Regular contributions for 98&99, and Form 5498

[Guest fengchen]

I opened a Roth IRA account in late 1998 with $2000. In Jan. 1999, I make another

deposit to the same account for my 1999 contributions. However when the broker send

me the form 5498 for 1998, I noticed that

on my roth IRA contributions, it states $4,000. It gives me the impression that they

count the 2nd deposit also as 1998 contributions. Am I in the trouble of over contributed for 1998?

I did notice that, on the back of form

5498, it states it's the contributions you made in 1998 and through April 15, 1999. And

when I make the 2nd deposit, I did state it's

for tax year 1999.

[This message has been edited by fengchen (edited 01-02-2000).]

[John G]

This is a common problem. Call your broker and make sure their records reflect the correct years. Your situation should be obvious because of the max contribution in 1998, but make sure their records reflect the proper years. If this happened this year, you could clearly get a corrected form filed with the IRS. Unclear if that is possible for a prior year. Talk with your custodian.

In the future, be sure to note the contribution year on your check. Make sure it is also written on the deposit form. Then review the next monthly statement to insure it was posted correctly. If the IRS questions this, a letter of explaination and copies of the checks and deposits should be sufficient.