Excess Roth Contribution, But already Contributed for Current Year

Hello.

Here’s a general timeline of what happen.

Year 2016:
$500 contribution to IRA (2016 tax year)

Year 2017:
$5500 contribution to ROTH (2016 tax year)
$5500 contribution to IRA (2017 tax year)

October 11, 2017
Realize I’ve over contributed by $500 to my Roth IRA (since I did IRA, and Roth, they would look at Roth first, I believe). This is 4 days before the October 15th, and I will be able to withdraw $500 excess contribution & Earning from my Roth & get the necessary paperwork to amend my tax return before the deadline.

So, I guess I got 2 options for me?

1) I can try to withdraw $500 plus Earning from my 2017 tax year’s IRA contribution and fill 5329 (excess contribution for 2016) and pay the $30. I guess I need to figure out what my 1040 paper needs to be like since I withdraw money & earning from my 2017 IRA plan…But that leaves only 1 penalty to pay for.

2) Leave the money as is. Pay $30 in fee for 2017 tax year (5329 form), and make only $5000 contribution to IRA for 2018 tax year. So, in 2019, I can make regular contribution ($5500), but I will need to pay another final $500 x .06% = $30 late penalty since I never corrected my contribution in 2017. That leaves me with 2 excess late penalty. But is easiest to do?

Does that look correct?

Thanks!



  • You might first see if your custodian can process a return of contribution by close of business on 10/16. If so, if you have the 500 returned from the Roth, any earnings will be taxable in 2017, so you would not need to amend your 2016 return unless you did not report the TIRA contribution. If your custodian cannot get this done (would probably require a phone order) you could just pay the $30 excise tax on Form 5329 and send in the 5329 stand alone. You would then have to request a return of 500 from your 2017 TIRA contribution so you could apply 500 of your Roth excess from 2016 to a 2017 Roth on a 2017 Form 5329. Of course, I do not know if you will qualify for a Roth contribution for 2017 (MAGI limit).
  • Note that the 10/16 deadline applies to processing the returned contribution. You can amend the 1040 much later if need be.
  • It is also not clear if you can deduct the TIRA contributions for both years. 
  • Note that only contributions you made IN 2017 can be returned without any earnings being taxable for 2016. That is why I did not recommend having your 2016 TIRA contribution returned as I assumed you did not want to amend your 2016 return.
  • Your Option 2 would also leave you with another $30 excise tax for 2017 since you could not apply the excess until 2018.
  • In your shoes most people would elect the easier choice filing wise since the dollar consequences are small. But if you want to apply an excess amount to a later year, your income in the later year may not allow you to apply a Roth contribution, or you may not be able to deduct a TIRA contribution. 

Thank you for taking your time to answer my questions and help! 

  • My $500 contribution to TIRA was never deducted (Cap1) since I didn’t get my 5498 until after tax return (and forgot), and my new roth contribution ($5500) in 2016 was with Fidelity. 
  • So, I dont know about returning the $500 in Roth since it’s almost a year and have earn something. And since I never reported my tIRA contribution in early 2016, I’m not too sure myself of the option. Plus, this is more paperwork method, and more time constraint. 
  • I’m well within TIRA & Roth limit (with my MAGI calculation since I max out 401k contribution to reduce it). Salary is 65-70k now, and I’ll expect to be still within Roth & probably still able to deduct TIRA contribution in 2-3 years.
  • And yes, at this point, the easier method is less paperwork with #2 option. Since it’s just $30 per year for 2 years, I believe I can put in $5000 contribution to my TIRA 2018 contribution, and pay $30 (via 5329) for 2016, and 2017. 
  • So, my last question is this if I choose that method. Do I need fill the 5329, and pay $30 for 2016 now (before October 16th) , or can it be done when I fill for my 2017 tax year? If I fill it in April 2018 for 2017 tax year, I would need to pay 1 final payment for 2018 tax year when I start to fill for my 2018 tax (in April 2019). Correct? Since I have my contribution max already in 2017.  And I believe even with that, I can still do $5500 deduction for 2017 for tIRA, and do $5500 for 2018 (tax year). I’m a huge fan of tIRA, and I only did Roth once since I wasn’t aware that I could deduct tIRA contribution before I get my 5498.

Thanks!Sam

What title say!

  • You did not have to file the 5329 for 2016 by today. But you should file it before year end so it can be processed before you file your 2017 5329 with your 2017 return. Your 2017 5329 starts with entering your excess contribution balance carried over from 2016. Because the 2016 excess was not removed by today, you no longer have a choice regarding which type of contribution was an excess contribution for 2016. The $500 excess is deemed to be a Roth contribution, so you have to fill out the Roth portion of Form 5329 for 2016. You should also check to make sure you either took a deduction for the $500 TIRA contribution for 2016 or file Form 8606 to report that $500 as non deductible. You can send in the 8606 by itself without a 1040X.
  • In 2018, since the excess is for a Roth, you should contribute $5000 instead of $5500 to your T IRA. That will resolve your excess amount. You will still need a 2018 5329 but there will be no excise tax for 2018 since the excess will have been applied to 2018 as a Roth contribution. If you do this you can still deduct your 2017 TIRA contribution.
  • Following the above approach, you do not have to withdraw anything. You just contribute 500 less for 2018.
  • NOTE: You do not have to wait for the 5498 to report a TIRA contribution as deductible or non deductible on Form 8606. If you do NOT already have a basis in your TIRA from non deductible contributions, you probably do not want to start with 2016, so that would require you to amend your 2016 to claim the $500 deduction and that will eliminate the 2016 8606. 

There is no reason to allow the excess Roth contribution to carry into 2018 (to be applied as a Roth IRA contribution for 2018), incurring a $30 penalty on this excess for 2017.  Instead, now that it is past the extended due date of your 2016 tax return, simply make a simple regular $500 distribution from the Roth IRA near the end of 2017 and in 2018 make a full $5,500 IRA contribution for 2018.  This also avoids the consequences of another $30 penalty for 2018 in the case where your 2018 modified AGI prohibits a Roth IRA contribution.  Your 2017 Form 8606 Part III will show this as a nontaxable distribution of contribution basis and your 2017 Form 5329 Part IV line 20 will show $500, eliminating the excess for 2017.

Thanks for all the help!

It took me a moment to realize that the form identifications were placed below the form excerpts, not above.

  1. File 2016 5329 and pay $30 in tax standalone online (they allow that, neat) (2016, 2017 5329 pic)
  2. Do a regular distribution of my Roth IRA of $500 before end of 2017 (not return of contribution)
  3. File 2017 5329 and pay no penalty tax
  4. File 2017 8606 and mention my 2017 roth distribution (2017 8606 pic)
  5. And I guess on my 1040, I can deduct my $5500 for tIRA that I made for 2017 tax year and I don’t have to deduct $500 from my 2018 tIRA! Win win!

Yes, line 22 of Form 8606 should be 5500. Since that amount is larger than your distribution lline 23 will be 0. In the future your basis of regular Roth contributions will be 5000 because you will have removed 500 of your Roth contribution balance.

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