Did you change your mind?

[sesayse92]

I am trying to make a non-deductible contribution for a backdoor roth IRA. 

The situation is like this.

My husband and I got married in 2024. 

Before we got married, I contributed directly to a ROTH IRA because my income was lower than the limit. 

My husband did the backdoor conversion because of his higher income and he got his 1099-R from his brokerage for 2024. 

Our combined income for 2024 exceeds the limit for a direct roth contribution.

After getting married in 2024, I forgot to do a conversion out of Roth to a traditional and then back into Roth.

I called my brokerage in 2025 and was able to move my 2024 roth into a traditional IRA back into ROTH again through a conversion.

Does my brokerage need to provide a 1099-R?

Also when I try to enter the non-deductible contribution in turbotax desktop, it doesn't ask me the question for Did you change your mind in number 9 of step 1. 

What do I do?? 

Step 1: Enter the Non-Deductible Contribution to a Traditional IRA

1. Sign in to your TurboTax account.
2. Open or continue to your return if it’s not already open.
3. Select the Federal Taxes tab (this is Personal Info in TurboTax Home & Business), then Deductions & Credits.
4. Select I'll choose what I work on.
   • On the list of sections, locate Retirement & Investments.
   • Then select Start or Update next to Traditional & Roth IRA Contributions.
5. Check the box for Traditional IRA and Continue.
6. Answer Yes to Did you contribute to a traditional IRA?
7. Answer No to Is This a Repayment of a Retirement Distribution?
8. On the Tell Us How Much You Contributed screen, enter the amount contributed and Continue.
9. Answer No on the screen Did You Change Your Mind?, then answer the questions on the following screens.
10. When you reach the Choose Not to Deduct IRA Contributions screen, select Yes, make part of my IRA contribution nondeductible, enter the amount you contributed, then select Continue.
    • Note: If none of your contribution can be deducted, you will not see the option to make part of it nondeductible. Instead, you will see the message Income Too High To Deduct an IRA Contribution, and the full amount of your contribution will automatically be nondeductible.

[DanaB27]

Your husband will have to enter the Traditional IRA contribution with the steps you mentioned. If you get "Tell us How much you Transferred" Instead of "Did you change your mind" then leave this blank since your husband did not make a recharacterization.

You will have to enter a recharacterization from Roth IRA to Traditional IRA, therefore you need to select "Roth IRA" in the IRA contribution interview:

1. Click on "Search" on the top right and type “IRA contributions” 
2. Click on “Jump to IRA contributions"
3. Select “Roth IRA”
4. Answer ‘Yes” on the “Roth IRA Contribution” screen
5. Answer “No” to “Is This a Repayment of a Retirement Distribution
6. Enter the Roth contribution amount 
7. Answer “Yes” to the recharacterized question on the “Switch from a Roth To a Traditional IRA?” screen and enter the contribution amount (no earnings or losses) on the next screen.
8. TurboTax will ask for an explanation statement where it should be stated that the original $xxx.xx plus $xxx.xx earnings (or loss) were recharacterized.
9. On the screen "Choose Not to Deduct IRA Contributions" answer "Yes" since you doing a backdoor Roth. If you have a retirement plan at work and are over the income limit it will be nondeductible automatically and you only get a warning and then a screen saying $0 is deductible.

You will get a 2025 Form 1099-R  for the recharacterization with code R-Recharacterized IRA contribution made for 2024 and this belongs on the 2024 return. But a Form 1099-R with code R will change nothing on your return. You can only report it as mentioned above. Therefore, you can ignore the Form 1099-R with code R when you get it in 2026.

[sesayse92]

My original ROTH IRA contribution was $4,400 in 2024. 

When I recharacterized from ROTH to Traditional IRA it was $4,127 on 4/4/25. 

I waited until 4/10/25 following the brokerage adviser's direction to convert to ROTH IRA, and the amount had increased to $4,275. likely due to the trump tariff volatility. 

What am I supposed to write in the explanation?.. 

[DanaB27]

You will enter "The original $4,400 minus $273 loss were recharacterized" for the explanation statement.  You will enter $4,400 as recharacterized/transferred to Traditional IRA. 

[sesayse92]

I followed all the steps but it still says I owe a penalty. 

What am I doing wrong? 

The previous years before I was married, I had roth IRA because my income was below the limit. 

[sesayse92]

After the explanation statement step. 

It asks: Did you open a roth ira before 2024? 

Yes because my income allowed me to contribute directly 

Let us track your Roth IRA basis? Yes/no? 

Do you have any excess contributions? (No) 

Tell us the value of XX's Roth IRA. 

Why is it asking my roth ira value? 

On one page it says, You currently have a penalty 

6% penalty every year that the excess money remains in the IRA. 

There is a box for contribution withdrawn before due date of your return. 

What should I put here? 

I originally put $4400 in roth, 

had to recharacterize it. The value went down to 4128 when I took it out of roth ira to regular ira. 

when I put transferred back to roth, it was 4257. 

[DanaB27]

It might be best if I can take a look at your return.  You can send us a “diagnostic” file that has your “numbers” but not your personal information. If you would like to do this, here are the instructions for TurboTax Online: 

1. From the left menu select Tax Tools. 
2. Then select Tools below Tax Tools. 
3. A window will pop up which says Tools Center.  
4. On this screen, select Share my file with Agent. 
5. You will see a message explaining what the diagnostic copy is. Click okay through this screen and then you will get a Token number. 
6. Reply to this thread with your Token number and add @DanaB27 . This will allow us to open a copy of your return without seeing any personal information.  

The instructions for TurboTax Download: 

1. On your menu bar at the very top, click "Online"
2. Select "Send Tax File to Agent"  
3. Click "Send"
4. The pop-up will have a token number
5. Reply to this thread with your Token number and add @DanaB27 . This will allow us to open a copy of your return without seeing any personal information.  

We will then be able to see exactly what you are seeing and we can determine what exactly is going on in your return and provide you with a resolution.

[sesayse92]

Here is the ticket number

469711

399648

5955

75676517

I have it in multiple lines because the reply automatically removes the code bc it thinks it is HTML

@DanaB27

[phone number removed][phone number removed]7

[DanaB27]

Thank you. I reviewed your return. You need to edit the entry on the "Tell Us How Much You Transferred" screen. Here you need to enter the contribution amount of $4,400, you ignore any gains or losses. You recharacterized the 4,400 contribution with a loss.