401k contribution tax year

[eridanus]

I made a contribution this week to my solo 401k and didn't realize that the "2012" tax year button was clicked.

Is this even an excess contribution when it's past the final date of 2012 contributions, Oct. 15th? Or is it a nondeductible contribution that I can apply to my 2013 limit?

The IRS is pretty clear about 10/15 being the cut off for 2012 contributions. I'm not sure how that applies here. The IRS won't recognize this contribution for 2012 so...it's impossible to be categorized as 2012 and obviously should be for 2013?? The IRS doesn't make simple mistakes easy to fix though.

Anyone dealt with this before? I'd rather pay the 10% penalty on excess contributions and avoid the withdrawal-1099 mess.

 

[pb4uski]

Call your administrator and have them fix it. It won't be a problem if they fix it before it is reported to the IRS. Worst case you can do a mistaken contribution withdrawal and then redeposit it as a 2013 contribution. It may automatically be applied to 2013 since it exceeds 2012 but it would be best to have the administrator fix it.

 

[eridanus]

Thanks. After several phone transfers and a call back, Vanguard determined that they could fix it. They reversed the deposit and re-applied it for 2013.