[Stacy]

.. even if just for your own records, if you’re only making regular annually contributions to your Roth IRA and not doing anything fancy like a IRA conversion or recharacterization?

I know how much I contributed into my Roth IRA because I keep a spreadsheet, but I’ve seen multiple sites recommend keeping a Form 5498 or even filing it just so there is no dispute about what your basis was when you are finally ready to withdraw. How important do you think that really is?

[Ryan]

As some others have said, it comes from your brokerage firm. It’s normally sent after the tax filing deadline so don’t drive yourself crazy looking for it right now.

[Brady]

Maybe if you need to show what portion is your principal investment if you were to use it for buying your first home or something like that. No expert here though.

[Elizabeth]

Check the brokerage account where you have your Roth IRA. They should have already filed Form 5498 for you. You can keep a copy for your records.

[Jex]

You don’t fill it out- you receive it from your brokerage firm (and they also send it to the IRS). It’s a good idea to keep them from the time you first open a Roth IRA until you turn 59.5. This allows you to calculate your contributions and/or prove them to the IRS (do you trust them to keep 100% accurate records?)

[Bill]

It’s good to keep records, but the irs is very forgiving with this. A simple printout of all your deposits from the brokerage website would support any withdrawal. Heck, they even just accept “I made the max contribution from year something through something.” If you start doing conversions though, then you need to keep those records for sure.

[Author]

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