Roth Tax Reminder

February 22, 2013

Tax docs in brownIf in 2010 you conducted a Roth IRA conversion and opted to split recognizing the income between 2011 and 2012, remember you may still need to report half of the resulting taxable income on your 2012 return.

A special 2010 conversion rule allowed taxpayers who opted to convert a Roth IRA in that year to split the amount of reportable taxable income from the conversion between a 2011 and 2012 tax return.

Because the conversion was two years ago, you may need to be reminded that you have the remaining half of the taxable income to report on your 2012 return. This does not apply to taxpayers who already reported the total amount on their 2011 return.

This reminder applies to Roth conversions in 2010 from traditional IRAs and conversions from workplace retirement plans, including in-plan rollovers to designated Roth accounts.

The IRS provides worksheets and examples in Publication 590 for Roth IRA conversions and Publication 575 on reporting pension and annuity income for conversions to designated Roth accounts.

Finally, taxpayers who made Roth conversions in 2012, or are planning to do so in 2013 or later years, must report the conversion using Form 8606.