The backdoor Roth IRA strategy is still currently viable, but that may change at any time in 2022. Under the provisions of the Build Back Better bill, which passed the House of Representatives in 2021, high-income taxpayers would be prevented from making Roth conversions.
As of March 2022, the Backdoor Roth IRA is still alive. Therefore, any taxpayer making more than $214,000 in income and is married and filing jointly can make an after-tax Traditional IRA contribution and then potentially do a tax-free Roth IRA conversion.
The strategy allows higher earners to sidestep the earnings limits for Roth individual retirement account contributions, capped at $144,000 modified adjusted gross income for single investors and $214,000 for married couples filing together in 2022.
The IRA contribution limit for 2021–22 is $6,000 per person, or $7,000 if the account owner is 50 or older. So if you want to open an account and then use the backdoor IRA method to convert the account to a Roth IRA, that's the maximum you can contribute for those tax years.
But thanks to a tax loophole, they can still make contributions indirectly. If you take advantage and maximize your retirement savings, you can save tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on taxes over the years. Let's delve deeper into this loophole and the benefits of setting up a backdoor Roth IRA.
On April 5, you could convert your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. However, the conversion can't be reported on your 2021 taxes. Because IRA conversions are only reported during the calendar year, you should report it in 2022.
You can't reverse your decision
Today, recharacterization of converted Roth funds is prohibited by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. In other words, there's no going back once the conversion is done.
You have until April 18th, 2022 to make contributions for 2021. You have to recharacterize a 2021 contribution by the due date for filing your 2021 tax return (including extensions).
Is there a deadline to convert? Yes, the deadline is December 31 of the current year. A conversion of after-tax amounts is not included in gross income. Any before-tax portion converted will be included in your gross income for the conversion tax year.
You will only enter your contribution on your 2021 tax return. The conversion will be entered on your 2022 tax return when you get the 2022 Form 1099-R. You will have a basis on your 2021 Form 8606 line 14 to carry forward to 2022.
The backdoor Roth IRA strategy is still currently viable, but that may change at any time in 2022. Under the provisions of the Build Back Better bill, which passed the House of Representatives in 2021, high-income taxpayers would be prevented from making Roth conversions.
The mega backdoor Roth allows you to save a maximum of $61,000 in your 401(k) in 2022. How does this add up? The regular 401(k) contribution for 2022 is $20,500 ($27,000 for those 50 and older) and you can put an additional $40,500 of after-tax dollars into your 401(k) account assuming you don't get an employer match.
Bottom Line. If you want to do a Roth IRA conversion without losing money to income taxes, you should first try to do it by rolling your existing IRA accounts into your employer 401(k) plan, then converting non-deductible IRA contributions going forward.
A backdoor Roth IRA is a legal way to get around the income limits that normally prevent high earners from owning Roth IRAs. A backdoor Roth IRA is not a tax dodge—in fact, it may incur higher tax when it's established—but the investor will get the future tax savings of a Roth account.
Starting in 2022, the bill had proposed to end so-called non-deductible backdoor and mega backdoor Roth conversions. Regardless of income level, you'd no longer be able to convert after-tax contributions made to a 401(k) or a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.
But even when you're close to retirement or already in retirement, opening this special retirement savings vehicle can still make sense under some circumstances. There is no age limit to open a Roth IRA, but there are income and contribution limits that investors should be aware of before funding one.
You generally cannot make more than one rollover from the same IRA within a 1-year period. You also cannot make a rollover during this 1-year period from the IRA to which the distribution was rolled over.
Reporting the taxable contribution to an IRA or conversion to Roth on Form 8606 explains the transactions that occurred to the IRS. If you made a backdoor Roth contribution in the prior year, your custodian will provide you a Form 5498 to report the IRA contributions and a Form 1099-R to report Roth conversions.
A two-step Roth conversion process
Open a non-deductible traditional IRA and make after-tax contributions. For 2021, you're allowed to contribute up to $6,000 ($7,000 if you're age 50 or older). Make sure you file IRS Form 8606 every year you do this. Transfer the assets from the traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.
IRA contributions for 2021 can be made up until the tax filing deadline, which is Monday, April 18th for most tax filers this year, she says. And if you don't have an IRA already, Walsh says it's not too late to open one and still make your contribution count for 2021, either.
The year you do a Roth conversion, your taxable income will rise, which could cause a portion of your Social Security benefit to be taxed or push you into a situation where more of your benefit is taxed.
The Roth IRA five-year rule says you cannot withdraw earnings tax-free until it's been at least five years since you first contributed to a Roth IRA account. This five-year rule applies to everyone who contributes to a Roth IRA, whether they're 59 ½ or 105 years old.
When you convert tax-deferred money from the traditional IRA to the Roth IRA, you'd pay taxes on the amount converted as if it were taxable ordinary income. The taxable portion converted would be considered income for the tax year in which the conversion occurred.
How much you can contribute is calculated using the following formula: In 2021: Max Mega Backdoor Roth contributions = $58,000 - (employee 401(k) contributions) - (employer match contributions) In 2022: Max Mega Backdoor Roth contributions = $61,000 - (employee 401(k) contributions) - (employer match contributions)