I was able to untangle the web of monies and realized I screwed the pooch.
2019 AGI MFJ $180K (should be $20k lower in 2020)
I mistakenly rolled over two old 401ks into a traditional IRA instead of just rolling them into a 401k. I then made several nondeductible contributions into that account. I was hoping to do a reverse rollover and separate the monies. Vanguard burst that bubble because when I mix pre and post monies, they consider it "pro rata". Explained it like coffee and creamer, once you mix em, you can't get em back out.
That being said, the traditional IRA has $30k in it, ~$9K nondeductible contributions, $11k pretax 401k monies, and the rest is growth.
My ultimate plan was to move out the 401k monies, and then convert the nondeduc contrib to ROTH IRA.
It looks like I cannot do that, I thought of just moving the nondeduc contrib and Vanguard told me that the IRS would tax me on that money if I put it into a ROTH even if I have the documentation to prove that I paid taxes on $9K. They figure it out by ratio of pre to post tax.
Is there anything I can do? It seems that if I start to make more money, I will eventually have to convert and pay taxes again on the nondeductible monies to backdoor ROTH. For now, I figured opening up a ROTH IRA and start contributing while I can is probably the only thing I can do?