topic 8606 - Roth Recharacterization followed by Backdoor in Retirement tax questions

8606 - Roth Recharacterization followed by Backdoor

legalto — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 13:30:10 GMT

Would appreciate some help with understanding my 8606 in this situation. Thank you in advance.

To summarize:

Contributed $4200 to Roth IRA in 2025
Realized would be over income for direct Roth contribution, so I recharacterized Roth to Trad ($4410.63, $210.63 from growth).
Contributed remaining $2800 to TRAD to hit IRS limit of $7000 for 2025.
Backdoor Roth converted full amount ($7304.45 at the time).

When I look at my 8606 generated by turbo tax on line 1: "Enter your nondeductible contributions to traditional IRAs for 2025, including those made for 2025 from January 1, 2026, through April 15, 2026. See instructions".

I see a total of $11,441. This seems like it's adding my recharacterization amount 4.4k to the 7k I converted. In total I've only contributed 7k this year, so I would expect a number around this range. Is this correct value that should be in this field?

In addition, on line 14 (your total basis in trad iras for 2025 and earlier years) I see a basis of $4107. Shouldn't this be 0? I no longer have any money in my traditional ira.

Re: 8606 - Roth Recharacterization followed by Backdoor

baldietax — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 22:07:14 GMT

seems like an issue with the contribution inputs I'm guessing you input 7k as the Trad IRA contribution but you just give 2800, it should not include Roth contributions that were recharacterized); and then input the 4200 Roth Contribution and recharacterization details

(once line 1 is fixed you should get the right outcome on line 14).

Re: 8606 - Roth Recharacterization followed by Backdoor

DanaB27 — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 15:22:29 GMT

Please check your IRA contribution entries as badietax mentioned.

Please see the following steps:

Login to your TurboTax Account
Click on "Search" on the top right and type “IRA contributions”
Click on “Jump to IRA contributions"
Select "Traditional IRA" and “Roth IRA”
Enter $2,800 for the Traditional IRA contribution
Answer ‘Yes” on the “Roth IRA Contribution” screen
Answer “No” to “Is This a Repayment of a Retirement Distribution
Enter the Roth contribution amount of $4,200
Answer “Yes” to the recharacterized question on the “Did you recharacterize any of the Roth IRA contributions for 2025 over to a traditional IRA contribution?” screen and enter the contribution amount (no earnings or losses) of $4,200 on the next screen.
TurboTax will ask for additional information for the explanation statement
On the screen "You have deductible traditional IRA contributions of $XXX" enter the amount you want to make nondeductible (If you have a retirement plan at work and are over the income limit it will be nondeductible automatically)

Please see How do I enter a backdoor Roth IRA conversion? for additional information.