“IRAs are a great way to save for retirement, but what happens if you contribute to a Roth IRA and your income is too high? Or you contribute more than you’re allowed to a Roth or traditional IRA?”

It would be great if you could put all your money into a Roth and enjoy tax-free growth and withdrawals. However, Uncle Sam restricts the amount you can contribute annually, and eligibility is based on your income. But if you make too much money, you might be able to use a work-around called a backdoor Roth.

Investopedia’s January article entitled “How to Calculate (and Fix) Excess IRA Contributions” says there’s also a contribution limit for traditional IRAs; however, these income limits concern deducting contributions on your taxes. If you violate a rule and make an ineligible, or excess, contribution, you’re looking at a 6% penalty on the amount each year until you correct the mistake. But note that Roth IRAs have an extra restriction: whether you can contribute up to the limit—or anything at all—depends on your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI). If you contributed to a Roth when you made too much to qualify—or if you contributed more than you’re allowed to either IRA—you’ve made an excess contribution, and it’s subject to a 6% tax penalty.

The $6,000 (or $7,000) maximum is the combined total that you’re allowed to contribute to all your IRAs. So, if you have a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA, your total contribution to those two accounts must be $6,000 (or $7,000). The amount you contribute can’t be more than your earned income for the year. If your earned income is $4,000, that’s the maximum you can contribute to an IRA.

The penalty of 6% of the excess amount must be paid when you file your income tax return. If you fail to fix the mistake, you’ll owe the penalty each year the excess remains in your account. If you’re not eligible to take a qualified distribution from your IRA to fix the mistake, you’ll pay an additional 10% early withdrawal penalty on earnings (interest). The IRS has a specific formula to calculate earnings (or losses) attributable to an excess contribution. There are several ways to fix an excess contribution to an IRA:

Withdraw the excess contribution and earnings. You can avoid the 6% penalty if you withdraw the extra contribution and any earnings before your tax deadline. You are required to declare the earnings as income on your taxes. You may also owe a 10% tax for early withdrawal on the earnings if you’re younger than 59½.

File an amended tax return (if you’ve already filed). If you remove the excess contribution and earnings and file an amended return by the October extension deadline, you can also avoid the 6% penalty.

Apply the excess to next year’s contribution. You’ll still owe the 6% tax this year, but you’ll at least stop paying once you apply the excess.

Withdraw the excess next year. If you don’t do one of the other options, you can withdraw the excess funds by Dec. 31 of the next year. You can leave the earnings, but you must remove the entire excess contribution to avoid that 6% penalty for the following year.

In addition to the formula, you must correct the excess from the same IRA, so if you have multiple IRAs, you can’t chose the IRA you want to “fix.” Also, the last contribution is an excess contribution. If you made multiple contributions to an IRA, the last is considered the excess contribution. Finally, you are able to distribute the entire balance to correct the excess. If the excess amount is the only contribution you made to the IRA—and no other contributions, distributions, transfers, or recharacterizations occurred in the IRA—you can fix the excess by simply distributing the entire IRA balance by the applicable deadline.

Most folks who make ineligible contributions to an IRA do so by accident, and you could contribute too much if you meet the following criteria:

• You make more money, and it moves you up to an income eligibility range;
• You overlook a contribution you made earlier in the year; or
• You contributed more than your earned income for the year.

In a good faith attempt to fund your retirement accounts, you could make an excess contribution. The IRS has considered that this may occur. The agency provides guidelines to help you correct the error.

Reference: Investopedia (Jan.  19, 2020) “How to Calculate (and Fix) Excess IRA Contributions”