How do I record a conversion of a Traditional IRA to Roth IRA in Quicken?

Quicken says they are working on an improved way of entering Roth conversions and other distributions from tax deferred accounts. It has been in the "Planned" state since August 2023.

Until that is available, here is the method I have used to enter Roth conversions.

To have the tax implications of a Roth conversion recorded correctly in Quicken, you must record it as moving through a taxable account. What I do is:

1. In the Account Details for the IRA, make sure the Tax Schedule for Transfers Out is set to 1099-R:Total IRA Taxable Distrib. In the Roth account, make sure the Tax Schedule for Transfers In is blank.
2. Sell the shares for the conversion in the IRA.
3. In a taxable account, record a Deposit with the Category set to the IRA account name in [square brackets] of the full amount of the conversion. If taxes were withheld, split the transaction and record them as negative amounts.
   If the deposit is made to a banking account between Jan. 1 and April 15, you will see a dialog titled “Confirm Your Contribution Tax Year”, even though this is a distribution and not a contribution. Select the current year, not the default of the previous year, and click on OK. This seems to be a bug.
4. In the same taxable account on the same day, separately record a transfer of the net amount to the Roth account. I record these as two transactions because Quicken sometimes gets confused with zero-amount transactions.
5. Also on the same day, Buy the converted shares in the Roth account
6. Delete or do not accept any downloaded transactions associated with the conversion.

I have focused on getting the Tax reports and Tax Planner correct. My conversions have all involved moving cash, but if the shares were moved in kind, I think you might as well record it as a Sold in the IRA and Bought on the same day for the same price in the Roth account. This resets the cost basis, but cost basis is not important in a tax deferred account.

When measuring performance of a period that includes the transfer with the Investment Performance Report or the Avg. Annual Return (%) columns in the Portfolio views, you should include both accounts.