enough number.

So, in summary, the question should NOT be asked in most cases and one should not HAVE to make up a figure to continue. I suspect that the made-up number may come back to bite me.

[dmertz]

The reason for the question even under these circumstances is that the information is also used to determine if there is unrecoverable basis due to investment losses.  (The potential deduction for unrecoverable basis has been suspended for tax years 2018 through 2025, but it still makes sense to use TurboTax to track this information for the future when such deduction is reinstated.)