Question about excess Roth IRA contribution

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
March 27, 2022
2 replies
24 views

Someone contributed $8100 to their Roth IRA (they are over 50 years of age). They now discovered that the max was $7000. I have read that the excess (plus what the excess earned) can be recharacterized to a Traditional IRA without incurring any penalty (as long as it is done by April 15 of this year). Is this true? TurboTax's help for this says that the $7000 is a max for Traditional and Roth IRA's combined. The other article said that was not the case. I'm, not sure what to believe. Any information along these lines would be greatly appreciated. THANKS!

Mike9241

Level 15

IRC 408A(c)(1) the combined limit for contributions to traditional and Roth IRAs is the lesser of $6.000 plus $1,000 if 50 or older at the end of the year

perhaps provide a link to the other article

Mike9241

dmertz

Level 15

As Mike9241 said, the contribution limit for someone over 50 is $7,000 for traditional and Roth IRA contributions combined. TurboTax enforces this limit.

If the combined contributions exceed the limit, the excess if deemed first to be in the Roth IRA. Recharacterization would still leave this person with an excess contribution of $1,100. For example, if $1,100 of the $8,100 Roth IRA contribution was recharacterized to be a traditional IRA contribution instead, the individual would still have an excess Roth IRA contribution of $1,100.

Correcting the excess for 2021 requires obtaining an explicit return of contribution of $1,100 of the 2021 contribution.