diff --git a/Source/Initialization/WarpXInitData.cpp b/Source/Initialization/WarpXInitData.cpp
index 5aca5ad89da..7078947cab0 100644
--- a/Source/Initialization/WarpXInitData.cpp
+++ b/Source/Initialization/WarpXInitData.cpp
@@ -694,6 +694,28 @@ WarpX::InitFromScratch ()
         m_implicit_solver->CreateParticleAttributes();
     }
 
+    if (m_do_back_transformed_particles)
+    {
+        // Set comm to false so that the attributes are not communicated
+        // nor written to the checkpoint files
+        int const comm = 0;
+
+        // Add space to save the positions and velocities at the start of the time steps
+        for (auto const& pc : m_WarpX->GetPartContainer())
+        {
+#if (AMREX_SPACEDIM >= 2)
+            pc->NewRealComp("x_n_btd", comm);
+#endif
+#if defined(WARPX_DIM_3D) || defined(WARPX_DIM_RZ)
+            pc->NewRealComp("y_n_btd", comm);
+#endif
+            pc->NewRealComp("z_n_btd", comm);
+            pc->NewRealComp("ux_n_btd", comm);
+            pc->NewRealComp("uy_n_btd", comm);
+            pc->NewRealComp("uz_n_btd", comm);
+        }
+    }
+
     mypc->AllocData();
     mypc->InitData();
 
diff --git a/Source/Particles/WarpXParticleContainer.H b/Source/Particles/WarpXParticleContainer.H
index 9c316b110ee..636a0707f47 100644
--- a/Source/Particles/WarpXParticleContainer.H
+++ b/Source/Particles/WarpXParticleContainer.H
@@ -496,13 +496,8 @@ public:
                                        TmpIdx::nattribs>;
     using TmpParticles = amrex::Vector<std::map<PairIndex, TmpParticleTile> >;
 
-    TmpParticles getTmpParticleData () const noexcept {return tmp_particle_data;}
-
     int getIonizationInitialLevel () const noexcept {return ionization_initial_level;}
 
-protected:
-    TmpParticles tmp_particle_data;
-
 private:
     void particlePostLocate(ParticleType& p, const amrex::ParticleLocData& pld, int lev) override;