I'm going to create an SEP-IRA for 2015, as I had some self employed income that contributed to a high marginal rate tax burden for that year.
However, the amount I'm allowed to contribute from 2015's self employed earnings is just under the preferred minimum for my IRA custodian's investments - it will be literally a few hundred dollars under that minimum. I do have enough self employed income already this year, though, to cover that difference.
If I want to make contributions (and establish the account), do I need to make those contributions separately? Or can I just make a single deposit, and then make clear on my tax returns for 2015 and 2016 which part of that deposit is coming from which year? And if the latter, does my IRA custodian need to know how I'm splitting things across years? I would not be making any nondeductible contributions, it would be 100% deductible, just from two tax years.
If it's relevant, I do have a well-funded regular IRA with the same custodian, though my understanding was that the two kinds of IRAs have to be kept in separate accounts and so that shouldn't be relevant. The amount in the separate account is definitely not relevant when it comes to investment minimums (I asked the custodian).