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View Full Version : Financial types! Help! We screwed up our Roth contribution!



peanut4us
05-21-2004, 08:52 PM
Cwap! For some reason, I was ACTUALLY getting around to filing a whole bunch of our statements and started really looking at some only to discover that DH accidentally made his 2003 contribution (that we paid in March) an IRA contribution instead of a Roth IRA! Mine is correct but his isn't.

The good news is that we paid taxes as though he had done a Roth, so I believe that Uncle Sam now owes us some dough. Is that right? I know we need to refile our taxes. Is there a penalty for having screwed up?

Now here is the tricky part, should we convert the ira to a roth? we did a roth on purpose because our financial planner said we needed to have some retirement investments that were NOT tax deferred, for balance??? In any case, our mistake now means that we did not fulfill that goal. DH is hesitant to convert it because it would be considered a Roth IRA for 2004... and so, we wouldn't be able to add that much money into it next tax season. I don't think it matters because while we both maxed the Roth limit for 2003, I am quite positive that our cash flow will be less in March of next year, so we will only be able to fund one maxed roth account. I figure, big deal if it's mine or his. He says that I already have a lot of investments with my 401K. Does it matter if it is mine or his? Usually we try to fund any non401K stuff for him first because he is SAHD/self-employed and has no employer retirement benefits.

What do you financial guru types think?

dotgirl
05-21-2004, 09:25 PM
I'm no financial expert, but check out the Motley Fool - www.fool.com for reasons why you should convert your traditional IRA into a Roth IRA.

COElizabeth
05-21-2004, 09:58 PM
If you filed your 2003 taxes on time, I believe you have until October 15 to recharacterize the contribution. DH could recharacterize the contribution from a traditional IRA to a Roth, and then I *think* you wouldn't have to refile this year (there might be some additional reporting required next year). Since the Roth was your original intent, that's what I would do. See the link below for more info, and contact the investment company managing the IRA to request the recharacterization. I once did a recharacterization in the opposite direction, and the firm did all the paperwork for me and sent me the tax information I needed.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/03/092403.asp

HTH. Oh, and FWIW, I believe most financial experts consider Roth IRAs to be a superior retirement investment for someone your age, with a long period of investment planned. Your investment won't be tax-deferred, but the funds will grow tax-free, which proves to be a better option under most but not all future scenarios for a young worker.

Elizabeth, Mom to James, 9-20-02
EDD #2, 10-30-04