How do I defer interest income that went straight to a retirement account?

[VolvoGirl]

Please explain more.  Where did the interest income come from?  How did it get into the retirement account?  Did you use the interest to make a new IRA contribution?  

[NCperson]

@htpprldy - also explain whether you receive a form from your financial insitution related to this interest.  What form was it?

or did you not receive a form, but you know there is interest, so you are thinking it needs to be added into turbo tax?  my point is if you received an interest credit for your money that is sitting inside an IRA (whether Trad or Roth - doesn't matter), there should be no tax form from the financial institution and there is no reporting on the tax return.  That is not taxable income. 

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

If you received interest from an investment that is already inside a qualified retirement account, it's not taxable.  You don't pay any tax on qualified retirement plans until you withdraw money, which is taxable at that time.

If you received interest income from an investment that is outside a qualified plan, that interest is taxable when paid, no matter what you do with the money after.