Form 8606

[alkalust]

In previous years I have made non-deductable IRA contributions and filed Form 8606.  I no longer make non-deductable IRA contributions but wish to continue filing form 8606 so that I can keep track of my basis, however Turbotax will not allow me to do this if I am not making such a contribution in the current tax year.  Is there a work around that will allow me to do this?

[AmyC]

No, the IRS used to require that you file it each year. Now, it is only when their is a change. The IRS expects you to carry the amount from Line 14 of your last filed Form 8606 forward to Line 2 of the next one you are eventually required to file. Keep a copy of the 8606 with your permanent  financial records.

Form 8606 instructions state:

• File 2025 Form 8606 if any of the following apply.
• You made nondeductible contributions to a traditional IRA for 2025. Nondeductible contributions to a traditional IRA do not include employer contributions (including contributions made pursuant to a salary reduction arrangement) made to a SEP IRA under a SEP arrangement or to a SIMPLE IRA under a SIMPLE IRA plan.
• You received distributions from a traditional IRA in 2025; your basis in these IRAs is more than zero; and you made a repayment to an IRA of a qualified reservist distribution or a repayment of “any 2025 retirement plan distributions whose repayments are treated as rollovers” (see Definitions, later). However, you do not need to file 2025 Form 8606 if your only distributions made in 2025 were qualified birth or adoption distributions, emergency personal expense distributions, domestic abuse distributions, and/or terminal illness distributions, and you repaid them in full in 2025.
• You received distributions from a traditional IRA in 2025 and your basis in these IRAs is more than zero. For this purpose, a distribution doesn’t include a distribution that is rolled over (other than a repayment of certain 2025 retirement plan distribution repayments treated as rollovers (see Special Terms under Definitions, later)), qualified charitable distribution, one-time distribution to fund an HSA, conversion, recharacterization, or return of certain contributions.
• You or your spouse transferred all or part of their traditional IRA in 2025 to the other spouse under a divorce or separation agreement where the transfer resulted in a change in the basis of the IRA of either spouse.
• You converted an amount from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 2025.
• You received distributions from a Roth IRA in 2025 (other than a rollover, recharacterization, or return of certain contributions—see the instructions for Part III, later).
• You received a distribution from an inherited traditional IRA that has a basis, or you received a distribution from an inherited Roth IRA that wasn’t a qualified distribution. You may need to file more than one Form 8606. See IRA with basis under What if You Inherit an IRA? in Pub. 590-B for more information.

[dmertz]

Although the IRS has never required you to complete Form 8606 Part I when for years when there was no change in your basis, the instructions for this form originally only indicated when you were required to file the form.  Beginning with the 2001 Form 8606, the instructions where changed to say to complete Part I only when one of the listed requirements were met.

The instructions for Form 8606 have always said to keep a copy of any Form 8606 that you are required to file, to be used if it ever becomes necessary to verify your basis.  A Form 8606 Part I that shows nothing but an amount on lines 2 and 14 does not provide sufficient information to justify basis, so it is superfluous.