Excess Roth contribution for 2020
Taxpayer is single with 2020 AGI in excess of amount allowable for a Roth IRA contribution. He is not a participant in an employer plan. His 2020 return reflects a $6,000 TIRA contribution deduction and has not yet been filed (due May 15th). When he reviewed his records last week prior to making the TIRA contribution, he discovered that he had already made a $6,000 Roth contribution for 2020 in July 2020, adding to an existing Roth IRA (into which he had made a contribution for at least tax year 2019). Apparently, in July 2020 he had made $6,000 Roth contributions for both 2019 and 2020 (not anticipating his income for 2020 could be over the allowable limit). The $6,000 for 2019 was an allowable contribution.
The contributed funds went into to a money market account earning virtually nothing so far. His 2020 AGI was expected to be below the Roth AGI limitation level, but that assumption turned out to be incorrect in retrospect. What is the easiest way to correct this?
1 Ask the custodian to recharacterize the July 2020 Roth contribution to a TIRA. The earnings would be minimal I expect.
2, What should be done with those earnings?
3. Any Form 8606 implication to his 2020 or 2021 returns?
4. Should a statement be attached to his 2020 return explaining what transpired?
Alan, as always, thank you for your help.
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Mon, 2021-05-03 16:19
He never made the 2020 TIRA contribution, but his return shows a TIRA contribution? Does he want the TIRA deduction?
Permalink Submitted by Jay Epstein on Mon, 2021-05-03 17:28
Yes, he does. When he went to make his 2020 TIRA contribution last week, he discovered that he had already made a contribution for 2020 last July, but had made it as a Roth contribution. How best to fix this?