IRS Form 5498 Refresher
As your financial organization prepares to file Form 5498, IRA Contribution Information, to the IRS and send copies to your clients, it is a great time to familiarize yourself with what the form reports.
Form 5498 is used to report IRA contribution activity, the IRA’s December 31 fair market value (FMV), and whether a required minimum distribution (RMD) is required for the year the form is received. Your financial organization must file one Form 5498 for each IRA that it holds, even if no contribution activity occurred in the year.
NOTE: Financial organizations must provide an account statement to IRA owners each year by May 31. The account statement should contain the same information that was reported to the IRS on Form 5498. The account statement is not a substitute for Form 5498—it is a separate report. But your financial organization may use a copy of Form 5498 (or a substitute Form 5498) to meet the account statement reporting requirement.
What information is on Form 5498?
The IRA contribution information reported on Form 5498 doesn’t just apply to annual contributions. It reports rollover contributions, conversions, recharacterizations, postponed contributions, and repayments. Here is a review of each numbered box on the form and what information it reports.
Box-by-Box
Box 1: IRA contributions (other than amounts in boxes 2–4, 8–10, 13a, and 14a)
All Traditional IRA contributions made on January 1, 2024, through April 15, 2025, for 2024.
NOTE: An amount in Box 1 that exceeds the amount that the IRA owner is eligible to contribute may result in an excess contribution. This amount will need to be removed, along with the earnings, to avoid a penalty tax. Excess contributions are available for removal until October 15, 2025, with taxation of any earnings attributable to the excess being the only consequence, assuming the IRA owner filed his 2024 tax return timely.
Box 2: Rollover contributions
All rollover contributions received in 2024, including
IRA-to-IRA rollover contributions;
Direct or indirect rollovers from qualified retirement plans, governmental 457(b) plans, 403(b) plans, or the federal Thrift Savings Plan; and
§ Military death gratuities and Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance contributions to Roth IRAs.
NOTE: Late rollover contributions are reported in Box 13a, postponed/late contrib.
Box 3: Roth IRA conversion amount
Amounts converted from Traditional or SIMPLE IRAs to a Roth IRA. This box does not include rollovers between two Roth IRAs or rollovers from an employer-sponsored retirement plan to a Roth IRA.
Box 4: Recharacterized contributions
Amounts recharacterized from one type of IRA to another (including earnings) in 2024.
Box 5: FMV of account
Lists the December 31, 2024, account balance of the Traditional, SEP, SIMPLE, or Roth IRA.
Box 6, Life insurance cost included in box 1
This box is for endowment contracts only; it will not be completed for IRAs because life insurance is not a permitted IRA investment.
Box 7, IRA, SEP, SIMPLE, and Roth IRA check boxes
Check the appropriate box to indicate the IRA type. Check the “IRA” checkbox for a Traditional IRA or “Roth IRA” checkbox for a Roth IRA.. If you are filing to report information about a Roth SEP IRA or Roth SIMPLE IRA, two boxes will be checked, “Roth” and “SEP” or “Roth” and “SIMPLE”.
Box 8: SEP contributions
All SEP contributions made in 2024 (including Roth SEP contributions) and contributions made in 2024 for 2023. Traditional IRA contributions are not reported in this box, even if the IRA holds SEP plan contributions.
Box 9: SIMPLE contributions
All SIMPLE IRA contributions made in 2024 (including Roth SIMPLE contributions) and contributions made in 2024 for 2023.
Box 10: Roth IRA contributions
All Roth IRA contributions made on January 1, 2024, through April 15, 2025, for 2024, including 529 plan-to-Roth IRA qualified rollover contributions.
Box 11: If checked, required minimum distribution for 2025
Financial organizations should check this box only for individuals who own a Traditional, SEP, or SIMPLE IRA and will be 73 or older in 2025. This box should not be checked for IRA beneficiaries—even if they are required to take a distribution from the inherited IRA in 2025.
Box 12a: RMD date
If your financial organization uses Form 5498 as an RMD statement, this box will show the date by which the RMD amount in Box 12b must be distributed in order to avoid the penalty tax on the undistributed amount for 2025.
Box 12b: RMD amount
If your financial organization uses Form 5498 as an RMD statement, this box will show the RMD amount for 2025.
NOTE: Financial organizations may use Form 5498 to satisfy the RMD statement requirements to IRA owners. If your organization does not use Form 5498 for RMD statements, Box 12a and 12b will be blank. The IRS does not require these boxes to be completed.
Box 13a: Postponed/late contrib.
Any postponed contributions made in 2024 for a prior year. This includes a rollover contribution that is deposited more than 60 days after distribution, and certain contributions that were delayed because of a federally-declared disaster.
Box 13b: Year
This box will show the year for which the postponed contribution in Box 13a was made for. This box should be left blank for late rollover contributions and rollovers of qualified plan loan offset amounts.
Box 13c: Code
If Box 13a is used, Box 13c will have an applicable reason code for the postponed contribution: FD (due to an extension of the contribution due date because of a federally designated disaster), PO (a rollover of a qualified plan loan offset), or SC (the self-certification procedure for a late rollover contribution).
The codes for designated combat zones are listed in the Form 5498 instructions.
Box 14a: Repayments
The amount of any repayments of a distribution related to a qualified reservist, qualified disaster, qualified birth or adoption, emergency personal expense, domestic abuse victim, or terminally ill individual.
Box 14b: Code
The applicable repayment code will be entered in this box.
Repayment codes are as follows: QR (qualified reservist), DD (qualified disaster), BA (qualified birth or adoption), EP (emergency personal expense), DA (domestic abuse victim), and TI (terminally ill individual).
Box 15a: FMV of certain specified assets
Investments in the IRA that hold hard-to-value assets or do not have readily available FMVs (e.g., real estate, and certain short or long-term debt obligations, stocks, or ownership interests that are not traded on established securities markets or option exchanges, etc.).
Box 15b: Code(s)
This box shows the applicable code(s) for the type(s) of investments reported in Box 15a. A maximum of two codes can be entered. If more than two codes apply, code H will be used. The list of codes are found in the Form 5498 instructions.
Reasons a Client May Not Receive a Form 5498
If a client didn’t make a regular contribution to an IRA or have any contribution activity (e.g., a rollover or conversion) in 2024, and your financial organization does not use the Form 5498 as an account statement or FMV statement, the client is not required to receive a copy of Form 5498.
If a client transferred money from one IRA to another IRA of the same type, the transaction will not be reported on a Form 5498 because an IRA-to-IRA transfer is a nonreportable transaction.
IRA owners who don’t receive a 2024 Form 5498 should have received an FMV statement and an RMD notice (if applicable) by January 31, 2025. These notices will state which information is being furnished to the IRS on Form 5498.
