topic I'm 61 years old, why does turbotax need to know my cumulative contributions to my roth IRA? in Retirement tax questions

I'm 61 years old, why does turbotax need to know my cumulative contributions to my roth IRA?

jeffschmitz — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 20:30:59 GMT

Re: I'm 61 years old, why does turbotax need to know my cumulative contributions to my roth IRA?

KrisD15 — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 20:48:15 GMT

TurboTax is asking in order to have the numbers needed "in case" you were to over-contribute in the future.

The amount of your contributions would then be needed to calculate the amount of earnings that would need to be claimed when a correction was made.

Re: I'm 61 years old, why does turbotax need to know my cumulative contributions to my roth IRA?

jeffschmitz — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 22:01:03 GMT

Thanks.

I've held this roth for close to 30 years, I don't think there's anyway I could come up with that number. Do contributions include conversions?

Re: I'm 61 years old, why does turbotax need to know my cumulative contributions to my roth IRA?

MonikaK1 — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 02:25:34 GMT

No, Roth contributions do not include conversions. Roth contributions and conversions are treated as distinct, separate transactions with different rules. Contributions are limited by annual income/amount caps, while conversions involve moving pre-tax money to a Roth account, which is not subject to annual contribution limits.

TurboTax requires your cumulative Roth IRA contributions to track your "basis" (the total amount of after-tax money put in) to determine if any current-year, non-qualified withdrawals are subject to taxes or penalties. It also helps identify excess contributions, which can incur a 6% penalty if not corrected.

See this TurboTax blog article for more information about Roth IRA withdrawal rules and penalties.