How to Fill Out and Submit the Fidelity IRA Contribution Form

The Fidelity IRA contribution form is the paper document, formally titled the Investment-Only Retirement Account Contribution Form, that you use to deposit money into a Traditional, Roth, SEP, or rollover IRA at Fidelity when you’re sending a check or initiating a wire instead of contributing electronically. Fill in your account number, Social Security number, contribution type, and tax year; sign it; and send it in with a check made payable to Fidelity Investments.¹

Where to Get the Form

Fidelity posts the PDF in its online forms library. From fidelity.com, go to Customer Service and open “Forms & Applications” (sometimes labeled “All Forms”), then search for “contribution” and open the Investment-Only Retirement Account Contribution Form.² You can also request a paper copy by phone or pick one up at a Fidelity Investor Center.

What to Have Ready Before You Start

Gather a few items before you pick up a pen:

Your Fidelity account number, taken from a statement or your online dashboard. The deposit goes wherever this number points.
Your Social Security number, required for IRS tax reporting on every retirement contribution.¹
A personal check made payable to “Fidelity Investments,” with your account number and the contribution year written in the memo field.³
The exact dollar amount. The check and the form must match. A mismatch can delay processing or cause Fidelity to reject the deposit.
Fund names or ticker symbols if you want the money invested right away rather than parked in your core cash position.

Fidelity will not accept altered checks, third-party checks, money orders, traveler’s checks, foreign-currency checks, post-dated checks, unsigned checks, starter checks, or checks dated more than 180 days before receipt.³

Filling Out the Form Section by Section

The form itself is short. A few spots are where people slip up.

Personal Information and Account Details

Enter your full legal name exactly as it appears on your Fidelity account. Nicknames or abbreviations can cause the deposit to be rejected.³ Add your Social Security number and your Fidelity account number. If you’re contributing to more than one participant account under the same plan, list each one separately in the spaces provided.

Contribution Type and Tax Year

Mark whether this is a regular annual contribution, a SEP employer contribution, or a rollover. Then designate whether the deposit applies to the current tax year or the prior year. The tax year box matters: between January 1 and the filing deadline (typically April 15), you can still make a contribution that counts toward the previous year’s limit.⁴ Mark the wrong year and you could overshoot one year’s cap while leaving room unused in another.

Investment Allocation

For brokerage accounts, your deposit lands in the core position (a liquid cash-like holding) unless you specify otherwise. If you want it invested on arrival, write the Fidelity fund name or ticker symbol and a dollar amount for each fund. For Mutual Fund Only accounts, you must specify the fund positions, and only Fidelity mutual funds may be listed. Individual stocks and ETFs cannot be designated on this form.¹

Signature

Sign and date the form. A standard signature covers most routine contributions. If the investment exceeds $100,000 or is funded by bank wire, Fidelity requires a Medallion Signature Guarantee; a notary stamp will not substitute. You can skip the Medallion requirement by completing the form in person at a Fidelity Investor Center with all signers present.⁵

2026 Contribution Limits

Before you write a dollar amount, confirm it fits inside the limit for your account type and age. The IRS charges a 6% excise tax on any excess for every year it stays in the account.⁴

For 2026, the Traditional and Roth IRA limit is $7,500 across all of your IRAs combined. If you’re 50 or older, a $1,100 catch-up brings the total to $8,600.⁶ Your contribution also cannot exceed your taxable compensation for the year.

Self-employed filers and small business owners use the same form for SEP IRA deposits. The 2026 SEP limit is 25% of the employee’s compensation, up to $72,000.⁷ SEP contributions are employer contributions, even when the business owner and the employee are the same person, so they sit on a separate track from the personal IRA caps above.

Roth eligibility also phases out at higher incomes, and the deductibility of Traditional IRA contributions depends on whether you or your spouse are covered by a workplace plan. If your income is in a phase-out range, calculate your reduced limit before writing the check; the IRS pages linked above spell out the 2026 brackets.

Rollover Contributions

The form also handles rollovers from a former employer’s 401(k) or another retirement account. Mark the rollover box so the deposit doesn’t count against your annual contribution limit.

A direct rollover (also called a trustee-to-trustee transfer) moves funds straight from one institution to another. No tax is withheld and no 60-day clock runs.⁸ If the former plan issues a check payable to Fidelity on your behalf, mail it in with the contribution form.

An indirect rollover is a check cut to you personally. You have 60 days from the date you receive the funds to deposit them into your Fidelity IRA. Miss that window and the entire amount becomes a taxable distribution, with a 10% early withdrawal penalty on top if you’re under 59½.⁸ You’re also limited to one indirect rollover per 12-month period across all your IRAs, so direct rollovers are the safer path when both are available.

How to Submit the Form

You have three ways to get the completed form to Fidelity.

Regular Mail

Send the form and check to:¹

Fidelity Investments
P.O. Box 770001
Cincinnati, OH 45277-0048

Overnight or Express Mail

If you’re close to the April 15 deadline, use the overnight address and a trackable carrier so you have proof of the shipping date:

Fidelity Investments
100 Crosby Parkway, KC1H
Covington, KY 41015

Digital Upload

Fidelity’s Document Upload service lets you scan and submit the signed form online.⁹ The “Send a Document” feature in the Fidelity NetBenefits app does the same from a phone.¹⁰ A digital upload still needs the money to arrive separately, either by mailed check or by wire. An uploaded form with no accompanying payment won’t process.

After You Submit

Deposits are subject to a four-business-day clearing period.¹ The funds appear in your account during that window but can’t be traded. Once the check clears, any fund purchases you specified execute at the next available share price. If you left the investment allocation blank, the money sits in your core position until you move it.

At tax time, Fidelity reports the contribution to the IRS on Form 5498 and mails you a copy by May 31 of the following year. The form covers contributions, rollovers, and recharacterizations and shows the fair market value of your IRA. You don’t attach it to your return; keep it with your records to confirm your numbers match Fidelity’s.

Fixing an Excess Contribution

The most common error on this form is contributing more than you’re allowed, usually because of a Roth income phase-out, the annual cap, or a rollover miscounted as a regular contribution. Excess amounts carry a 6% excise tax for every year they stay in the account.⁴

You can avoid the penalty by withdrawing the excess, along with any earnings it generated, by your tax filing deadline (typically April 15, or October 15 if you file for an extension). You’ll owe income tax on the earnings you withdraw, but the 6% penalty won’t apply for that year. Recharacterization is another option when you contributed to the wrong type of IRA, though it must be completed before you file for the year and does not apply to Roth conversions. If you catch the error after the deadline, you can apply the excess as a contribution for the following year if you have room, but the 6% penalty still runs for the year the excess sat in the account.

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Fidelity. Fidelity Investment-Only Retirement Account Contribution Form
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Fidelity. Online Forms and Applications
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Fidelity. Deposit a Check by Mail
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Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits
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Fidelity. Retirement Specialized Investment Request
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Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
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Internal Revenue Service. SEP Contribution Limits (Including Grandfathered SARSEPs)
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Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions
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Fidelity. Fidelity Mailing Addresses
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Fidelity. Send a Document