How do I properly report my backdoor roth IRA contribution on tax return for 2025 if I made both the contribution and conversion in 2026 (before 4/15/26)?

[huangwsn]

There is $0 in my traditional IRA at start of 2025 and I made both the $7000 non-deductible contribution and converted all of it to my Roth in 2026. I tried following the instructions on this link for desktop version: https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/retirement-benefits/enter-backdoor-roth-...; however, I did not come across a question about non-deductible contributions made in 2025. Turbotax only asks if I made non-deductible contributions in 2024 and what my basis was that year (not applicable in my case as my IRA accounts weren't set up until 2025). 

I also noted I would not receive a 1099-R for this contribution until early 2027 as the conversion was done in 2026 instead of 2025. I just want to make sure I'm correctly reflecting the conversion on my tax return for 2025. Please assist! Thank you. 

[baldietax]

contributions can be back dated to prior tax year before 4/15 but conversions do not, so you would report the contribution on your 2025 taxes and the conversion on your 2026 taxes when you get the 1099-R next year.

in the help article all you need to do is the first step to record the non-deductible contribution

the question about 2025 contribution should come early in the Traditional IRA section so go back through that section.  After that you will get a question whether you had a basis carryover from 2024 which sounds like No for you.  You may be asked to elect how much was non-deductible, unless you don't quality for deductible contributions in which case it will assume it's all non-deductible.

check your Form 8606 outcome it should show $7000 on lines 1 and 14, this basis will carry forward to your 2026 Form 8606 Line 2 when you report the conversion next year.

[huangwsn]

Thanks for the reply! To confirm, does that mean I would only reflect the traditional IRA contribution event in my 2025 tax return? And will subsequently reflect the backdoor roth conversion done for 2025 tax year (but conversion made in 2026) in 2026 tax return? If so, how would I enter this event next year in Turbotax? Thanks in advance.

[baldietax]

It helps to always think of "Backdoor Roth" as just a snazzy nickname for the 2 separate transactions which could be different amounts or occur in different tax years - (1) the non-deductible contribution which can be backdated to prior tax year (and is limited by the IRS); (2) a Roth conversion which is reported in calendar year it occurs (and is only limited by the balance in your Trad IRA).

Next year when you get a 1099-R you would enter that according to the backdoor instructions (step 2) and identify it as a Roth conversion and you will be asked to confirm the $7000 basis carryover from 2025 which will be reflected on Line 2 of Form 8606 and applied against the conversion to result in no tax.

If you do another contribution for 2026 you would enter that in the IRA section also.  Form 8606 will keep track of how much you contributed, how much you converted (from 1099-R), what is taxable if anything, and what basis to carryover.  It's worth becoming familiar with Form 8606 to help check the outcome of the process in your return.

[MinhT1]

Yes You're correct.

Report the nondeductible IRA contribution in 2025. This will trigger form 8606.

Then in 2026, you will receive a form 1099-R for the backdoor conversion (in early 2027) and you'll enter that form 1099-R to report it.

[cgmcnal]

Piggy backing off this as I made my 2025 contribution in 2026 and also converted it in 2026.  It sounds like I submit my contribution for 2025 through TurboTax but then don't enter the conversion into TurboTax until I do my 2026 taxes.

The problem is - Turbotax is acting like my contribution to my IRA was a taxable event because it is "non-deductable."  The $7,000.00 contribution was made with post-tax dollars so why would I pay tax on it again?

Thanks for the help!