There are a variety of 5498 forms that individuals may receive that are intended to provide the recipient with information about their Individual Retirement Account, Coverdell Education Savings Account or Health Savings/Archer Medical Savings Account. These forms are typically issued by the trustee of the IRA and/or issuer of the Health Savings/Archer Medical Savings Account on a version of Form 5498. Most of the items on these Form 5498’s are informational and are not needed for the preparation of the tax return and are not due to the recipient until after the filing date of the tax return. The information on a Form 5498 that is relevant to the preparation of the tax return (such as contributions to IRA’s or Health Savings Accounts) is available elsewhere to the taxpayer on other records.
The information on Form 5498 – IRA Contribution Information includes, among other items, the contributions (Box 1) that were made during the year and any contributions through April 15th that were designated for the prior year, rollovers (Box 2), Roth conversions (Box 3), the fair market value of the account as of December 31st (Box 5), and any Minimum Required Contributions (Box 12b). None of this information is typically entered onto the tax return from this Form 5498 and instead is entered from other source documents, specifically a Form 1099-R or other records. Moreover, this form is not typically available to the taxpayer until after April 15th (since it can include contributions through that date for the previous tax year) and is not used to prepare the tax return.
The information on Form 5498-ESA – Coverdell ESA Contribution Information is sent to the beneficiary of the Coverdell Education Savings Account. This form is not due to the beneficiary of the account until May 1st and it shows the contributions to the account through April 15. This form is only for information and is not used in the preparation of the tax return.
The information on Form 5498-SA – HSA, Archer MSA, or Medicare Advantage MSA is sent to the participant of a Health Savings Account or Archer Medical Savings Account. Generally, contributions the taxpayer make to their Archer MSA are deductible on Form 8889 and employer contributions are excluded from the employee’s income and are not deductible by the taxpayer. If the employer makes a contribution to one of the taxpayer’s Archer MSAs, the taxpayer cannot contribute to any Archer MSA for that year. If the taxpayer made a contribution to their Archer MSA when their employer has contributed, the taxpayer cannot deduct their contribution, and they will have an excess contribution.