Your question is confusing. Most workplace retirement plans are not IRAs, it might be a 401(k) or a 403(b) or even another kind of plan, but it is not an IRA. This is important, because different types of plans are controlled by different sections of the tax laws and have different rules. If you have a qualified workplace plan, it is only reported on your W-2 and it is not an IRA, so you don’t report it in the IRA section.
I have seen a couple of questions from taxpayers who were contributing to an IRA through their workplace. This is unusual, and seems to be a workaround when the employer does not want to go to the trouble of creating a qualified 401(k) plan. But in this case, the IRA contribution can’t be subtracted from your W-2 gross wages. What is happening, is that you have opened a private IRA, and then your employer is sending some of your pay to the IRA as a payroll deduction in the same way that you could split your paycheck between a checking account and a savings account. Because you take the tax deduction for this kind of arrangement on your tax return in the IRA section, your W-2 gross wages can’t be adjusted.
If this is a qualified workplace plan, your W-2 gross wages have been adjusted already, and the amount of your workplace contributions are listed in box 12 of the W-2 with a certain letter code depending on the type of plan. You do not also enter this plan in the IRA section.
If you think you have one of these unusual arrangements where your employer splits your paycheck between your checking account anda private IRA, and you do not have any retirement contributions listed in Box 12, you can list the IRA contributions on your tax return, but you need to be 100% certain this is what you are doing. If you list your qualified workplace plan in the IRA section, you will be double dipping, and the IRS will assess back taxes and a penalty once they catch up.
