TSP rollover to Traditional IRA

Submitted by Peter Karakondis on Fri, 2018-03-09 16:52

Hello,
I’m not sure if the Traditional TSP rollover to Traditional IRA at Vanguard gets reported on line 15 or 16 of form 1040.
Also, I’m assuming that a Traditional IRA to Roth IRA conversion gets reported on line 15?
And do I have to file form 8606, and if I do, would that include the TSP rollover and the Roth IRA conversion?
Thank You for your help.



Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Fri, 2018-03-09 17:24

A rollover from the TSP to an IRA is reported on line 16 of Form 1040. An IRA conversion goes on Form 8606 and line 15. If you do a direct rollover from TSP to Roth IRA, it goes on line 16 and Form 8606 does not apply. But if you want only a portion of the TSP to go to the Roth IRA, you would roll it to a TIRA first, then select the amount of the TIRA that you want to convert.



Submitted by Peter Karakondis on Fri, 2018-03-09 23:10

Thank you for the quick reply.So my Vanguard Traditional IRA to Roth IRA conversion gets reported on Form 8606 and line 15a and 15b? And do I have to write “Roth Conversion” or anything else next to line 15b?Also, my direct rollover (none of which is taxable) from Traditional TSP to Vanguard Traditional IRA gets reported on line 16a, along with the total from my pension payments? And the taxable portion of my pension payments (a small portion is not taxable) goes on line 16b? Do I have to write “Rollover” or anything else next to line 16b?I assume that I don’t have to include a statement with my tax forms explaining any of these items?  I’ve read the instructions from the 1040 booklet and am still unclear about all these details.Thanks again for all your help.



Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Fri, 2018-03-09 23:46

  • You should not enter “rollover” or anything else next to 15b for a conversion since Form 8606 reporting the conversion is more specific and serves the purpose of clarifying the rollover.
  • For TSP to IRA, enter “rollover” next to 16b, even though other line 16 distributions were not rolled over. 16 a should include all your Box 1 amounts from the TSP and pension and 16b the taxable amount of the pension only. You do not have to provide any further explanation, the IRS will be able to figure it out. The Form 1040 Inst. are pretty much patchwork, but do not usually result in problems if followed.


Submitted by Peter Karakondis on Sat, 2018-03-10 01:27

Thank you for explaining everything so clearly and so promptly. You saved me a lot of time that I would have wasted sitting on hold waiting for the IRS to answer my call.Thanks Again!



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