Form 5498

Form 5498 records your IRA contributions and the account’s year-end value. The IRS doesn’t use it to check your deduction; instead, the custodian issues it after the filing deadline to create a public record. If you claim a contribution and the form shows a different amount (or you made it after the window closed), the agency notices the gap.

Why the custodian sends it after you’ve already filed

Unlike Form 1099-R (distributions), which arrives by January 31 and directly reduces reported income, Form 5498 doesn’t land in your hands until late May—well after the April 15 filing deadline. This timing quirk exists because the IRS doesn’t require custodians to validate contribution claims immediately. You file your return in April claiming the deduction yourself; the form arrives later as a verification document.

If the amount on the 5498 doesn’t match what you claimed, the IRS will eventually flag it. If you reported a $7,000 deduction but the 5498 shows only $5,000 was received, you’ll hear from the agency asking you to explain the difference or amend. This is why keeping your own records—deposit confirmations, bank statements, custodian letters—matters more than the form itself.

The five boxes that matter

Box 1 records contributions made during the calendar year (January 1 through December 31). Money deposited after December 31 counts toward the next year, even if you made the contribution “for” the prior year. The IRS deadline is your tax filing due date (April 15 plus extensions), but the calendar year boundary is firm.

Box 2 captures rollovers—money transferred from a 401k plan, another IRA, or a qualified plan into this account. Rollovers don’t count toward your annual contribution limit; they’re in addition to the $7,000 (or $8,000 if 50+) you can add directly.

Box 3 shows Roth conversions—money moved from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. The converted amount is not a deductible contribution; it’s taxable income in the year of conversion. The form reports it separately so you don’t mistake it for an addition to the account.

Box 5 is the fair market value (FMV) of the account on December 31. This number is critical for required minimum distributions starting at age 73. The IRS calculates your mandatory withdrawal percentage based on your life expectancy and the December 31 FMV of all your IRAs combined. A single Form 5498 shows only one account’s value, but you must aggregate all your accounts for the RMD calculation.

Box 8 flags a Roth conversion made before age 59½ that qualifies for “first-time homebuyer” treatment under SECURE Act 2.0—up to $35,000 over a lifetime, rolled back from a Roth conversion after 2023.

Nondeductible contributions: where Form 8606 begins

If you earn too much to deduct a traditional IRA contribution (because you or your spouse has a 401k plan), you can still make the contribution—it’s just not deductible. The 5498 reports the total; Form 8606 is where you track your basis (nondeductible contributions) to avoid paying tax twice when you later withdraw.

The IRS cross-checks the 5498 against your 8606. If the form shows a $7,000 contribution and your 8606 claims only $3,500 is nondeductible (meaning you deducted $3,500), the two must align or you’ll trigger a notice. This is the custodian’s role: reporting what was deposited. Your role is tracking what proportion was deductible.

Fair market value and required minimum distributions

By December 31, every custodian must calculate and report the account’s FMV—the closing price on December 31 for stocks, the settlement value for mutual funds, or a reasonable valuation for illiquid assets like concentrated stock positions or private equity. The December 31 FMV is the number used to compute your mandatory withdrawal.

Starting at age 73, you must withdraw a percentage of your combined IRA balance each year or face a 25% penalty on what you didn’t withdraw (reduced from 50% under SECURE 2.0). The calculation uses December 31 of the prior year’s FMV. So if your 5498 shows December 31 value of $500,000 and you’re 73, your 2025 RMD is $500,000 divided by your life expectancy factor—roughly $18,700 if you’re 73.

When the form is missing or wrong

A custodian must issue the 5498 by May 31. If you don’t receive it by June, follow up with the custodian directly; they’ll usually resend or file a corrected form. If you made a contribution in April but the 5498 doesn’t reflect it, don’t assume the form is wrong—confirm with the custodian that the deposit was received and processed.

If the custodian made an error (e.g., reported a $5,000 contribution when you wired $7,000), contact them to file a corrected 5498. You’ll also need the corrected amount to file Form 8606 accurately if any portion was nondeductible.

Rollovers vs. contributions: the key distinction

A rollover (Box 2) is not a contribution under the annual limit. If you roll $50,000 from an old 401k plan into an IRA, the 5498 will show $50,000 in Box 2 and $0 in Box 1 (assuming you also made no direct contribution that year). Your $7,000 annual contribution room is untouched. This distinction matters because the IRS has strict rules on how often you can move money: only one IRA-to-IRA rollover per 12 months per person, but unlimited direct rollovers from employer plans.

Foreign IRAs and special accounts

If you maintain an IRA outside the United States (held by a non-U.S. custodian), you may not receive a 5498 at all; instead, you track contributions yourself and report them on Schedule C or a separate statement. Similarly, some IRAs held by brokerage firms issue supplemental statements instead of a formal 5498, though they’re legally required to provide the substance of the information.

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