In 2015 I contributed to my Roth IRA. In March of 2016, before I submitted my 2015 tax information to the IRS, I recharacterized that Roth contribution to a Traditional IRA. Of course, by this time, the Roth IRA contribution had already been reported to me/IRS on Form 5498 by Fidelity.

When I filed my taxes for 2015 (shortly after I recharacterized the Roth), of course I took the deduction for the Traditional contribution, but I forgot to include the written explanation stating that I recharacterized my Roth to a Traditional.

So I am trying to figure out if I need to do anything, like amend my 2015 return to include the explanation (seems like a lot of work), even though it won't change any of the numbers. So it almost seems unnecessary to amend my return just to add an explanation since it is my understanding that Fidelity will report the re-characterization on forms 1099R and 5498 next January, so the IRS will eventually find out that they were recharacterized.

I am interested in whether or not I need to do anything in this scenario.

Thanks for the help.

No; you need to fiel 1040X only if you need to report another tax form, such as a W-2 or 1099;you received a corrected tax form, for example a W-2C or amended 1099-B;you forgot to report income or claim dependents, deductions, or credits;you accidentally claimed dependents, deductions, or credits that you weren't eligible for;you made an error, such as reporting income or deductions that should have been reported for a different tax year or etc

Thanks for the information!