IRA Tax Forms: 1099-R, 5498, 8606, and 5329

Five IRS forms handle almost every situation an Individual Retirement Account creates at tax time. Your custodian sends you Form 1099-R when money leaves the account and Form 5498 when money goes in. You file Schedule 1 to deduct a traditional IRA contribution, Form 8606 to record nondeductible contributions and Roth conversions, and Form 5329 when you owe a penalty for withdrawing too early, contributing too much, or missing a required distribution. Which of these IRA tax forms you actually touch depends on what you did with the account during the year.

Forms Your Custodian Sends

Two information forms come to you and to the IRS automatically. You don’t file them, but the numbers flow into your return and the IRS uses them to check your figures.

Form 1099-R for Distributions

Any time money leaves your IRA, your custodian generates a 1099-R. Box 1 shows the gross distribution, Box 2a the taxable portion, and Box 7 a distribution code that tells the IRS what kind of withdrawal it was: Code 7 for a normal distribution after age 59½, Code 1 for an early distribution, Code G for a rollover, Code 4 for a payment to a beneficiary after death.¹ Expect the form by late January.

Form 5498 for Contributions

Form 5498 reports what went in. Box 1 shows traditional IRA contributions, Box 10 shows Roth contributions, and Box 5 gives the account’s fair market value on December 31.² Box 11 flags whether you owe a required minimum distribution for the year, and Box 12b shows the calculated amount.³ Because custodians have to capture contributions made through mid-April, Form 5498 usually doesn’t arrive until late May. You don’t need it to file, but keep it.

When a 1099-R Is Wrong or Never Arrives

Errors on 1099-R forms are common, and the wrong distribution code can cost you real money. Call your custodian first and ask for a corrected form. If you’ve asked and still don’t have a correction by the end of February, the IRS help line is 800-829-1040.⁴

If your filing deadline arrives and the corrected form hasn’t, Form 4852 is the substitute. You estimate the distribution and any withholding, explain what you did to get the real form, and file with those figures.⁵ If a corrected 1099-R shows up later with different numbers, you’ll amend the return on Form 1040-X.

Schedule 1 for Deducting a Traditional IRA Contribution

A deductible traditional IRA contribution comes off your taxable income on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), Line 20, which flows into the main return as an adjustment to income.⁶ For 2026, the contribution limit is $7,500, or $8,600 if you’re 50 or older.⁷

Whether you can deduct the contribution depends on your income and whether you or your spouse are covered by a workplace retirement plan. With no workplace plan in the picture for either spouse, you get the full deduction at any income.⁸ When a workplace plan applies, the 2026 phase-out ranges are:

Single filer covered by a workplace plan: $81,000 to $91,000 of modified adjusted gross income.
Married filing jointly with the contributor covered: $129,000 to $149,000.
Not covered, but spouse has a workplace plan: $242,000 to $252,000.
Married filing separately, covered: $0 to $10,000.

Above those ranges, no deduction.⁷ You can still contribute; the contribution just becomes nondeductible, which means a different form.

Form 8606 for Nondeductible Contributions and Roth Conversions

Form 8606 is the one people often skip and later regret. Any traditional IRA contribution you can’t deduct has to be recorded here as basis, meaning money you already paid tax on. Without that record, the IRS will tax the same dollars again when you take them out.⁹ Skipping the form costs $50 per missed filing, and the bigger cost is losing the documentation that prevents double taxation.

Part I handles nondeductible contributions and asks for the year-end value of all your traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs. The IRS uses that figure with your cumulative basis to apply the pro-rata rule: any distribution is treated as a proportional mix of pre-tax and after-tax money, so you can’t just pull out your nondeductible dollars and call them tax-free. Basis carries forward year to year, so keep every 8606 you’ve ever filed.

Part II covers Roth conversions. You report the amount converted and calculate the taxable portion based on your basis in the traditional IRA. This is the section behind the backdoor Roth strategy: a nondeductible contribution followed by a conversion. With no deductible contributions or earnings sitting in any traditional, SEP, or SIMPLE IRA, the conversion is largely or entirely tax-free. With a substantial pre-tax balance in those accounts, the pro-rata rule kicks in and much of the conversion becomes taxable.¹⁰

Part III applies to Roth IRA distributions that aren’t qualified. A qualified Roth distribution, taken after age 59½ and at least five years after your first Roth contribution, is tax-free and doesn’t go on Part III at all. You use this part for early withdrawals of earnings and other nonqualified distributions.⁹

Form 5329 for Penalties

Form 5329 covers the situations where the IRS charges you extra: taking money out too early, putting too much money in, or failing to take a required distribution.

Early Withdrawals Before Age 59½

A traditional IRA withdrawal before 59½ generally gets hit with a 10% additional tax on top of regular income tax.¹¹ Part I of Form 5329 calculates the penalty. If your 1099-R already carries the correct exception code in Box 7 and no penalty is owed, you can sometimes skip 5329 and report the tax directly on Schedule 2. If the 1099-R shows Code 1 (early distribution, no known exception) but you actually qualify for an exception, Form 5329 is where you claim it.¹²

Longstanding exceptions include disability, first-time home purchases up to $10,000 lifetime, substantially equal periodic payments, and qualified higher education expenses. The SECURE 2.0 Act added more for distributions after 2023, including one emergency personal expense per year up to the lesser of $1,000 or your vested balance above $1,000, and up to the lesser of $10,000 or 50% of the account balance for domestic abuse victims.¹¹

Excess Contributions

Contributing above the annual limit triggers a 6% excise tax on the excess for every year it stays in the account.¹³ Part III of 5329 handles excess traditional IRA contributions; Part IV handles excess Roth contributions.¹² The cleanest fix is to withdraw the excess plus its earnings before your filing deadline, including extensions. Do that, and the 6% doesn’t apply for the year.

Required Minimum Distributions

Traditional IRA holders eventually have to start withdrawing. If you were born between 1951 and 1959, RMDs begin the year you turn 73. If you were born in 1960 or later, they begin the year you turn 75. You have until April 1 of the following year for your very first RMD; after that, each year’s distribution has to be out by December 31.¹⁴ Roth IRAs have no RMD requirement during the original owner’s lifetime.

Your custodian flags the obligation in Boxes 11 and 12b of Form 5498, and the actual distribution shows up on a 1099-R like any other withdrawal.³ Missing an RMD is expensive: the excise tax is 25% of the shortfall between what you should have taken and what you actually did. Catch it and withdraw the full amount within the correction window (roughly two years) and the penalty drops to 10%. Both the penalty and the reduction request go on Form 5329.¹⁵

Deadlines to Track

The deadline to make an IRA contribution for a given tax year is your filing deadline, normally April 15 of the following year. An extension gives you more time to file the return but does not extend the contribution deadline. A 2025 contribution has to be in the account by April 15, 2026.¹⁶

Form 1099-R usually arrives in January for the prior year’s distributions. Form 5498 arrives in late May because custodians have to include contributions made through mid-April. The forms you fill out yourself — Schedule 1, Form 8606, and Form 5329 — travel with your return, due April 15 or by your extended deadline.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498
2
Wolters Kluwer. Individual Retirement Accounts: 2024 Contribution Reporting on IRS Form 5498
3
Internal Revenue Service. Form 5498, IRA Contribution Information
4
Internal Revenue Service. Form W-2 and Form 1099-R (What To Do if Incorrect or Not Received)
5
Internal Revenue Service. Using Form 4852 When Missing the Form W-2 or 1099-R
6
Internal Revenue Service. Schedule 1 (Form 1040) – Additional Income and Adjustments to Income
7
Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026; IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
8
Internal Revenue Service. IRA Deduction Limits
9
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8606
10
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8606, Nondeductible IRAs
11
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions
12
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5329
13
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits
14
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4974 – Excise Tax on Certain Accumulations in Qualified Retirement Plans
16
Internal Revenue Service. Traditional and Roth IRAs