TT 2025 wanting Roth contribution history

[noralb]

In reference to TT 2025 asking for Roth contribution history: What am I missing? It's my understanding that one a Roth owner is older than 59 1/2 and their Roth account has been in existence for at least five years,  there are no tax penalties no matter what one does with the account. If this is true, it seems a huge waste of time and resources to ask some to spend time (perhaps days) trying to recover history that isn't really necessary. It seems to me that it would be a lot easier and more efficient to just verify the age of Roth account and the age of the owner. 

[MaryK4 · Accepted solution]

If you are over 59 ½ and have met the 5-year rule, your distributions are "qualified," meaning they are tax-free and penalty-free. However, TurboTax asks for your contribution history (your "basis") for two specific reasons:

Often, financial institutions issue a Form 1099-R with Code J (Early distribution from a Roth) or Code T (Roth distribution, exception applies) because they don't know for certain if you've met the 5-year holding period. When TurboTax sees these codes, it triggers Form 8606 to prove to the IRS that the money isn't taxable. To fill out that form correctly, TurboTax asks for your history.

The IRS requires you to keep track of your "basis" (the money you put in) until your account is fully depleted. Even if you're in the "clear" today, TurboTax maintains this history so that if you ever take out more than the account's total value or if the rules change, the record exists.
 

[noralb]

I had a code "Q" on my statement whatever that means. In the meantime I have decided to get an extension and use the desktop version of TT which I have been using for years (decades??). I'm not comfortable with the online version. Only issue is I have to now get a computer that will handle Windows 11 because my current computer won't upgrade to Win 11.