How can I determine my total IRA contributions in my accounts - NJ taxes IRA contributions! (edit)

Question

I just realized that NJ taxes IRA contributions when made, so I shouldn't be paying taxes on those amounts when withdrawn or converted to Roths. How can I determine how much of an account's value is from contributions vs. earnings? Over the years, I've moved 401k accounts between employers, and converted 401k accounts to Traditional IRAs without determining a contribution basis. Is there any way to untangle this mess?

TreborNagrom · Answer

Thanks, everybody. I think I'm gonna have a lot of trouble figuring this out. The link Ps56K2 provided suggests that NJ may have allowed deductions for 401ks in 1984, which predated most of mine, but I believe it was never deducted. I'll have to go back thru my tax returns and see if I can determine if it was. I never tracked the details of the 401ks in Quicken so I don't think I can tell what's contributions and what's income. Also, I moved some 401ks to new employers and eventually converted them to Traditional IRAs, and then converted some to Roths, so the bread crumbs have gotten scattered. I hope I'm mistaken, but I don't think I am, and I could be out a lot of money as a result of paying NJ Income Tax twice on the same income.

Jim_Harman · Answer

If you have your tax returns going back that far, maybe you can get the IRA deductions from them.

To get the info from Quicken, you would have to have tracked your accounts accurately back then.

bmciance · Answer

Well, on a positive note, if you can keep your withdrawals in retirement under 100k (not including Social Security which NJ doesn't tax) you won't have to pay tax on it anyway.  Hopefully that number will be raised at some point. It phases out at 150k currently.