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How to enter IRA contributions question

I noticed that none of my annual IRA contributions show up in the tax planner. Clearly my setup is not optimal and I can think of a few ways to improve it and appreciate your guidance.

1) The typical setup is to create a linked transfer between the brokerage account and IRA account, where the transactions will become XOut and ContribX for say 2023. This is how my contributions are currently entered but they do not show up in the reports or tax planner. Because the in the IRA Account details > Tax schedule, the "Transfer in" field is the default blank.

2) I can edit the IRA Account details > Tax schedule, and set Transfer in = Form 1040:IRA Contribution self. The drawback of this approach is if I rollover funds from a 401k to this IRA, that will incorrectly be identified as a contribution, right?

3) Another approach is instead of linking the transfer transaction from the brokerage account to the IRA, I keep them as two unlinked transactions. First one will be a Withdraw in the [brokerage account]; and in the IRA account, I enter it as a Deposit with category of "IRA Contribution" (or vice versa).

TIA for your comments and suggestions.

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Accepted answers

Boatnmaniac

I can edit the IRA Account details > Tax schedule, and set Transfer in = Form 1040:IRA Contribution self. The drawback of this approach is if I rollover funds from a 401k to this IRA, that will incorrectly be identified as a contribution, right?

Correct to set the tax schedule this way. In the past I have had transfers made from 401K accounts to IRA accounts as well as between different IRA accounts. In all cases Quicken treated them as non-taxable rollover events.

I used to think that it was built into the code that transfers between two retirement accounts were automatically treated as rollovers but it's been years since I did any of these transactions so I don't know if that holds true anymore. You could set up a test file and set up offline IRA and 401k accounts. Then try doing some transfers to see what happens.

If you do test this out, make sure the Tax Schedule for Transfer out = 1099-R:Total IRA taxable distrib. (I don't think there is one specifically for 401k's so we need to use the IRA one.)

Another approach is instead of linking the transfer transaction from the brokerage account to the IRA, I keep them as two unlinked transactions. First one will be a Withdraw in the [brokerage account]; and in the IRA account, I enter it as a Deposit with category of "IRA Contribution" (or vice versa).

I don't think Quicken would treat this as a non-taxable rollover transaction because they are totally separate (not transfer) transactions in Quicken. Again, you could try testing this out in a test tile.

All comments

Boatnmaniac

I can edit the IRA Account details > Tax schedule, and set Transfer in = Form 1040:IRA Contribution self. The drawback of this approach is if I rollover funds from a 401k to this IRA, that will incorrectly be identified as a contribution, right?

If you do test this out, make sure the Tax Schedule for Transfer out = 1099-R:Total IRA taxable distrib. (I don't think there is one specifically for 401k's so we need to use the IRA one.)

Another approach is instead of linking the transfer transaction from the brokerage account to the IRA, I keep them as two unlinked transactions. First one will be a Withdraw in the [brokerage account]; and in the IRA account, I enter it as a Deposit with category of "IRA Contribution" (or vice versa).

@Boatnmaniac

Thank you for your comments. This is the first time I am using the tax center feature of Quicken - I am not too worried that things are not exactly right because I don't use Quicken for tax purposes but would be nice to learn it.

So I tested various scenarios. Setting the account's Tax Schedule, Transfer in = Form 1040:IRA Contribution self works [almost] as expected. The IRA contribution amounts do show up as an "Adjustment to Income" in the tax planner (not in the tax reports tho), but for the wrong year unfortunately. Although I specified that the IRA contribution I made in March 2024 was for TY 2023, it shows in the 2024 tax planner (not 2023). Any suggestions on how to improve it without fudging the dates?

*I am unclear about the difference between 1099-R:Total IRA taxable distrib & 1099-R:Total IRA gross distrib within the Account details tax schedule screen. I am not taking any distributions so I don't have a retirement taxable event yet, rather want to understand it better for (a) the future and (b) transferring between 401k/retirement accounts

*and finally I am not able to create any report that contains any value for "_401kContrib / spouse". All results are blank although the category usage shows that there are many! Is that because it is within the the hidden "Tax Impact of 401(k) Accounts"? So how do I see our _401kContribs?

I may have figured out the answer to my last question. The _401kContrib data shows up in the "Tax Summary" Report. Alternatively I was able to access the details by creating a test entry in a cash account register with the category of [Tax Impact of 401(k) Accounts], then right click on the transaction, select "Go to matching transfer".

P.S. I just read that it can also be found in the Tax Schedule report but I was not able to find it there no matter what I tried.

I do not see the option to select that my question was answered!

q_lurker

I do not see the option to select that my question was answered

This topic was originally created as a discussion rather than a question. As such, the responses lack the tagline “Did this answer the question?”

Would you like the topic changed to be a question?

Quicken Anja

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20430147#Comment_20430147

Hello @BK,

As q_lurker mentioned previously, your post was created as a Discussion instead of a Question which is why it doesn't give you the option to "Accept Answer". However, I went ahead and changed your post to a Question, so you should now have the option to do so.

Thank you!

Thank you all - clearly I was not paying attention when I posted. Selected the correct answer.