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June 6, 2019
Question

Line 14 on Form 8606 did not deduct the basis for a non-deductible IRA contribution we made during the year, and had returned the same year. Any help on why not?

  • June 6, 2019
  • 3 replies
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3 replies

Employee
June 6, 2019
What is the code in box 7 of the Form 1099-R provided by the payer?
Is the IRA/SEP/SIMPLE box marked?
Did you enter the traditional IRA contribution?  If so, did you indicate anything in the follow-up about having the contribution returned?
June 6, 2019
Two 1099-R's were issued; one had 81 in box 7 ($5,500 in box 1, which was our original contribution); the other had 1 in box 7 ($69 in box 1).  The IRA/SEP/SIMPLE box was marked on both.  I did enter the original $5,500 contribution in Turbo tax for the question "... total 2017 traditional contributions."  I probably missed it, but where do I indicate in the follow-up about having the contribution returned?  Thank you.
Employee
June 6, 2019

If the contribution was not an excess contribution, TurboTax will not ask you whether or not you had any of the contribution returned, despite the fact that a return of a non-excess contribution to an IRA is permitted.

The code 81 Form 1099-R is for the return of your original contribution and, since the gross amount is equal to the contribution amount being returned, implies that there was no gain or loss attributable to the contribution that was returned.  I'm not sure why you would have received a separate code 1 Form 1099-R.  Perhaps the custodian botched the original gain calculation and subsequently distributed $69 of gain attributable to the $5,500 that was returned.  That doesn't change the taxable amount; the $69 is taxable and subject to penalty either way.  However, with the gain reported on a separate code 1 Form 1099-R it ends up looking like a distribution that is eligible for rollover when it actually was not (which doesn't really matter as long as you did not roll it over).

To correct the problem on Form 8606, I would simply omit reporting the $5,500 traditional IRA contribution entirely by going back through the traditional IRA contribution section and deleting the $5,500 originally entered.  You'll still need to enter the two Forms 1099-R.  You'll also need to provide an explanation statement for the return of contribution, but it seems that TurboTax does not prompt you to prepare one under these circumstances, so you'll probably need to prepare the explanation statement manually and include it with your mailed tax return.

Employee
June 6, 2019
After looking again, I think TurboTax does prompt for an explanation statement after entering the code 81 From 1099-R.

However, in looking again I've also found that the TurboTax developers have introduced a new bug for 2017, a bug not present in 2016 TurboTax.  2017 TurboTax is treating the entire gross amount of the code 81 distribution as subject to penalty, not just the taxable amount.  I'll report this new bug.