I have been doing the backdoor Roth IRA for a few years, and I never realized I had a 1099-R and had to file it along with other things. I guess since I don't touch any of my retirement stuff, I didn't realize that at all (face palm).
My conversions are from after taxes 401(k) -> Roth IRA through Vanguard. I understand that they keep those separate. Looking at my 1099-R now that I know those exists, I have boxes 1 (Gross distribution) and 5 (Employee contributions/ Designated Roth contributions or insuranc premiums) with the amount contributed, and 2 (Taxable amount) is $0.01
So… I have a few questions:
- Am I right to think that I wasn't doubly taxed if the taxable amount is $0.01? I didn't get letters from the IRS about not having paid taxes for those…
- For this year (taxes 2025), I am using Freetaxusa. I entered the 1099-R in Income > Retirement (didn't seem to impact my taxes). Later on, in Deductions, Freetaxusa asks me if I contributed to an IRA. What should I do there?
- For previous conversions, do I need to find a way to tell the IRS about each, and how so? Something about establishing the basis for taxation later?
TIA!
I forgot to file documents for a few years of backdoor Roth IRA… What to do now?
byu/frenchman321 inpersonalfinance
Posted by frenchman321
1 Comment
1. No such thing as double taxes. Your conversions had no tax consequence, whether reported or not — $0.01 of income simply rounds to zero
2. You say “No” when asked if you contributed to an IRA, because you didn’t
3. You should technically amend prior years taxes, but frankly the IRS does not care about a 1099 with zero taxable income, and it certainly has no impact on 2025.
Btw what you did is called “mega backdoor roth” not just “backdoor Roth”