topic I followed the steps on turbotax doc for backdoor roth conversion and fed refund is good (no extra taxes). Why is my MA state refund going down when I enter my 1099-R? in Retirement tax questions

I followed the steps on turbotax doc for backdoor roth conversion and fed refund is good (no extra taxes). Why is my MA state refund going down when I enter my 1099-R?

abhishek-bharadw — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 14:30:32 GMT

I did a backdoor roth conversion in 2020. I immediately converted it and had no other traditional IRAs so technically there should not be any tax liability. I entered 1099-R in turbotax as per the instructions. Federal refund did not get affected which is what I had expected but MA state refund is going down by a couple of hundred dollars. Cannot understand why. Please help!!!

Re: I followed the steps on turbotax doc for backdoor roth conversion and fed refund is good (no ...

ReneeM7122 — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 16:30:44 GMT

The reason why your federal refund is not affected by the backdoor Roth conversion but your state is depends on the state in which you live. Some states make things complicated by abandoning or modifying the federal income tax rules for IRA contributions. Most states impose a state income tax, as is known. However, some states actually do not follow the federal income tax rules for IRA deductions. Instead, no IRA deduction is allowed at the state level.

Re: I followed the steps on turbotax doc for backdoor roth conversion and fed refund is good (no extra taxes). Why is my MA state refund going down when I enter my 1099-R?

Kermit Smith — Sun, 16 May 2021 17:32:47 GMT

I am having the same problem. There is a spot on the MA form questioning what the "Other Contributions Previously Taxed by Massachusetts" is.

I went through the steps for the backdoor contribution (https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/entering-importing/help/how-do-i-enter-a-backdoor-roth-ira-conversion/00/25567) and once I entered the contribution to the traditional IRA, the Federal form removed the taxes as expected. MA did not. The backdoor Roth conversion is more straight forward without having a previous traditional IRA from previous years as there would be a prorated conversion. I had no prior traditional IRA and the federal form is good. I then did the above step after regoing through the MA form questions.

Re: I followed the steps on turbotax doc for backdoor roth conversion and fed refund is good (no ...

Kermit Smith — Sun, 16 May 2021 17:34:30 GMT

Massachusetts is following the Federal tax rules.