Reporting Roth contributions to Individual 401k

[zncu]

The Elective Deferral portion of an Individual (not Roth!) 401k can be funded with Roth contributions. It looks like there is no way to specify this in the Individual 401k section of Turbotax. Any amount entered in the Elective Deferrals box is treated as regular pre-tax contribution.

This answer says that contributions to Roth IRA/Roth 401k are not reported on the tax return. Is this true with Roth contributions to an Individual 401k as well?

And if I want to make a blended contribution, e.g., out of the $19,500 Elective Deferral limit, I want to make a $5,000 traditional contribution and a $10,000 Roth contribution, then I should enter the $5,000 as the Elective Deferral and that's it, correct?

[dmertz · Accepted solution]

TurboTax's labeling of the entry boxes is misleading.  Roth contributions are not a deferral of income, so TurboTax's labeling of the Roth 401(k) regular contribution box as "Elective Deferrals" is misleading.  It should be labeled "Regular Contributions."  The labeling of the first section as "Individual 401(k)" is also misleading.  This section is for pre-tax contributions only (true elective deferrals and employer contributions).  The section labeled Roth 401(k) is for any contributions to the designated Roth account in the individual 401(k).

What TurboTax means when it says that is that Roth contributions to the individual 401(k) are not reported on your tax return is that they are not deductible as a self-employed retirement deduction on Schedule 1 line 15, the only place on your tax return the reports anything about your contributions to the individual 401(k).

If you made a $5,000 elective deferral and a $10,000 Roth contribution, $5,000 goes in the "Individual 401(k)" "Elective Deferral" box and $10,000 goes in the "Roth 401(k)" "Elective Deferral" box.  The $10,000 must be entered to allow TurboTax to determine if the the $15,000 total exceeds your net earnings.

[zncu]

Thank you for the detailed reply @dmertz, there's no way I'd have interpreted this correctly otherwise. Glad I asked!