Excess Roth Contribution, Recharacterization, Conversion. Phew!

mattslegacy — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 07:50:06 GMT

Doing our taxes now, we realize we make too much to contribute to a Roth IRA. I've always used backdoor conversions, but my wife made Roth contributions last year, and so it was excess.

Vanguard recommended this magic trick:

1) Recharacterize to a Traditional IRA. The IRS will view it as though it was originally Traditional to begin with. I'll file Form 5329 since this is reportable.

2) The benefit of this, over withdrawing the excess, is that there is no early withdrawal 10% penalty.

3) Now, Convert the funds to Roth. Yes, I'll pay taxes on the earnings upon converting to roth, but I would have paid taxes on them had I withdrawn the excess funds. File from 8606.

Thoughts?

Re: Excess Roth Contribution, Recharacterization, Conversion. Phew!

DaveF1006 — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 01:39:45 GMT

It would be better to return the excess contribution by April 18 and then report it in the following manner. The IRS says If you exceed the 2021 IRA contribution limit, you may withdraw excess contributions from your account by the due date of your tax return (including extensions). Otherwise, you must pay a 6% tax each year on the excess amounts left in your account.

If you withdraw the excess contribution in 2021 and you have not yet filed your tax return, you can report the withdrawal so you are not charged the 6% penalty for 2021.

To report the withdrawal you create a substitute 1099-R

You would enter the 1099-R with the total distribution in box 1 (the contribution plus the earnings),
The earnings in box 2a,
Enter code "P" in box 7
Enter code "J" in box 7 (Bottom).

You may receive a 1099R next year reporting the return of your contribution. you won't need need to report that 1099R since you have already reported it this year.

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Excess Roth Contribution, Recharacterization, Conversion. Phew!

Re: Excess Roth Contribution, Recharacterization, Conversion. Phew!