Recharacterizing your contribution means reclassifying the contribution as if it were a traditional IRA instead of a Roth. This must be done before the due date of your return. First, contact your plan administrator and follow their guidance to make your recharacterization.
To recharacterize your Roth contribution in TurboTax, follow these steps:
- Sign in to your TurboTax account
- Open (continue) your return
- In the search bar, type IRA contributions
- Select the Jump to link in the search results
- Select Roth IRA and Continue
- Answer Yes on the screen, Did you make a Roth IRA contribution for 2021?
- Answer No on the screen, Is This a Repayment of a Retirement Distribution?
- On the next screen, enter your Roth contribution amount
- Answer Yes on the screen, Switch from a Roth To Traditional IRA?
- On the next screen, Tell Us How Much You Transferred, enter the excess contribution amount (don't include earnings or losses)
- On the screen, Roth IRA Explanation Statement, enter the original amount plus the amount of earnings or loss that were recharacterized.
- If you would like guidance for this section, select Fill in Template
Tip: After you recharacterize, you can make this contribution nondeductible (depending on your income limit and work retirement plan) by making a backdoor Roth IRA conversion.