Excess Roth Contribution Solution Question

Hey all,

So I recently learned that if you file MFS, you’re not eligible to contribute to your Roth IRA, essentially.

Wife and I filed MFS for simplicity for a 4 year period from 2019-2022.Both military, different states of residence, made the whole process easier.

We didn’t actually get to live together until 2021 so I believe the only two years we’re actually in violation of the rule would be 2021 and 2022, as long as I’m not misunderstanding.

My plan to fix it:

– Amend our 2022 tax return from MFS to MFJ, I know I have until April 15th of this year to get that done.

– Only contribute $1500 each to our Roth’s for 2026, “eating up” the $6k in excess contributions in each of our accounts.

Questions:

– Should I file 5329 and “tell on ourselves” and just pay the total amount of fines + interest? I think it’d be like $6k total.

– OR, just amend 2022 and eat up the excess contributions this year and hope for the best?

TIA!