IRA's and Filing Taxes

[Libby]

I opened a Roth IRA in 2007, now I'm so confused when it comes to filing my income taxes. I know I have to file a 1040-A, when I've always filed a 1040EZ, but what places do I fill it out and what forms do I attach?

Sorry for the noob question, I just don't want to send in the wrong info!

Thanks :)

[tegteg]

I opened a Roth IRA in 2007, now I'm so confused when it comes to filing my income taxes. I know I have to file a 1040-A, when I've always filed a 1040EZ, but what places do I fill it out and what forms do I attach?

Sorry for the noob question, I just don't want to send in the wrong info!

Thanks :)

form 8606

[ninja]

form 8606

isn't that only if you converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA?

[azinwood]

use free turbotax. they ask about IRA contributions.

[Prissy]

Do I report my nondeductible Roth IRA contributions on Form 8606?

There are no forms to report a Roth contribution. The financial institution, which is the trustee of your Roth IRA, will send you information on the amount in your Roth IRA. They will also send the information to the Internal Revenue Service. Use Form 8606 (PDF), Nondeductible IRAs, if you made a nondeductible contribution to a traditional IRA; converted from a traditional IRA, a SEP, or Simple IRA to a Roth IRA, received a distribution from a traditional IRA, a SEP, or a Simple IRA and made nondeductible contributions to a traditional IRA, or received a distribution from a Roth or traditional IRA.


You can't get a tax break by contributing to a ROTH IRA except:


The Retirement Savings Contribution Credit is designed to reward low-income savers, and because of this the guidelines are somewhat limited as to who can claim it. The following guidelines apply: you may only take the credit if your AGI is less than $25,000, if you’re an individual, or less than $50,000 if you are married filing jointly. Furthermore, you may not take the credit if were born in 1987 or later, are claimed on someone else’s tax return as a dependent, or were a student. The IRS considers you a student if, during any five months of the tax year, were enrolled full-time at any school (not including night school, correspondence courses, or on-the-job training courses) or took a full-time, farm-training course given by the government.


Think you qualify? If you do, you will need to file IRS Form 8880, “Credit for Qualified Retirement Savings Contributions.” Thankfully, this is a relatively easy form to fill out. If you only made contributions to a Roth IRA during the previous tax year, put the amount on line 1 of Form 8880 (if you are married filing jointly, put your spouses information in the second column). Do not worry about line 2, as you only contributed to a Roth IRA. On line 4, total all of the distributions from the previous three years up until April 15th of the current year. So for, 2004 tax year, total all the distributions from 2002 until April 15th of 2005. These include any retirement distributions, even if you only contributed to a Roth IRA in the current year. Unless you are of retirement age or withdrew money for special purposes, you may not have to worry about this line. If you had any distributions, though, subtract line 4 from line 3 – if the total is zero or less you do not qualify for any credit.

also cannot claim savings contribution and education credit at the same time.