topic Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income in Retirement tax questions

Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

bhim80 — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 08:59:45 GMT

since you declare that you already paid tax, back door roth conversion amount is not taxed in massachusetts tax ; however this amount being shown still as income in the summary of tax form. would it cause any problem?

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

JohnB5677 — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 20:04:22 GMT

Please clarify what you are rolling over?

Is it an IRA to a Roth/\? or
Is it a 401-K or another qualified plan to a Roth?

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

bhim80 — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 23:29:47 GMT

Nondeductible IRAs are converted into Roth IRA with out any further tax burdens , which is called backdoor roth conversion. involves two steps: pay to non deductible IRA and then convert it into Roth IRA immediately. So, that money is converted ,( not distributed). Turbotax is showing it also as income, even though you can make turbo tax not to estimate tax on that. But, turbo tax is showing it along with other income as though it is additional income, which may cause problems with MA Revenue dept.

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

DanaB27 — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 18:26:49 GMT

During the MA state interview, you can enter the amount previously taxed on the "Taxable IRA/Keogh Distributions" screen. Enter the nondeductible contribution amount under "Other contributions previously taxed by Massachusetts"

@bhim80

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

bhim80 — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 22:37:19 GMT

That is what I precisely did; So, no tax is calculated on that amount for MA tax (non deductible IRA converted to backdoor Roth ORA). That is good ; however, in the summary at the end of the state tax return, along with W2 amounts, turbo tax shows this amount also as additional income. It implies as though, this is additional income above and over w2s, which is not the case. This is part of already tax paid income of w2. My question is, would this create a problem, as though I did not pay tax on that amount?

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

GeorgeM777 — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 03:37:06 GMT

No, it should not cause a problem assuming the funds used for the back door Roth IRA conversion were after-tax dollars that were essentially deposited into a traditional IRA for the sole purpose of funding your Roth IRA. Moreover, the TurboTax summary pages are not forwarded to the IRS. What is forwarded to the IRS is your federal return, schedules, and MA return.

To follow-up on the comments from @DanaB27, while the summary may show your back door Roth IRA conversion as additional income, what is most important is whether your MA return shows it as taxable income. It appears from your question that your MA return does not show the Roth IRA conversion as taxable income and that is what we want to see on your MA return.

@bhim80

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

bhim80 — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 02:08:24 GMT

Thank you very much. Appreciate the clarification.

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

apple-Sweet-z — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 21:09:38 GMT

Thank you all for the questions/ replies. They are very helpful.
My situation is a little different:

I have been doing Backdoor Roth conversion for a few years. Then moved to MA in 2020. I had no issue for 2020 tax return as I was “non-resident”.

I have Never taken any distribution from Roth, and basis for Traditional IRA is 0.

This is the first MA return as an “MA resident”.
under “ Taxable IRA distributions“, “other contributions previously texted by Massachusetts” - - my Roth conversion amount seems to be taxed by MA no matter I place “0” or 6000 in here.

”Total distributions received in previous years” - - I have placed the sum of previous conversions , which I believe is the distributions.

could this be the reason?

how may I avoid the double tax by MA?
Your help is much appreciated.

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

JohnB5677 — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 13:08:30 GMT

This is a different issue from what you think.

Taxable IRA distributions, “other contributions previously texted by Massachusetts" are the value of the excess contribution to your traditional IRA that you accumulated while living in Massachusetts. From above this is $6,000.

”Total distributions received in previous years” is "0" because none of those distributions were made in Massachusetts. This was the first. Again, this is from the traditional IRA.

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

supertech — Sun, 10 Apr 2022 03:18:03 GMT

This is very annoying and I have the same issue.

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

Sps1981 — Fri, 07 Apr 2023 02:13:40 GMT

To follow up on this issue, my federal returns look fine for backdoor IRA, however in my MA state return, schedule X shows this amount as taxable roth IRA distributions and when i look back state return line 9 that amount me and my wife contributed $12000 is added to line 3 which is wages and tips, salaries. So am i being taxed twice here for MA state returns?

I can't even remember how i did the taxable ira/keogh section now. I was under the impression it was automatically transferred from the federal returns and filed it.

What should i do or enter to make sure this $12000 is not being added as taxable income on the online software and how can I amend it? Please help!!

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

CYL — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 03:19:13 GMT

I found the same issue of $6000 already taxed Roth IRA conversion money being taxed by MA.

After trying a few things, I believe there is a bug in the linkage of Form1NR/PY with schedule X.

1. Schedule X has the $6000 logged as previously taxed by MA and line 7 shows "0".

2. Form 1 NR/PY line 11 does not react to any changes on schedule X. Still carries $6000 as other income.

3. side note: Form 1 NR/PY line 11 says other income from schedule X line 6. While latest from from mass.gov says line 7 which is correct.

Please advice how the $6000 can be removed without overriding the number.

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

CCZZ — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 17:17:58 GMT

Thank you @DanaB27 for your help. A follow-up question on that. Should the backdoor conversion of IRA to ROTH be also included in the "Other contributions previously taxed by Massachusetts"?

In Federal return, the conversion is differentiated from contribution. However, it looks if not included here in MA, the conversion will be double taxed by MA.

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

DanaB27 — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 17:52:23 GMT

Yes, you will enter the traditional IRA contributions that were previously taxed in MA in the "Other contributions previously taxed by Massachusetts" field.

@CCZZ

@CYL

I cannot recreate your issue. It would be helpful to have a TurboTax ".tax2022" file that is experiencing this issue. You can send us a “diagnostic” file that has your “numbers” but not your personal information. If you would like to do this, here are the instructions for TurboTax Online:

From the left menu select Tax Tools.
Then select Tools below Tax Tools.
A window will pop up which says Tools Center.
On this screen, select Share my file with Agent.
You will see a message explaining what the diagnostic copy is. Click okay through this screen and then you will get a Token number.
Reply to this thread with your Token number. This will allow us to open a copy of your return without seeing any personal information.

The instructions for TurboTax Download:

On your menu bar at the very top, click "Online"
Select "Send Tax File to Agent"
Click "Send"
The pop-up will have a token number
Reply to this thread with your Token number. This will allow us to open a copy of your return without seeing any personal information.

We will then be able to see exactly what you are seeing and we can determine what exactly is going on in your return and provide you with a resolution.

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

CYL — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 18:17:51 GMT

@DanaB27 Thanks for your kind reply and prompt actions. Token number is 1132048. Hoping to hear back before the filing deadline. Cheers.

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

DanaB27 — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 20:17:30 GMT

Thank you, I review your token. It seems you have the wrong entry on line 11 Schedule R/NR this should come from Schedule X. A workaround to be able to file would be to edit the numbers on Schedule R/NR in Form Mode to match Schedule X without needing to override anything.

@CYL

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

CYL — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 21:21:20 GMT

Thanks. @DanaB27 that's exactly what I mean. Form 1 NR/PY line 11 should match schedule x line 7, but it didn't. That's the problem I'm referring to. To change it to match, or show 0, I have to override line 11 in form mode. Cuz it's a linked data which doesn't allow me to simply change the number.

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

DanaB27 — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 12:00:30 GMT

In your case you had to use Schedule R/NR and line 11 on Form 1-NR/PY came from line 11 on Schedule R/NR. But Schedule R/NR has incorrectly $6,000 on line 11, it should be $0 (from Schedule X). Since the software won’t be corrected by the due date a workaround (to be able to file) would be to edit the numbers on Schedule R/NR in Form Mode to match Schedule X without needing to override anything on Form 1-NR/PY.

@CYL

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

CYL — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 13:57:28 GMT

@DanaB27 Thank you! I was able to modify column A and B of schedule R/NR and that did the trick to remove $ from form 1 NR/PY line 11.

Re: Massachusetts tax shows back door roth conversion as income

WesternMassOutdoors — Sun, 10 Mar 2024 16:49:12 GMT

Sorry I'm being silly here. I did a backdoor roth IRA for the maximum 2023 allowed of $6500 and I'm a full time resident of Massachusetts. On the Taxable IRA/Keogh Distributions interview page, do I enter the full "$6500" that I deposited in a Traditional IRA and performed a conversion to Roth on in the box for "Other Contributions Previously Taxed by Massachusetts" if my Traditional IRA balance is 0 and all money in now in my Roth IRA account?