Is a Roth Conversion considered a Roth IRA Contribution? TurboTax has me confused

You're right to be confused - they are NOT the same thing! A Roth conversion and a Roth contribution are completely different transactions for tax purposes. The Roth conversion (moving money from Traditional IRA to Roth IRA) is correctly reported on the 1099-R, and yes, you pay income tax on that amount. This is because you're converting pre-tax money to after-tax money. However, you should NOT be entering this same amount as a Roth IRA contribution. Contributions are new money being deposited into the account, not transfers from another retirement account. For someone your wife's age, the maximum annual contribution is only $7,000 ($8,000 if she qualifies for catch-up contributions). TurboTax is asking about actual new contributions to the IRA, not the conversion amount. If you enter the conversion amount again as a contribution, you're essentially double-reporting that money.

I went through this exact same nightmare last year. I converted about $180k from my traditional IRA to my Roth and was seeing similar confusion in TurboTax. I ended up using https://taxr.ai to help me sort through it all. Their AI can review all your tax forms and transcripts to catch these exact kinds of misunderstandings before you file. The system immediately flagged that I was incorrectly double-counting my Roth conversion as both a distribution and a contribution. Saved me from potentially overpaying by thousands! They even explained exactly where in TurboTax I needed to make the correction. Seriously worth checking out if you're dealing with complex scenarios like Roth conversions.

I just wanted to update after trying out taxr.ai that someone mentioned above. It was actually super helpful with my complicated retirement account situation! I uploaded my forms and it immediately found that I was misreporting my 401k rollover similar to how the original poster was confused about their Roth conversion. The detailed explanation they provided showed exactly where in H&R Block's software I needed to make corrections. This literally saved me from overpaying by about $8k in unnecessary taxes. What I appreciated most was getting confirmation that I was handling the partial Roth conversion correctly (since that part I had right). If you're doing anything complicated with retirement accounts, it's definitely worth using as a double-check.

For anyone dealing with IRS questions around Roth conversions or contributions, I strongly recommend using Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) to actually get through to a human at the IRS. I was in a similar situation last year and spent HOURS on hold trying to get clarification. With Claimyr, I got through to an IRS agent in about 15 minutes instead of the 2+ hour wait time I was facing. They'll call the IRS for you, wait on hold, and then connect you once an agent is available. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent I spoke with confirmed everything about how to properly report Roth conversions vs contributions and helped me understand exactly what I needed to fix in my tax software. Completely worth it for the peace of mind.

I have to eat crow here. After my skeptical comment above, I decided to try Claimyr myself since I had a complex question about my own Roth conversion (different situation than OP, but still complicated). I've literally NEVER gotten through to the IRS on my first try before. Ever. But using this service, I was connected to an agent within 25 minutes. The agent walked me through exactly how to report my Roth conversion correctly in my tax software. For what it's worth - the agent confirmed everything that others have said here: Roth conversions are NOT the same as contributions, and they're reported entirely differently on your tax return. The conversion is reported via the 1099-R, and contributions are reported separately with completely different limits.

Something nobody's mentioned yet - depending on your income level, you might not even be eligible to contribute directly to a Roth IRA. There are income limits for direct contributions, which is why many higher-income folks do the conversion route instead. For 2025, the income phaseout for married filing jointly starts at $230,000 and you're completely ineligible for direct Roth contributions if your MAGI is $240,000 or above. Since you're converting $250K, your income might be above these limits anyway. So there's another reason not to enter anything in the "contributions" section unless you actually made separate contributions that were within the legal limits.

I ran into this same issue and my accountant explained it this way: think of them as completely different transactions that just happen to involve the same account type. A Roth CONVERSION is taking money that was already in a tax-advantaged retirement account (Traditional IRA) and moving it to a different type of tax-advantaged account (Roth IRA). You already got the tax deduction when the money went into the Traditional IRA, so now you pay tax when converting to Roth. A Roth CONTRIBUTION is taking money from your regular bank account (money you've already paid income tax on) and putting it into a Roth IRA. There are strict annual limits on contributions ($7k-$8k depending on age).