701—302.54(422) Roth individual retirement accounts. Roth individual retirement accounts were authorized in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 and are applicable for tax years beginning after December 31, 1997. Generally, no deduction is allowed on either the federal income tax return or the Iowa individual income tax return for a contribution to a Roth IRA. The following subrules include information about tax treatment of certain transactions for Roth IRAs.
	302.54(1) Taxation of income derived from rolling over or converting existing IRAs to Roth IRAs. At the time existing IRAs are rolled over to or converted to Roth IRAs in the 1998 calendar year or in a subsequent year, any income realized from the rollover or conversion of the existing IRA is taxable. However, in the case of conversion of existing IRAs to Roth IRAs in 1998, the taxpayer can make an election to have all the income realized from the conversion subject to tax in 1998 rather than have the conversion income spread out over four years. If the conversion income is spread out over four years, one-fourth of the conversion income is included on the 1998 Iowa and federal returns of the taxpayer and one-fourth of the income is included on the taxpayer’s Iowa and federal returns for each of the following three tax years. Note that if an existing IRA for an individual is converted to a Roth IRA for the individual in a calendar year after 1998, all the income realized from the conversion is to be reported on the federal return and the Iowa return for that tax year for the individual. That is, when conversion of existing IRAs to Roth IRAs occurs after 1998, there is no provision for having the conversion income taxed over four years.
For example, an Iowa resident converted three existing IRAs to one Roth IRA in 1998, realized $20,000 in income from the conversion, and did not elect to have all the conversion income taxed on the 1998 Iowa and federal returns. Because the taxpayer did not make the election so all the conversion income was taxed in 1998, $5,000 in conversion income was to be reported on the taxpayer’s federal and Iowa returns for 1998 and similar incomes were to be reported on the federal and Iowa returns for 1999, 2000, and 2001. Note that to the extent the recipient of the Roth IRA conversion income is eligible, the conversion income is subject to the pension/retirement income exclusion described in rule 701—40.47(422).
	302.54(2) Roth IRA conversion income for part-year residents. To the extent that an Iowa resident has Roth IRA conversion income on the individual’s federal income tax return, the same income will be included on the resident’s Iowa income tax return. However, when an individual with Roth IRA conversion income in the tax year is a part-year resident of Iowa, the individual may allocate the conversion income on the Iowa return in the ratio of the taxpayer’s months in Iowa during the tax year to 12 months. In a situation where an individual spends more than half of a month in Iowa, that month is to be reported to Iowa for purposes of the allocation.
For example, an individual moved to Des Moines from Omaha on June 12, 1998, and had $20,000 in Roth IRA conversion income in 1998. Because the individual spent 7 months in Iowa in 1998, 7/12, or 60 percent, of the $20,000 in conversion income is allocated to Iowa. Thus, $12,000 of the conversion income should be reported on the taxpayer’s Iowa return for 1998.
This rule is intended to implement Iowa Code section 422.7 as amended by 1998 Iowa Acts, Senate File 2357.
[Editorial change: IAC Supplement 11/2/22]