Should I Amend My 2021 Taxes for a Forgotten Form 5498 Roth IRA Contribution?

Thanks for the info! How do I know if I would qualify for that Retirement Savings Credit thing? My income in 2021 was around $52k. I feel like I might have missed out on something by not including it now!

For 2021, the Saver's Credit income limits were $33,000 for single filers and $66,000 for married filing jointly. So if you were single with $52k income, you would have been over the limit and wouldn't qualify for the credit. If you were married filing jointly with $52k combined income, then you might have qualified for a partial credit. The other potential reason to amend would be if you made an excess contribution beyond the annual limit. For 2021, the Roth IRA contribution limit was $6,000 ($7,000 if you were 50 or older). If you actually contributed $8k as you mentioned, you may have exceeded the limit and should address that with your financial institution.

How does taxr.ai actually work? Do you just upload your docs and it explains everything or what? I'm always nervous about sharing financial docs online.

I've seen people mention that site before but it sounds too good to be true. Does it really catch things that TurboTax and other tax software miss? What's the catch?

You basically take pictures of your tax documents or upload PDFs and it reads them using some AI thing. It explains what each form means in regular English and tells you if you're missing anything important. It's secure - they use the same encryption banks do. The reason it catches things TurboTax might miss is because TurboTax only works with what you actually input. If you forget to enter a form or don't know what something means, TurboTax can't help. This analyzes all your docs together and points out potential issues or opportunities.

Wait what's this Claimyr thing? Sounds kinda sketchy. How exactly does it get you through to the IRS faster? I thought everyone had to sit on hold equally.

Yeah right. Nothing gets you through to the IRS faster. I've literally spent hours on hold multiple times this year. If this actually works I'll eat my hat.

It's definitely not sketchy - they basically wait on hold for you and call you back when they have an IRS agent on the line. Instead of you sitting on hold for 2+ hours, their system does it. They use a combination of optimal calling times and automated systems to maximize the chances of getting through. The IRS phone system is actually designed to handle a certain call volume, and if too many people are calling, it just disconnects you. Claimyr's system keeps trying until it gets through. When I used it I got a callback in about 45 minutes with an actual IRS agent ready to help.

Thanks for pointing this out! My income was definitely below those limits in 2021 (around $65k) so I was eligible for the full contribution. I think I might have been confused about how much I actually contributed - just double checked and it was exactly $6k, not $8k like I initially wrote. My memory isn't what it used to be lol. If I'm understanding everyone correctly, since the Roth contribution doesn't affect my tax liability and my income was too high for the Saver's Credit but below the Roth income limits, there's really no benefit to amending my return. Does that sound right?

That's exactly right. If your contribution was $6k (within the limit), your income was below the Roth IRA income thresholds but above the Saver's Credit limit, there's really no reason to amend your return. The IRS already has the information from the Form 5498 that your financial institution filed, and since Roth contributions don't impact your tax liability, you're good to go. One less thing to worry about!

Can you explain what a "backdoor Roth conversion" is? I keep hearing about it but don't really understand the concept or why it matters for record keeping.