topic If I made a Traditional IRA contribution in 2018 and recharacterized it to a Roth IRA in 2019, do I need to amend my 2018 return? in Retirement tax questions

If I made a Traditional IRA contribution in 2018 and recharacterized it to a Roth IRA in 2019, do I need to amend my 2018 return?

brad-roebke — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 19:40:09 GMT

My 2018 IRA contribution worksheets show the entire $2,500 Trad IRA contribution as being recharacterized to Roth, so I did not take a deduction. But for 2019 my IRA provider gave me a 1099-R which shows $2,420 (due to market fluctuations) being recharacterized to the Roth. When I upload this 1099-R, TurboTax says I may need to amend my 2018 return.

Re: If I made a Traditional IRA contribution in 2018 and recharacterized it to a Roth IRA in 2019...

SusanY1 — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 21:24:11 GMT

You will need to amend your 2018 tax return if you deducted the Traditional IRA contribution on your tax return.

If you deducted your contribution in 2018, you would see this deduction on Schedule 1, Line 32.

Re: If I made a Traditional IRA contribution in 2018 and recharacterized it to a Roth IRA in 2019, do I need to amend my 2018 return?

dmertz — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 21:31:22 GMT

No, you do not need to amend your 2018 tax return since it already reflects the recharacterization. TurboTax's message is only a reminder to those whose 2018 tax return does not already reflect the recharacterization, perhaps because they did the recharacterization after filing.