I've already filed my 2001 return and received my refund.

I now realize that I should open a Roth IRA account for 2001 because I don't believe I will be eligible to in 2002 because of my expected income this year.

Do I have to file an amendment to my tax return? When I ran the numbers in TurboTax using a planned $1000 contribution to a Roth, I did not see any change to my 1040 return.

Hope someone can help me with this

As long as you open the 2001 Roth before April 16,2002 you will be alright. Roth contributions are not recorded(reported) on your tax return, so an amended return is not necessary.

Thanks, Jim.

Jim
Thanks for the info as I came to this site with the exact same question. Just to clarify for my purposes, does this cover funding an EXISTING Roth IRA as well as opening a NEW one? Also, what does the line item "IRA DEDUCTION" on the tax return under
"ADJUSTED GROSS INCOME" do if you may fund a Roth before or after submitting your return?

I was all ready to fund my Roth for 2001, but we've already filed and received money back. If I can go ahead and fund before 4/16 for 2001 that would be great news!

Thanks so much for your input!

You can NOT deduct a contribution to a Roth. The deduction on the 1040 is for Traditional IRA's not Roth IRA"s.
You can open a new Roth or contribute to an existing one, it generally doesn't make a difference. You have until 4/15/2002 to contribute.
When you do Conversions on a regular basis I believe it is better to open new accounts until such time as they can NOT be recharacterized, makes it easier to undo.