We've contributed to Roth IRAs for a long time, but this year TT is telling me I've made excess contributions because we didn't have enough Earned Income. I am retired, have a pension, but didn't do any freelance work in past year, so the only W2- or 1099NEC-reported income (Earned Income, I suppose) is her part-time employment. That was less than $16K for the year. Is that the crux of this? And, if so, should I just pay the IRS penalty or pull the "excess" back out of my IRA?
I know I should've run into this three months ago so I'd have plenty of time to rectify, but I have very little confidence that Victory Cap. isn't going to screw this up if/when I do call them to fix/reverse the excess contributions to my IRA.
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You can't contribute more than your total compensation. Total compensation is net income from self employment (minus the deductible portion of self employment tax) and for w-2 employees is box 1 wages minus box 11 contributions to non-qualified plans.
Assuming you contributed to normal maximum to your IRAs, including the spousal IRA provision, of $16,000 for 2024, but your compensation is less, you have an excess contribution. You need to remove the excess contribution by April 15, or by October 15 but you need to get an extension to file. The excess can be removed from either your account or your spouse or a combination of both. "Removal of excess contributions" is a special procedure, not a normal withdrawal. The custodian must also return an earnings attributed to the excess contributions. Those earnings are taxable income on your 2024 return even though they will be paid in 2025. To report the earnings, you will create a substitute 1099-R using the name and address of the IRA. Put the total withdrawal in box 1, the taxable earnings in box 2a, and use codes "P" and "J" in box 7.
If you really think the plan will screw this up (they shouldn't, it is very common), on alternative is to leave the excess contributions in the account, you will pay a 6% penalty on the excess. Then, make a regular withdrawal in 2025 of at least the amount of the excess. This will remove the "excess" from the account. The withdrawal will not be taxable on your 2025 return, for various reasons, but you will get a 1099-R and you have to report it, so it clears the penalty on form 5329. You don't need to withdraw earnings in that case, that was what the 6% penalty on your 2024 return was for.
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