Roth Withdrawal question

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
February 4, 2020
3 replies
3 views

I have a Roth IRA that I funded years ago and now I took a qualified withdrawal. The fund has grown to more than double what I put in. I withdrew more than I put in, but not all of the fund. Now TurboTax wants me to enter how much of my original investment is left. It says subtract what I took out from my original investment. That would be a negative number. Should I enter $0 or a negative number? It doesn't say enter $0 if you have withdrawn more than the original investment. I'm guessing to enter $0 but I don't know what it is getting at or even why it is asking. Anybody??

macuser_22

Alumni - Champ

It is asking about your previous contributions (new money that yiu contributed yourself - not earnings) that have not been previously withdrawn . That can never be a negative number. The reason for the question is that you can always remove your own contributions both tax and penalty free.

However, if this is a qualified distribution (code Q) in box 7, or you are over age 59 1/2 then it is tax and penalty free anyway so it really does not matter what you enter or 0 or leave it blank.

TurboTax just blindly asks that question without regard to the box 7 code or your age.

**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**

sillyboat1

Level 2

I would say it is asking how much of original amount,,,,if it was $1000 original amount, then that is what you puy in the box $1000. even if you took $3000

sillyboat1

Level 2

Sorry I read it wrong ...It would be 0