topic Back Door Roth IRA in Retirement tax questions

Back Door Roth IRA

Locos1969 — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 08:59:32 GMT

Greetings. I seem to be having issues processing the "Back Door Roth IRA". I felt I did this right and it says "my income is too high" and it is treating this as an excess contribution. I pulled up the TurboTax article "How do I enter a back door Roth IRA Conversion" and I can't replicate the steps from the article. Is there a way to delete all of the information entered for this section and start from scratch? I believe earlier in the process I entered details from a 1099-R. Likewise, how do I delete all of this previously entered data to try again for this segment as well? I am open to any suggestions. Thank you.

Re: Back Door Roth IRA

AnnetteB6 — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 13:16:09 GMT

First, use the following steps to go to your Form 1099-R summary page and click the trash can icon or Delete next to any entries you have made:

On the top row of the TurboTax online screen, click on Search (or for CD/downloaded TurboTax locate the search box in the upper right corner)
This opens a box where you can type in “1099-R” and click the magnifying glass (or for CD/downloaded TurboTax, click Find)
The search results will give you an option to “Jump to 1099-R”
Click on the blue “Jump to 1099-R” link

Next, you will want to enter the information about your non-deductible contribution to a Traditional IRA. Here are those steps:

Enter “IRA contributions” in the search box located in the upper right corner of the program and initiate the search.
Your top search results will be a link to Jump to the section you need.
Check the box showing that you contributed to a Traditional IRA. Remember, that is where you initially put the money.
The next screen asks you to verify that you contributed to a Traditional IRA, choose Yes.
The next screen asks if the contribution was a repayment of a retirement distribution, choose No.
Next, enter the amount that was contributed to the Traditional IRA.
The next screen is a little tricky unless you read it carefully. It is asking if you “recharacterized” the contribution. This is different from a conversion, so the answer is No.
On the next screen (or two), there will be a question about whether you are covered by a retirement plan at work. Answer according to your situation.
Following that, there will be a question about Excess IRA Contributions. Answer this according to your situation.
Now, we’re at an important step. The question will be, were there any nondeductible contributions to the IRA. The answer here is Yes.
The next page asks for the basis of the Traditional IRA. If you have never made nondeductible contributions in the past and kept them in the IRA, your basis is zero. Otherwise, enter the amount shown as total basis on your most recently filed Form 8606.

That takes care of the first part of the process. Next, you need to take care of the conversion of the Traditional IRA to the Roth IRA. When you do this, a Form 1099-R will be issued to report the conversion. You will simply enter the information from the Form 1099-R into TurboTax using these steps:

Enter “1099-R” in the search box located in the upper right corner of the program and initiate the search.
Your top search results will be a link to Jump to the section you need.
Enter the information exactly as it appears on your Form 1099-R. Pay special attention to Box 2b, Box 7, and the IRA/SEP/SIMPLE check box. Click Continue.
The next screen is a follow-up question asking whether you inherited the IRA. Answer No.
The next screen asks what you did with the money. Answer I moved the money to another retirement account.
Then, choose I did a combination of rolling over, converting, or cashing out the money to answer the question that appears.
Then enter the amount that was converted to the Roth IRA.
Answer any remaining questions that come up.

One final note, if the Traditional IRA earned any money before it was converted to the Roth IRA, those earnings will be taxable on your return.

Re: Back Door Roth IRA

Locos1969 — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 18:36:58 GMT

Thanks for your reply AnnetteB6! Unfortunately when I hit step 7, it was not a yes or no option, only a $ amount box so I entered zero. Step 8 did not surface and it went directly to step 9 where I entered zero. Steps 10 and 11 went smoothly (yes / zero responses) however I still received the same result as before "Income too high to deduct an IRA contribution". I presume this is a default response by turbotax and will not negatively impact my return? The good news is the Federal Tax Due amount dropped after starting over and following your instructions and the 1099-R portion went smoothly as well.

Thank you very much for your assistance!

Re: Back Door Roth IRA

AnnetteB6 — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 20:41:34 GMT

Receiving a message that your income is too high to deduct your contribution is nothing to worry about as long as you indicated that you wanted to make the contribution non-deductible. It needs to be non-deductible so that when it is converted to the Roth IRA there is no tax consequence.

If you had indicated that you wanted to deduct it anyway, then you would have seen messages about it being an 'excess contribution' that needed to be withdrawn by the due date of the return.

Since your numbers changed after you went through it again, it sounds like everything is squared away now.

@Locos1969