Bug: TurboTax Deluxe 2025 regarding form 5498

[taitcyrus]

TurboTax has a page with the following on it:

vvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Traditional IRAs

Enter the total value of all of your traditional IRA, SEP, and SIMPLE IRA accounts on December 31, 2025. This information is sent by mail on Form 5498. Do not include Roth IRAs.

^^^^^^^^^^^

which is VERY unclear. I did not receive form 5498 so I called the company managing my IRA and they said that form 5498 is ONLY for "contributions" made to an IRA during 2025 (Googling confirms this). Since I'd not made any contributions, I received no form.

The phrasing of the above in TurboTax implies that what is wanted is the current valuation of my IRA at the end of 2025 (how much was my IRA worth at the end of 2025) which has nothing to do with form 5498. So I've put in $0 as my answer, but I'd recommend that the phrasing in TurboTax on this page but updated to mention 'contribution in 2025' to make it crystal clear that the questions about 'contributions' to or changes to my IRA

[baldietax]

Commonly this is being asked for Form 8606 related to IRA distributions or Roth conversions etc, this value is required by Form 8606 line 6 to calculate the correct tax if you have a basis in the IRA and the pro rata calculation applies.  The verbiage from TT is misleading - as you say 5498s are usually sent out in May (and would provide year-end MV), instead you should use your year-end brokerage statements as per 8606 instructions below.  I'm not sure if this question is asked elsewhere but if so there will likely be similar IRS instructions.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8606.pdf

Line 6

Enter the total value of all your traditional IRAs as of

December 31, 2025, plus any outstanding rollovers. A

statement should be sent to you by January 31, 2026,

showing the value of each IRA on December 31, 2025. (etc)

[AnnetteB6]

Entering zero for the current value of your Traditional IRA, SEP, and SIMPLE accounts could lead to an incorrect tax calculation.  You should use your year-end account statements to provide accurate information in your tax return.  

@taitcyrus 

[taitcyrus]

Thank you for the info. I dug into the actual underlying forms and found that somehow TT thought I had a basis in my IRA and this caused TT to ask the question. Since I don't have a basis in my IRA (ROTH yes, but not my traditional IRA) I replaced it with zero (0) and then TT no longer prompted me with the question. 

This question is still confusing since form 5498 gets mailed out in May, 1 month AFTER federal taxes are due. So how can TT ask for a form I can't have? So something still seems broken regarding this, but I did resolve my specific issue.

[dmertz]

Although the year-end value of the IRA is required to be present on Form 5498, it's misleading of TurboTax to only suggest that you can find the value there when preparing your tax return since you are likely preparing your tax return before the deadline for issuing Forms 5498.  As an alternate source of this value, TurboTax should also be directing you to the year-end statement which the IRA custodian is required to provide for your IRA.