Messed up Form 8606 for Backdoor Roth on TurboTax - Need Advice

8 This is actually a fairly common issue with backdoor Roth conversions in tax software. What happened is that Form 8606 needs to be filled out correctly to show the IRS that you've already paid tax on the traditional IRA contribution, making the conversion tax-free. Yes, you should file an amended return (Form 1040-X) once your original return is processed. The IRS generally takes 2-3 weeks to process an e-filed return. If you don't fix this, you'll essentially be paying taxes twice on the same money - once when you earned it, and again on the conversion that should have been tax-free. The good news is that filing an amended return for this specific issue is relatively straightforward. You'll just need to submit a corrected Form 8606 showing the proper basis in your traditional IRA, which should then flow through to eliminate the taxable portion of the conversion.

15 I had almost the exact same situation happen to me earlier this year. After hours of frustration trying to figure out how to fix my 8606, I found this AI tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that was surprisingly helpful. It analyzed my tax forms and flagged exactly where I went wrong with my backdoor Roth reporting. The tool basically explained that I needed to correctly report my nondeductible contribution on Part I of Form 8606, and then properly report the conversion on Part II. It even showed me side-by-side what I did wrong versus what the correct entries should be. Saved me from having to pay for a consultation with a CPA.

6 I just wanted to follow up and say I ended up trying taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here. Honestly, it was super helpful! The analysis correctly identified that I had entered my nondeductible traditional IRA contribution in the wrong section of Form 8606, which is exactly why my conversion was being incorrectly taxed. The step-by-step guidance made filing my amended return much less stressful. It specifically showed me which lines on Form 8606 needed to be corrected and what the correct values should be. Really glad I found out about this before just paying the extra tax!

22 If you're still having issues with your amended return, another route might be calling the IRS directly. I know, sounds like a nightmare with their phone wait times, but I used a service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual IRS agent in under 20 minutes. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was in a similar spot with a messed up 8606 last year, and getting direct guidance from an IRS rep really helped me understand exactly what I needed to fix on my amended return. They walked me through each box on the form and confirmed my understanding of the backdoor Roth process was correct.

19 I need to apologize for being skeptical earlier. After waiting on hold with the IRS for over 2 hours and getting disconnected TWICE, I broke down and tried Claimyr. Got connected to an IRS agent in about 15 minutes. The agent confirmed exactly what I needed to correct on my Form 8606 for my backdoor Roth conversion. They explained that on line 8 of Form 8606, I needed to enter the full value of my nondeductible contribution as my basis, which then flows to line 18 to make the conversion non-taxable. The agent was super helpful and even gave me tips on how to avoid this issue next tax season. If you're facing a similar issue with Form 8606, definitely worth getting direct confirmation from the IRS before filing an amendment.

5 For what it's worth, I made the exact same mistake last year and decided NOT to amend. I just paid the extra tax (about $560 on a $2,000 conversion). Now I'm wondering if I made a huge mistake. Can I still go back and amend last year's return too?

17 Anyone here use H&R Block instead of TurboTax? I'm wondering if their interface is any clearer for backdoor Roth reporting. This whole thing has me considering switching tax software next year.